Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that recommendations made by the School Support Staff Negotiating Body are implemented.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) is being established in primary legislation through the Employment Rights Bill, which was introduced in Parliament within the first 100 days of government on 10 October 2024. The Bill is currently in the House of Lords. Due to the uncertainties of Parliamentary business and scheduling, we cannot confirm at this stage when the Bill will receive Royal Assent. After Royal Assent, secondary legislation will be required to constitute the body.
The department’s current estimate is that once the SSSNB has been established and is operational, the earliest the body will be in a position to start making pay related recommendations is in the 2027/28 academic year, to ensure a smooth transition from the current National Joint Council process.
The SSSNB will bring together employers and employee representatives to reach agreements on pay and terms and conditions which may then be ratified by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education. It is important that the department strikes an appropriate balance between the SSSNB having sufficient independence to reach agreements and make recommendations, whilst ensuring that any agreements in relation to remuneration, terms and conditions or advice in relation to training and career progression are practicable before being ratified or published as statutory guidance by the Secretary of State for Education. As a negotiating body, employee and employer representatives will be able to meaningfully negotiate on pay and conditions as well as advise on training and career progression, with a clear process for the Secretary of State for Education to decide on the course of action based on the agreements reached or recommendations made.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure the independence of the School Support Staff Negotiating Body.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) is being established in primary legislation through the Employment Rights Bill, which was introduced in Parliament within the first 100 days of government on 10 October 2024. The Bill is currently in the House of Lords. Due to the uncertainties of Parliamentary business and scheduling, we cannot confirm at this stage when the Bill will receive Royal Assent. After Royal Assent, secondary legislation will be required to constitute the body.
The department’s current estimate is that once the SSSNB has been established and is operational, the earliest the body will be in a position to start making pay related recommendations is in the 2027/28 academic year, to ensure a smooth transition from the current National Joint Council process.
The SSSNB will bring together employers and employee representatives to reach agreements on pay and terms and conditions which may then be ratified by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education. It is important that the department strikes an appropriate balance between the SSSNB having sufficient independence to reach agreements and make recommendations, whilst ensuring that any agreements in relation to remuneration, terms and conditions or advice in relation to training and career progression are practicable before being ratified or published as statutory guidance by the Secretary of State for Education. As a negotiating body, employee and employer representatives will be able to meaningfully negotiate on pay and conditions as well as advise on training and career progression, with a clear process for the Secretary of State for Education to decide on the course of action based on the agreements reached or recommendations made.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when the School Support Staff Negotiating Body will be operational.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) is being established in primary legislation through the Employment Rights Bill, which was introduced in Parliament within the first 100 days of government on 10 October 2024. The Bill is currently in the House of Lords. Due to the uncertainties of Parliamentary business and scheduling, we cannot confirm at this stage when the Bill will receive Royal Assent. After Royal Assent, secondary legislation will be required to constitute the body.
The department’s current estimate is that once the SSSNB has been established and is operational, the earliest the body will be in a position to start making pay related recommendations is in the 2027/28 academic year, to ensure a smooth transition from the current National Joint Council process.
The SSSNB will bring together employers and employee representatives to reach agreements on pay and terms and conditions which may then be ratified by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education. It is important that the department strikes an appropriate balance between the SSSNB having sufficient independence to reach agreements and make recommendations, whilst ensuring that any agreements in relation to remuneration, terms and conditions or advice in relation to training and career progression are practicable before being ratified or published as statutory guidance by the Secretary of State for Education. As a negotiating body, employee and employer representatives will be able to meaningfully negotiate on pay and conditions as well as advise on training and career progression, with a clear process for the Secretary of State for Education to decide on the course of action based on the agreements reached or recommendations made.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure collaboration between the School Support Staff Negotiation Body and academy trusts.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) will have a remit for pay, conditions, training and career progression for support staff in all state-funded schools, including academies, in England. As half of schools are now academies, it is vital that academies are included in the statutory remit of the SSSNB to ensure there is a national core offer for support staff pay and terms and conditions, across all schools.
The SSSNB will need to represent all school support staff and their employers effectively. The body will be composed of representatives of employers, employee representatives, an Independent Chairperson, and a member representing my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education. The Secretary of State for Education will appoint an employer organisation which represents academy employers via regulations.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to develop a cross-Government strategy for reducing the numbers of missing children.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government champions the need for an effective multi-agency response that reduces the number of children going missing, whether this is from a family home or from the care of the local authority.
The department’s long-standing statutory guidance on safeguarding children at risk of going missing is already clear on the expectation that local authorities and safeguarding partners need to work together to reduce missing episodes, and to respond effectively when children do go missing.
In addition, the government’s statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children’ promotes robust information-sharing across safeguarding partners, which we know is essential for identifying local contexts and disrupting local patterns of behaviours that can raise the risk of children in and outside the care system going missing, including being missing from education.
Children in care can be especially vulnerable to going missing. That is why the department, working with the Home Office, has supported the National Police Chiefs' Council to develop a ‘Missing Children from Care' framework. This good practice framework can be adopted by local areas when designing their multi-agency protocols for strategic and operational responses to missing episodes, ensuring that the appropriate safeguarding partner responds in the best interest of the missing person.
Since April, the government is providing £500 million to local authorities nationally, to roll out family help and multi-agency child protection support. We have set up the Families First Partnership programme to support the delivery of these reforms, with local areas beginning transformation from April 2025.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support single parents re-entering the workforce with funding to access high-quality childcare.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Single parents of children aged nine months and over may qualify for 30 hours of funded childcare from September this year, provided they meet the eligibility requirements. Each parent needs to expect to earn the equivalent of 16 hours at National Living Wage and no more than £100,000 per year adjusted net income. This is equivalent to £195 per week or £10,158 per year (in 2025/26).
The Tax-Free Childcare scheme is also available to eligible working parents, including eligible single parents, and aims to help parents work, return to work, and work more when they want or need to. It can save eligible working parents up to £2,000 per year on the cost of childcare, or up to £4,000 for eligible children with disabilities.
Where households (including single parent households) do not meet the eligibility requirements, they may still qualify for support through the 15-hour entitlement for two-year-olds receiving some additional forms of support. All three and four-year-olds are eligible for 15 hours free early education regardless of their parent’s income.
Parents may wish to explore support through Universal Credit childcare. If eligible, parents can receive help with up to 85% of their childcare costs through Universal Credit Childcare which can be used in addition to the early education entitlements to support with the costs of childcare.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of early years funding models in supporting (a) parents and (b) guardians who work fewer than 16 hours per week.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Single parents of children aged nine months and over may qualify for 30 hours of funded childcare from September this year, provided they meet the eligibility requirements. Each parent needs to expect to earn the equivalent of 16 hours at National Living Wage and no more than £100,000 per year adjusted net income. This is equivalent to £195 per week or £10,158 per year (in 2025/26).
The Tax-Free Childcare scheme is also available to eligible working parents, including eligible single parents, and aims to help parents work, return to work, and work more when they want or need to. It can save eligible working parents up to £2,000 per year on the cost of childcare, or up to £4,000 for eligible children with disabilities.
Where households (including single parent households) do not meet the eligibility requirements, they may still qualify for support through the 15-hour entitlement for two-year-olds receiving some additional forms of support. All three and four-year-olds are eligible for 15 hours free early education regardless of their parent’s income.
Parents may wish to explore support through Universal Credit childcare. If eligible, parents can receive help with up to 85% of their childcare costs through Universal Credit Childcare which can be used in addition to the early education entitlements to support with the costs of childcare.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of single parent family access to high quality childcare settings.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Single parents of children aged nine months and over may qualify for 30 hours of funded childcare from September this year, provided they meet the eligibility requirements. Each parent needs to expect to earn the equivalent of 16 hours at National Living Wage and no more than £100,000 per year adjusted net income. This is equivalent to £195 per week or £10,158 per year (in 2025/26).
The Tax-Free Childcare scheme is also available to eligible working parents, including eligible single parents, and aims to help parents work, return to work, and work more when they want or need to. It can save eligible working parents up to £2,000 per year on the cost of childcare, or up to £4,000 for eligible children with disabilities.
Where households (including single parent households) do not meet the eligibility requirements, they may still qualify for support through the 15-hour entitlement for two-year-olds receiving some additional forms of support. All three and four-year-olds are eligible for 15 hours free early education regardless of their parent’s income.
Parents may wish to explore support through Universal Credit childcare. If eligible, parents can receive help with up to 85% of their childcare costs through Universal Credit Childcare which can be used in addition to the early education entitlements to support with the costs of childcare.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that it is financially viable for childcare settings to offer places to three and four year-old children.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In 2025/26 alone, we plan to provide over £8 billion for the early years entitlements, a more than 30% increase compared to 2024/25. We have announced the largest ever increase to Early Years Pupil Premium since its introduction and will also deliver a significant tranche of supplementary funding of £75 million through the Early Years Expansion Grant.
We are increasing core funding rates. For 2025/26, the national average three and four-year-old hourly funding rate of local authorities is increasing by 4.1%, two-year-old hourly funding rate is increasing by 3.3%, and nine months to two-year-old hourly funding rate is increasing by 3.4%.
Asked by: Elsie Blundell (Labour - Heywood and Middleton North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of making the (a) installation and (b) use of CCTV recordings in private nurseries a formal requirement for Ofsted inspections.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s priority is to grow high-quality, affordable and flexible education and care for children whilst ensuring their safety, giving every child the best start to life and delivering on our Plan for Change. For this reason, we continually monitor and review safeguarding requirements for early years settings to make sure children are kept as safe as possible.
The department is responsible for setting the standards which early years settings such as nurseries must follow. These are set out in the early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework. The department has responsibility for policy on inspection and registration, but how it is implemented is for Ofsted to decide whilst also remaining accountable to Parliament.
The decision to install and use camera surveillance equipment in a nursery is a matter for individual providers to determine based on their own risk assessment and policies.
If a nursery uses camera surveillance equipment, they must comply with the regulations in the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation and should follow the guidance published by the Information Commissioner’s Office.