Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will bring forward policy proposals to make access to PE and sport at school a right for all disabled children.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to giving every pupil the chance to participate in PE and sport while at school. This government has committed funding of up to £300,000 this financial year to the Youth Sport Trust to deliver Inclusion 2028, a programme to upskill the school workforce to deliver high quality, inclusive PE, school sport and physical activity to pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The programme also funds the Inclusive Education Hub, an online platform of resources to help schools make their PE and sport more inclusive.
Schools also receive capital funding directly through core funding. The government is investing almost £3 billion per year by 2034/35 in capital maintenance and renewal to improve the condition of the school and college estate, rising from £2.4 billion in 2025/26.
Following my right hon. friend, the Prime Minister’s announcement on 19 June 2025, we are establishing a new PE and school sport partnerships network to ensure all children and young people, including those with SEND, have access to high quality PE and school sport.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of expanding the National Curriculum to embed (a) critical and creative thinking, (b) problem solving, (c) communication and (d) collaboration skills to support the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review sets out our plan to ensure that all pupils develop the knowledge and skills that we know are essential for life, work and innovation.
When refreshing the national curriculum, we will identify where subject-specific disciplinary skills are not clearly described or not emphasised adequately, and then ensure that these are properly reflected in those subjects’ programmes of study. For example, creative thinking in computing, critical thinking in history or problem solving in maths.
Furthermore, we will be extending citizenship to primary schools to introduce important financial literacy to pupils from an earlier age; reforming computing education to equip more young people with the digital skills they need for the future; and creating a new oracy framework to help pupils become confident, fluent speakers, setting them up for leadership roles in the workplace.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of SEND tribunal waiting times on the ability of families to hold local authorities to account for non-provision of SEND support.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The volume of appeals to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Tribunal means that some families face a year-long wait for a hearing, lengthening the time it takes for children and young people to get the support they need. We are working with the Ministry of Justice and His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service to ensure appeals are heard faster, including through the recruitment of 70 new judges, more cases being resolved ‘on paper’, hearings being held in school holidays, and the prioritisation of appeals for those who are moving between education phases.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to respond to the correspondence from the hon. Member for Henley and Thame dated 10 October 2025 on the handling of the transitional protection remedy by teachers’ pensions.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I can confirm that a response to the correspondence from the hon. Member for Henley and Thame dated 10 October 2025 was sent on 8 December 2025.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the fairness of calculating student loan interest at RPI rather than CPI.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Interest rates are set in legislation in reference to the Retail Price Index (RPI) from the previous March, not the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and are applied annually on 1 September until 31 August. This ensures that over a period of years, interest rates on student loans have been consistently linked to a widely recognised and adopted measure of inflation.
The Office for National Statistics has undertaken a substantial programme of work over the past two years to enhance how inflation is measured. The Office for Budget Responsibility has confirmed that, from 2030 at the earliest, movements in RPI will be aligned with CPI as viewed here: https://obr.uk/box/the-long-run-difference-between-rpi-and-cpi-inflation/.
A full equality impact assessment of how the student loan reforms may affect graduates, including detail on changes to average lifetime repayments under Plan 5, was produced and published in February 2022 and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-reform-equality-impact-assessment.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking with the national literacy trust to deliver the national year of reading 2026.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government has committed to strong foundations in reading and writing for all children and the National Year of Reading 2026 is an important part of our strategy for delivering on this commitment.
The National Year of Reading is a UK-wide campaign to address the steep decline in reading enjoyment amongst children, young people and adults. It is a department led initiative, in collaboration with the National Literacy Trust, who will lead the delivery of the campaign, working alongside a range of partners.
It includes a major physical and online marketing campaign, as well as exciting events, resources and activities in communities, libraries, schools and early years settings throughout the year.
More information will be added to the website in the coming months. Anyone interested in the campaign can sign up to the website: www.goallin.org.uk.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of screening tests to identify early difficulties with numeracy.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) code of practice is clear that meeting the needs of a child with special educational needs does not require a diagnostic label or test. Instead, the department expects teachers to monitor the progress of all pupils and put support in place where needed.
To support settings to identify need early, we are strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve early identification in mainstream settings.
Recently published evidence reviews from University College London will help to drive inclusive practices as they highlight what the best available evidence suggests are the most effective tools, strategies and approaches.
In addition, the ‘What Works in SEND’ research programme, led by a research team from the University of Warwick and supported by SEND academics from the University of Birmingham, is researching tools that settings can use to identify the needs of neurodivergent children and young people.
Both initiatives aim to strengthen teaching for children with special educational needs, including dyscalculia.
The funding announced at the 2025 Spending Review, which will provide an increase of £4.2 billion over the next three years, will help to facilitate reform of the SEND system. We are continuing to engage with children, parents and experts as we develop plans to ensure all children get the outcomes and life chances they deserve and will be setting out more detail in the Schools White Paper in the new year.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of funding for dyscalculia.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) code of practice is clear that meeting the needs of a child with special educational needs does not require a diagnostic label or test. Instead, the department expects teachers to monitor the progress of all pupils and put support in place where needed.
To support settings to identify need early, we are strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve early identification in mainstream settings.
Recently published evidence reviews from University College London will help to drive inclusive practices as they highlight what the best available evidence suggests are the most effective tools, strategies and approaches.
In addition, the ‘What Works in SEND’ research programme, led by a research team from the University of Warwick and supported by SEND academics from the University of Birmingham, is researching tools that settings can use to identify the needs of neurodivergent children and young people.
Both initiatives aim to strengthen teaching for children with special educational needs, including dyscalculia.
The funding announced at the 2025 Spending Review, which will provide an increase of £4.2 billion over the next three years, will help to facilitate reform of the SEND system. We are continuing to engage with children, parents and experts as we develop plans to ensure all children get the outcomes and life chances they deserve and will be setting out more detail in the Schools White Paper in the new year.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the £2.61 meal rate paid to Oxfordshire schools for providing universal infant free school meals, taking into account rising (a) food, (b) energy and (c) staff costs.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. We spend around £600 million per year ensuring close to 1.3 million additional infants enjoy a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime following the introduction of the universal infant free school meal (UIFSM) policy in 2014.
The department has not made a formal assessment of UIFSM funding for Oxfordshire schools, but we meet regularly with the sector, including school food caterers, and draw on these insights to inform our policy thinking.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of student maintenance grants in meeting students' living costs.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The previous government removed maintenance grants, and the real-terms value of loan support for students has reduced by more than 20% over the last five years. It is essential that our government improves this.
That is why we will reintroduce targeted means-tested maintenance grants before the end of this Parliament, funded by a levy on international student fees. The grants will support students from low-income households studying courses aligned with our missions and the Industrial Strategy, and we will set out further detail at the Autumn Budget.
Additionally, the government will increase maintenance loans in line with forecast inflation every academic year. This will provide students with long-term financial certainty on the financial support they will receive while studying and ensure that students from the lowest income families receive the largest year-on-year cash increases in support.