Oral Answers to Questions

Georgia Gould Excerpts

Monday 2nd March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Yuan Yang (Earley and Woodley) (Lab)]

2. What recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the system for supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities.

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

On Monday, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education set out ambitious SEND reforms to ensure the system works better for families and children across England. It is clear that families, and the teachers and wider staff trying to support them, have been failed by the system, and that that has had a profound impact on children and young people’s education and wellbeing. We are determined to work with families and professionals around the country to build a system in which children’s needs are met quickly and families do not have to battle because the right inclusive mainstream and specialist support will be available in their communities. We want to hear from young people, parents, teachers and all those who support them, so I ask everyone in the Chamber to bring the voices of their constituents to our consultation.

[Yuan Yang]

Secondary school students with special educational needs have told me of their struggles with academy trusts in south Reading and Shinfield that have failed to properly prioritise inclusion. Will the Minister set out how the schools White Paper will address that on the part of multi-academy trusts? Will she consider visiting Hartland high school and Oakbank school in my constituency to see the progress they have made on that front?

[Georgia Gould]

Accountability is a key part of our reforms, which is why Ofsted is now focused on inclusion. We have also brought in Ofsted inspections for multi-academy trusts. I very much enjoyed meeting one of my hon. Friend’s local academies, which is doing brilliant work, but I recognise that we need to put in the right resource and accountability to ensure that that is happening everywhere. I am always delighted to see best practice.

[Ian Roome (North Devon) (LD)]

I thank the Minister for the Government’s decision to effectively write off about 90% of Devon county council’s SEND debts. I know that will reassure many parents in my constituency.

Will the Minister tell us how the new school curriculum will give schools the flexibility they need to support children with special educational needs across very different parts of the country, including rural areas such as North Devon?

[Georgia Gould]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that we need to ensure that children with SEND have the right support everywhere in the country. That means that we need to ensure that we have the right experts wrapped around schools and that the curriculum meets children’s needs. The Government’s curriculum and assessment review sets out our modern curriculum, including a breadth of learning and enrichment for young people, but we know that it is important to have the right adaptations and flexibilities, and we will be moving forward with that as part of our SEND reforms.

[Perran Moon (Camborne and Redruth) (Lab)]

As the Secretary of State knows, there is much concern in my Camborne, Redruth and Hayle constituency about the off-rolling of children with SEND. Will the Minister elaborate on the reforms in the schools White Paper to ensure that mainstream secondary multi-academy trust exclusions will be measured, and that schools will be incentivised to provide the effective SEND provision that all our children deserve?

[Georgia Gould]

We are absolutely clear that every school has to support children with special educational needs and disabilities. Every teacher has to be trained to be a SEND teacher, and every secondary school will be expected to have an inclusion base. We need to have eyes on children to ensure that no child falls through the cracks. That is why the Department for Education will be more closely monitoring pupil flow, including off-rolling. We will work with trusts and local authority schools when we see large numbers of children who are being off-rolled or are out of education in other ways.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

I spend a lot of time visiting schools in my constituency and speaking to the hard-working headteachers about the pressures they are under due to spiralling costs and teacher shortages. With the Government’s proposed reforms placing an additional responsibility on schools to create individual support plans, alongside an ambition for more children’s needs to be met within mainstream schools, how will the Minister ensure that schools do not have to make sacrifices that harm the education of every child?

[Georgia Gould]

When developing this policy, we learned from the best schools in the country. I visited schools that have individual support plans for every student and wraparound support; those children are absolutely thriving. We want to make sure that that happens in every school. We are investing in a new national digital individual support plan, and we are putting £4 billion into schools and the services that support them to make that a reality.

[Laura Trott (Sevenoaks) (Con)]

Last week, I asked the Secretary of State a specific question about SEND funding during her statement, which she failed to answer, so I will try again with the Minister today. The £4 billion for SEND announced last week, to be paid over three years, which the Secretary of State described as “new money”, is actually from within the Department’s existing spending review settlement, isn’t it?

[Georgia Gould]

Absolutely, yes; it is money that we have won to put into supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities. It is a priority that we take very seriously. I have seen the failure around the country where, for too long, these families have not been listened to, and too many children are out of education; we need to change that. As part of the spending review, we requested and managed to get new investment that we are putting into schools and the “experts at hand” service to wrap around schools on top of the £3.7 billion we are putting into new specialist places. This is generational reform that will make a huge difference.

We want to work in partnership with colleagues across the House, but we still have not heard from the Conservative party. What are its ideas, and what—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. You are in government, so you do not need to—[Interruption.] Order. When I stand up, please sit. I am trying to be helpful. All these Members are trying to get in, and it is a big day with a big statement coming.

[Georgia Gould]

Apologies, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

Okay. I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

Trust among families with special educational needs is at rock bottom. Their voices have often been ignored—sometimes with tragic consequences—so while many are open to reform, there is real concern that under the Government’s proposals tribunals will lose the ability to direct specific provision in a child’s best interest, with the risk that families will be trapped in an endless doom loop of dispute with local authorities. If Ministers are serious about tackling that adversarial nature, will the Minister confirm how she will prevent it and protect children’s and parents’ rights?

[Georgia Gould]

We are committed to the tribunal being a backstop for families. We want a much more collaborative system, but we have heard from families how important that backstop of legal rights is, so the tribunal will be there as a backstop if parents are unhappy with the assessment process or the specialist provision package that they have.

When it comes to school placement, hon. Members across the House will know that in many cases, places are being named at special schools that are already full and it is just not safe for them to take those children. Parents will still be able to go to the tribunal, which will be able to quash a decision if it is unhappy, and then the local authority will need to look at it again.

[Ben Obese-Jecty (Huntingdon) (Con)]

3. What steps she is taking to help tackle the education, health and care plan backlog in Cambridgeshire.

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

The Department is providing targeted help for Cambridgeshire, including a specialist SEND adviser and sector-led improvement support from Islington council. We are actively monitoring Cambridgeshire’s recovery plan to reduce EHCP backlogs and secure better outcomes for children and families. On Monday, the Secretary of State set out our wider ambition for a SEND system that works better for children and families across England. I encourage parents nationwide to look at our consultation on how we will bring the change our children need.

[Ben Obese-Jecty]

The EHCP backlog in Cambridgeshire is a significant challenge. I appreciate what the Minister said about the help that is currently in place. Having read the SEND White Paper, I am struggling to see where the immediate impact will come. I had a letter from a constituent at the weekend who thanked me for helping her child get an EHCP after 74 weeks, and I can give examples that stretch up to nearly two years from an EHCP needs assessment being signed off. I am due to meet Cambridgeshire county council on Friday to discuss this issue in more detail. What advice can the Minister give it on how the SEND White Paper will help it to get on top of the EHCP backlog?

[Georgia Gould]

The hon. Member is right: the timeliness of EHCPs has been unacceptable, and it is something that we are taking seriously. That is why we have put the extra resource in—as part of the schools White Paper, we are putting £200 million directly into councils to support their capacity—but this is something that we will be monitoring closely. I am happy to talk to him in more detail about his concerns.

[John Whitby (Derbyshire Dales) (Lab)]

4. What steps she is taking to help prevent the use of phones by children in schools.

--- Later in debate ---

[Rosie Duffield (Canterbury) (Ind)]

5. What assessment she has made of the adequacy of SEND provision in Kent.

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

The Department has worked closely with NHS England to monitor, support and challenge Kent in making necessary SEND improvements following its area SEND inspections in 2019 and 2022. This has included regular review meetings, attendance at its SEND partnership board and commissioning the support of an expert SEND adviser.

[Rosie Duffield]

I recently hosted a constituency SEND roundtable with education leaders and officials from the Department, where teachers stressed yet again that years of underfunding and diminished support services had left schools on their knees, often unable to meet the needs of the most vulnerable children. Unfortunately, the Government’s funding announcement in their White Paper is just a drop in the ocean compared with what is needed to radically improve SEND services in east Kent. Can the Minister tell me what other steps she will take to deliver urgently needed improvements in SEND provision in my constituency, as the funding looks likely to equate to only a few thousand pounds extra per school?

[Georgia Gould]

My hon. Friend will know that we have recently announced support to local authorities like Kent in order to address 90% of their deficits. We are building three new special schools in Kent and putting in place £3.7 billion in capital investment, and the allocation for Kent will be coming onboard shortly. We have announced £4 billion of extra investment to wrap around schools, including for speech and language therapists as well as money directly into school budgets.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mrs Elsie Blundell (Heywood and Middleton North) (Lab)]

10. What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that local authorities in financial difficulty can deliver effective speech and language therapy for children with SEND.

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

I have talked to so many families who have had to watch their children fall further behind without the speech and language support they need. Alongside measures to address local authority deficits, we are providing £1.8 billion over the next three years for local areas to develop a new “experts at hand” offer, providing mainstream education settings with access to support from services including speech and language therapy.

[Mrs Blundell]

As the Minister knows, the SEND system is not working for children, families or local councils, and it has not been for some time. Despite the record of the Conservatives, we cannot allow children in need of speech and language therapy to lose out. Will the Minister assure me that when it comes to speech and language therapy, the new “experts at hand” service will be utilised effectively, so that each local authority will be able to provide all children with the support they need?

[Georgia Gould]

I am happy to reassure my hon. Friend and I thank her for her advocacy on this important issue. We are rebuilding support across the community. Best Start hubs in every community will be supported by £200 million for children with special educational needs and disabilities, and we are investing £40 million to train up new specialist speech and language staff and educational psychologists to ensure that this support is available in every community.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

On the subject of the provision of speech and language therapy for students with special educational needs, Westmorland and Furness council, in my area, was not one of the councils in financial difficulty—until last month, when the Government decided, for the crime of it being the most rural district in the country, to cut 31% of its budget over three years. What confidence can children with special educational needs and their parents in my community have that they are not going to be hit massively by these cuts, and what can the Minister do to put the cuts right?

[Georgia Gould]

We are providing dedicated support for speech and language therapists, educational psychologists and occupational therapists so that they are available to every primary and secondary school. In an average secondary school in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency, we expect that that will amount to about 160 days of support a year.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mary Kelly Foy (City of Durham) (Lab)]

T2. I truly welcome the reform to SEND provision, but, with some schools already making redundancies because of funding, I echo the concerns of teaching unions that the recently announced inclusion grant is too small; it equates to one part-time teaching assistant for the average primary school and two TAs for the average secondary school. Can the Minister reassure me and educators in Durham that adequate funding will be available to make our schools more inclusive for children with SEND while allowing schools to protect the support that children with SEND in mainstream classrooms already have?

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

We are committed to investing in schools. Our plans include an extra £1.6 billion going directly into schools and £1.8 billion going into the wider “experts at hand” service, on top of increasing funding to the schools core budget. In this Parliament, we will continue to grow our investment in both SEND and schools to ensure that every child gets the best start in life.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dave Robertson (Lichfield) (Lab)]

T5. The ministerial team will be aware that schools in the Arthur Terry learning partnership across my constituency and six others in the west midlands saw nine days of strike action in January and February. The trust was consulting on staff cuts because it had a multimillion-pound hole in its budget, a hole that senior leaders put down to a mistake in the finances. I am glad that there is now new leadership in place at the Arthur Terry learning partnership, but what steps can our Government take to ensure that trusts are held to account much more strongly than they currently are?

[Georgia Gould]

I really appreciate the way in which my hon. Friend has been working closely with me on this issue. The Department sets clear financial management expectations for trusts through funding agreements in the academy trust handbook, and we are bringing in inspections of multi-academy trusts to ensure good governance and financial management.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

--- Later in debate ---

[Claire Hazelgrove (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Lab)]

T6. I thank the Schools Minister for meeting my constituent Christine Lote to discuss her campaign to see the school admissions code broadened, following her own stage 4 cancer not being factored into her daughter’s primary school allocation, which has seen her placed further from home. Christine cannot walk her daughter to school any more, and her daughter cannot access the specialist bereavement support at the more local school. Will the Minister please confirm whether this change can be considered as part of the admissions code consultation, and whether information about this issue can be shared with other local authorities to inform their policies and help prevent this for other families?

[Georgia Gould]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend’s constituent, whose courage, commitment and care for others in the most impossible circumstances is truly inspiring. In the schools White Paper, we committed to consulting on changes to the school admissions code to promote fairness for all families. As part of that work, we will be looking at how to ensure that cases such as this are better supported through admissions policy in the future and, in the meantime, that schools and admissions authorities make use of the social and medical criteria.

[Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)]

T3. In 2023, Parliament legislated to protect freedom of speech on our university campuses, but we are still waiting for the Government to bring section 8 of the Act into force, so will the Minister set out a clear timetable for commencing the complaints scheme to ensure that our academics are protected from censorship and silencing?

--- Later in debate ---

[Georgia Gould]

Children and young people often say to me that financial education is the big change they want to see in the curriculum. We are pleased that we are making that change as part of the curriculum and assessment review and including financial education at primary and secondary level. We are developing a new digital national curriculum to make things easier for teachers, and we are increasing funding for schools to implement these wider changes.

[Douglas McAllister (West Dunbartonshire) (Lab)]

Scottish colleges are struggling to cope with huge cuts to staff and funding, including West College Scotland in my constituency. The Scottish National party has cut funding by 20% in five years. What can the Minister do, working with other Departments such as Defence, to ensure that Scottish colleges become engines of growth and opportunity again, particularly for the young people of West Dunbartonshire?

[Andrew Rosindell (Romford) (Reform)]

Does the Secretary of State agree that we should prioritise the promotion of British heritage in schools? If so, will she bring in a policy to ensure that every school flies the Union Jack outside its premises, and that a different pupil gets the chance to raise the national flag every morning?

[Georgia Gould]

We already teach British values, and we are proud to teach our British heritage and our past to set us up for the future.

[Leigh Ingham (Stafford) (Lab)]

Given that this is Colleges Week, may I take the opportunity to mention Stafford college, which is widely accepted to be the best college in the country? It already has 1,150 students on manufacturing courses, and works with 250 local employers in the sector. Does the Minister agree that if Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group were made an advanced manufacturing technical excellence college, it could build on its excellent relationship with manufacturers locally?

--- Later in debate ---

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

I welcome the Education Secretary’s commitment to inclusion, but many children in York are not in school because of the disciplinary processes run by multi-academy trusts and the culture that ensues. What will she do to ensure that leaders in such trusts are held to account for that?

[Georgia Gould]

We think it is absolutely essential for all children to have access to an inclusive education. That is why Ofsted is now inspecting inclusion in all schools. As part of the schools White Paper and the special educational needs and disabilities consultation, we have set out new guidance on reasonable adjustments to support schools with that, and we will inspect multi-academy trusts on their decision-making.

[Suella Braverman (Fareham and Waterlooville) (Reform)]

Disgracefully, a pro-ayatollah students’ society plans to host a commemorative event on the campus of University College London in the name of “the fallen”—in other words, in support of those who backed the brutal regime of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Does the Secretary of State agree that it is utterly wrong that taxpayer-funded university resources are being used to propagate the murderous ideology of the Tehran regime, which has attacked UK bases, and with which we are effectively at war?

Young Children’s Screen Time

Georgia Gould Excerpts

Tuesday 10th February 2026 Westminster Hall

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Sir Jeremy, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for York Outer (Mr Charters) for his really powerful and heartfelt speech.

So much of what my hon. Friend set out today really resonated with me as the mum of a two-year-old. It can be a struggle to stay off the phone, and I would not really like to consider my own screen time, so it was brave of him to do so. He also spoke about the need to be present, the importance of messy outdoor play and the need for children to have protected childhoods, as well as how difficult it is to navigate this whole new world and, as a parent, to find the best advice and the right thing to do for our children. That is why debates such as this are so important, and why his leadership as a parent in this place is so critical. As he said, we want to harness the benefits of technology for education, but we want to protect children from harm.

Before I go into questions on screen time, I want to reflect on what my hon. Friend and the hon. Member for Yeovil (Adam Dance) said about opportunities in childhood—the need to have good youth services and opportunities for children to play, to be in sports activities and to perform. That is why, as the Minister for School Standards, I am focused on the enrichment opportunities around school, such as outdoor learning, music performance, the opportunity to be in a sports team—those are the things that give joy to the school experience and to young people’s childhoods.

[Anna Dixon]

I am sure that the Minister is aware that it is the National Year of Reading. On the wider opportunities to get our kids off their screens, would she commend the work of the National Literacy Trust in trying to restore the joy of reading, and perhaps share her favourite childhood book with us? Mine was “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”.

[Georgia Gould]

My next sentence was going to be about the National Year of Reading. I have been travelling around the country visiting schools and it has been wonderful to see how they are embracing it. I have been hearing about schools putting on pyjama parties for parents and children to read together, and I have been at schools when parents have come in to read with children. That brings the joy of reading to life, and I hope that we will see a similar experience to Australia with bookshops full of children embracing reading. At the moment, my son is obsessed with the “Mog” series, so all we do in my house is talk about Mog.

I recognise the concerns that my hon. Friend the Member for York Outer raised about the impact of screen time on young children. Early childhood is developmentally critical and screen time can displace healthy behaviours such as physical activity and adequate sleep, which have complex interactions with mental health and wellbeing.

[Alex Mayer (Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard) (Lab)]

I recently did a survey with local schools. Perhaps the children were more willing to put on the survey how much screen time they had when they were not supervised by their parents, but I was enthused about the things that they said they would do if they were not on social media, including spending far more time outdoors and reading, as has already been mentioned. Does the Minister agree that we need evidence, so we are not doing just what is simple but what is right?

[Georgia Gould]

Absolutely. Evidence is so important because this is a struggle. It is not about judging parents, but about giving them the best evidence and the tools that they need to make decisions to support their children.

[Adam Dance]

I thank the Minister, as always, for replying to me. Only 18% of dyslexics have access to assistive technology. I know that she is passionate about getting that changed, so are we on the right road to get more assistive technology into our education system for dyslexics?

[Georgia Gould]

Absolutely. We are really committed to supporting assistive technology. We have introduced new lending libraries, as the hon. Member is aware, and we recently announced a £200 million investment into teacher training. As part of that training, we want to look at how we can best use assistive technology in the classroom, as well as what we are doing around edtech and how we are growing its use in the classroom. That shows that technology can be helpful when it is supporting learning, and it is important to take a nuanced approach.

From recent Government research, we know that the children with the highest screen use—of around five hours daily—at age two can say significantly fewer words than those with lower use. My hon. Friend the Member for York Outer referred to research that said that 98% of two-year-olds watch a screen daily. As my hon. Friend the Member for Darlington (Lola McEvoy) set out, it is critical that parents have the right information to be able to support their children.

That is why we announced in January the first ever Government guidance for parents on screen use for under-fives, which aims to provide practical, non-judgmental advice to help parents balance screen use with activities that support children’s development such as playing, speaking and reading. Parents want that guidance. Parents in this Chamber want it, and polling from Kindred shows that 40% of parents say that reducing screen time would help ensure their child is ready for reception, underlining the demand for practical, trusted guidance in the early years.

I, therefore, recognise the significance of the issue and the responsibility to get it right. For that reason, we have set up the early years screen time advisory group, a new expert panel chaired by Professor Russell Viner—former chief scientific adviser to the Department for Education, leading paediatrician and expert in children’s health—and Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner for England.

The early years screen time advisory group will review the current evidence and existing advice on early years screen use to help inform the new guidance for parents. That group is holding its second meeting as we speak, which shows the urgency and seriousness with which the work is being taken forward. We want to hear directly from those with relevant knowledge and experience. We launched a two-week call for evidence on 2 February to ensure that the guidance is firmly grounded in evidence and expertise. I encourage hon. Members to share their evidence. My hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Anna Dixon) mentioned work being done in Bradford, which I encourage her to share.

[Lola McEvoy]

The Minister is giving a brilliant speech to sum up this important debate. Will the work she mentions consider the link between the need for more speech and language therapy for early years and screen time pre-school?

[Georgia Gould]

We want to look at the evidence, including any impact on speech and language. We are seeing a far greater need for speech and language support, which is why we are investing in new early years support around speech and language. That is surely one of the areas that the evidence will address.

Engagement sessions with parents, children, early years practitioners and stakeholders are taking place across England, allowing them to share what works in real family life, and what support they need from guidance. The guidance will be published in April and made available to parents through the Best Start in Life website, giving the clarity and support they are asking for to navigate screen time with their youngest children.

More broadly, my hon. Friend the Member for Swindon North (Will Stone) raised the issue of protecting children from harmful content. The Online Safety Act 2023 requires providers specifically to consider, as part of their risk assessment, how algorithms could impact children’s exposure to illegal content and content that is harmful to children on their service. Services that are assessed as easily accessed by children must put in place measures to prevent algorithms from pushing harmful content to children.

As we heard from my hon. Friend the Member for York Outer, there is a wider consultation—a national conversation—that will look at some of the broader issues. The Department for Education is committed to strengthening the evidence base on the impact of screen use and screen time on child development. Our set of longitudinal studies already gathers data on children’s screen and social media use, and will interrogate their relationship with mental health and cognitive development. We are funding a programme of research to better understand the impact of digital technologies on children.

We are in strong agreement with the overwhelming message from today: we cannot wait to act in this space. We have to look to protect and enhance our children’s lives online. It is right to continue to look at further action that could be taken, so I welcome today’s important debate. We will set out guidance, but it is important to have the national conversation, without blaming parents, to make sure that they have the information they need. When they want to get out and enjoy time with their children, we should provide the right activities and support to enable them to do so.

Question put and agreed to.

Education Funding: Distribution

Georgia Gould Excerpts

Wednesday 28th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

I thank the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Pippa Heylings) for securing this debate on this important matter. I really appreciate her taking the time to meet me and lay out her concerns in person. We had a very constructive conversation. I echo her thanks to all the brilliant teachers and staff who work so hard in her constituency. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Truro and Falmouth (Jayne Kirkham), who came to speak to me about similar issues, the work of the f40 group, and the need to support not just schools, but, more widely, the professionals who wrap around schools in communities around the country.

I want to start where the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire ended, which is with the stories of families. I have travelled around the country speaking to thousands of parents and young people, and sadly, the experience she set out is all too common: parents’ fight for support, the exhaustion of having to navigate different systems, and parents having to give up their jobs to make a full-time job of trying to get support for their children.

[Chris Coghlan]

On the point about the terrible fight that families face, the Minister will know that I wrote to the Education Committee to pass on the testimony of 653 families from across 114 local authorities about harmful, unethical or unlawful behaviour by local authorities on SEND. These testimonies have 195 references to suicide. One of them said:

“My child now has ptsd, has lost the full use of their arm, is covered in scars from failed suicide attempts”.

The Education Committee wrote to me saying that these testimonies corroborated its findings about the failures in local authority governance. Does the Minister agree that, on SEND, there can be no case for weakening EHCP children’s rights, and that families’ trust in local authority governance has collapsed?

[Georgia Gould]

The stories the hon. Member has collected are unimaginably awful, and I commend him for listening to families and engaging with the Education Committee. We are taking its report very seriously; it is one of the documents informing our approach to reform. Conversations with families around the country are informing it, too. We have been clear that we need more support earlier. He talked about the critical nature of early intervention, and families have told us about that. We need greater partnership and earlier support, but families are also very clear that we need a system that protects their legal entitlement to additional support in education. What we have seen, and the stories we have heard today, show the failure to invest in early intervention.

The hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire talked about the urgent need to bring forward the reforms. We said that we were determined to bring them forward in the first part of this year, and we are working very hard on that. However, we want to ensure that the voices of parents, young people and teachers are at the heart of decision making, and we have taken the time to do the further engagement. The proposals that we will take forward are strengthened by that engagement, and by the contribution of families and Members across the House.

However, we have not been waiting to invest and to take action. We have already invested in Best Start in Life hubs, and in leads on special educational needs and disabilities. We have put £740 million into capital for specialist places. We have announced a further £3 billion of capital for this year, and we will set out how that is to be distributed across the country. Just recently, we announced a further £200 million in support for teacher training, and we will make it mandatory for teachers to have continuous professional development on special educational needs and disabilities.

[Richard Foord (Honiton and Sidmouth) (LD)]

On the point about distributing funding across the country, does the Minister recognise that, under the current high needs block system, a pupil in Westminster receives £2,800, whereas a pupil in Devon receives less than half that amount? When designing the new system, would she ensure that it is less of a postcode lottery, and that rural areas like mine will not be certain to receive less funding?

[Georgia Gould]

We had to move quickly to bring extra funding into the system. Hon. Members will know that we have put an extra £1 billion into the high needs block, and we used the funding formula that was available. However, we will review that, to see whether it is in line with our reforms. We want to ensure that people get good-quality, consistent support, wherever they are in the country.

Despite the dire situation that we inherited, the Government have prioritised education spending. We have invested £1.7 billion in additional education funding in 2026-27. That is critical to support schools to give young people a positive mainstream education, but we recognise that we need to continue to work to make sure that we meet the needs of the future. We will be setting out more in the schools White Paper.

The issue of statutory override and the pressure on councils was mentioned. I am very aware of that, as I previously led a council. We need to recognise both the financial pressure on councils and the need for strong accountability for council performance. The size of the deficits that some councils are accruing may not be manageable with local resources alone, and we are going to bring forward arrangements to assist them as part of the broader SEND reforms. The Government will say more about that as part of the upcoming local government finance settlement in early February. The Government have been clear that SEND pressures will be absorbed within the overall Government departmental expenditure limit budget for 2028-29, such that the Government will not expect local authorities to need to fund SEND costs from general funds. We will set that out further in the future. I really appreciate the strength of feeling across the House and the cross-party working from everyone here.

[Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown]

We have already heard this evening about the difficulty of parents getting EHCPs. Even when they have got them—90% of parents who apply do eventually get them, despite the struggle—their provision is not guaranteed. The Government are spending record amounts on SEND, yet we are still not really solving the problems, so there is clearly something wrong with the system. We are eagerly awaiting the White Paper, but can we be assured that the system itself will be thoroughly examined to see how it can be overhauled?

[Georgia Gould]

I can absolutely assure the hon. Member that we are doing that work. We need to look at this issue at every level. We heard about the importance of early intervention. It is also critically important that we have strong partnerships across local authorities, schools and health, and that we look at the provision in every school and every community. The teacher training announcement was so important; our expectation is that every teacher in every school should be a teacher of young people with special educational needs and disabilities. We are also looking at the fabric of our buildings, the accountability systems and the support that is put in place.

[Vikki Slade]

A few weeks ago, I raised some of these very excessive charges, although I had a bit of pushback from some residents saying, “My child needs this very expensive school.” Can the Minister confirm whether the Government are looking at companies that are coming in and making profit at the expense of our children? We are talking about children who have very complex needs. For 78 children in one local authority in my constituency, the charge is more than £100,000 each. Thirty of those children are from one school alone.

[Georgia Gould]

We have put £3 billion into specialist places to ensure that there is high-quality provision across the system. Independent specialist schools play an important part in the system, but excessive profits should not be made from the care of children. We want the money that is going into the system to go into supporting children.

We also want to ensure that every child has the right to an education within their local community. I talk to too many children who have to travel, sometimes for two hours, to get an education. As I travel around the country to look at the system, I see two things. First, the system is absolutely in crisis; there is failure in every single part. I hear that from every single part of the system and we have heard some examples today. Secondly, there are dedicated people who are trying to make it work, including those mentioned by the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire. There are special educational needs co-ordinators and local partnerships who go the extra mile. There are schools that are thinking deeply about how to provide an inclusive education. That makes a difference; parents who are having a positive experience tell us that they can finally breathe because the support is in place. There are green shoots of that change—such as partnerships between special schools and mainstream schools—which we can build on.

We take this responsibility for generational change very seriously. My commitment is to work in partnership with everyone who cares about this issue. I appreciate the opportunity to continue these conversations and to continue to talk about the work we are doing. When we bring forward the schools White Paper, there will be a full consultation on the work we are setting out, and we have heard this evening, very powerfully, how important that work is. We cannot continue to fail children with special educational needs and disabilities and their families, and we need to give the right resources to the teachers, teaching assistants and health professionals who are trying to support them every day.

Question put and agreed to.

Oral Answers to Questions

Georgia Gould Excerpts

Monday 19th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Steve Yemm (Mansfield) (Lab)]

4. What steps she is taking to help ensure the integrity of school and college assessments and examinations.

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

I know how hard students around the country work for their exams, and how important it is to ensure consistency and fairness. Ofqual, the qualifications regulator, secures the safe, fair and resilient delivery of qualifications by regulating awarding organisations. As Ministers, we work closely with Ofqual, when needed, to support its work.

[Steve Yemm]

At West Notts college in my constituency of Mansfield, a significant number of learners requested that their English papers be remarked, because an unusually high number of students missed their expected grades. In fact, more than 50% of the papers that were remarked were given a higher grade, with some improving by two grades. The exam board, Pearson Edexcel, told the college that this was due to human error and the marking of one examiner, but later said that it was more widespread. The exam board has now refused to carry out a wider remark of the papers. Will the Minister join me in urging it to ensure that all students receive the grades that they deserve?

[Georgia Gould]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this issue; I am really sorry to hear about the uncertainty that it has caused students at West Notts college. He will understand that I cannot comment on individual cases, but I can say that Ofqual requires all awarding organisations to follow rigorous quality assurance procedures to ensure that marking is consistent and accurate. I understand that Ofqual issued enforcement action against three Pearson cases in December, resulting in a total of £2 million in fines.

[Dr Danny Chambers (Winchester) (LD)]

When I was studying for my A-levels, I had to work really hard to get the grades I needed to go on and study veterinary science at the amazing Liverpool University. Had social media existed at the time, I think it is really unlikely that I would have got the grades necessary, given that there are so many addictive algorithms that are distracting and bad for mental health. Will the Minister look seriously at the Liberal Democrat proposal to effectively ban social media in its current form for children? It is hugely distracting, and we want to ensure that every child can reach their educational potential.

[Mr Speaker]

That was a bit of stretch, I must admit. I do not know whether the Minister wants to stretch herself or not.

[Georgia Gould]

I cannot believe that you were not at university when social media existed—you look young enough to have been around—and I am amazed that you are able to concentrate in this Chamber. In all seriousness, we take the safety of young people incredibly seriously, which is why we are implementing the Online Safety Act 2023. We want to ensure that the opportunities of the internet are available to young people, but that they are kept safe online.

[Mr Speaker]

I gently say to the Minister that “you” refers to me. I certainly do not want to be held responsible.

[Georgia Gould]

You look young enough to use social media, Mr Speaker!

[Joe Powell (Kensington and Bayswater) (Lab)]

5. What steps she is taking to introduce a Ukrainian GCSE.

[Georgia Gould]

Decisions about which GCSEs to offer are taken by independent awarding organisations, rather than central Government. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has written to these organisations to ask them to consider introducing a Ukrainian GCSE, and discussions are ongoing. Alongside that, we are also considering alternative ways of supporting Ukrainian language learning.

[Joe Powell]

I thank the Minister for her answer. Ukrainian children, including 2,500 under the brilliant Ukrainian St Mary’s Trust, headquartered in Kensington and Bayswater, have been warmly welcomed, yet they still lack access to formal qualifications in their language. Alongside educators and my hon. Friend the Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Andrew Lewin), I recently met representatives of the AQA exam board, who told us that some children even have to take exams in Russian, which obviously undermines their national identity and standards in their native language. Can the Minister look at expediting the welcome commitment to reintroducing the Ukrainian GCSE and explore giving formal recognition to some of the Ukrainian language classes already out there, and will she agree to meet me and Ukrainian educators to discuss this campaign further?

[Georgia Gould]

I am so grateful for all the brilliant educators who have worked so hard to welcome Ukrainian children to the UK, including the team at St Mary’s school. I was really pleased to hear about the positive conversations my hon. Friend has been leading, and I am grateful to him for championing this important issue. I would be delighted to meet him and educators to look at how we can support taking this forward.

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

Bath has proudly welcomed hundreds of Ukrainian refugees, and we stand in full solidarity with the people of Ukraine, especially in Oleksandriya, which is our partner city. It has been concerning to hear that, in some parts of the country, Ukrainians have been encouraged to learn Russian as a GCSE, which can retraumatise children, as we have just heard. Does the Minister agree with me that until a Ukrainian GCSE is rolled out, no Ukrainian refugee should feel pressured into learning Russian?

[Georgia Gould]

I absolutely agree that all children should get to choose their GCSEs. I also agree about the importance of pushing forward with qualifications that support Ukrainian children, which is why my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has written to exam boards asking them to consider this.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Education Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

That was another good way of crowbarring something in, but I call the Minister.

[Georgia Gould]

We absolutely support the development of a British Sign Language GCSE. As I have said, we also support the development of a Ukrainian GCSE. We are taking this up with exam boards, and we will continue to do so.

[Josh Babarinde (Eastbourne) (LD)]

Does the Minister agree with me that any Ukrainian GCSE should also include teaching on the importance of national sovereignty and the international rules-based order? If so, does she agree that Donald Trump should be the first to sit that GCSE, so that in relation to Greenland, he can learn to keep his hands off a country that is not his?

[Chris Bloore (Redditch) (Lab)]

6. What assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of powers to intervene where local authorities are not meeting statutory SEND duties.

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

Where a council does not meet its special educational needs and disabilities duties, the Department will take action to prioritise children’s needs and support rapid improvement. The support and challenge offered are based on what works in SEND learnings and expertise from independent chairs, SEND advisers and SEND commissioners. The effectiveness of actions taken will be assessed by Ofsted monitoring inspections and robust monitoring by the Department.

[Chris Bloore]

I thank the Minister for her answer. She knows that Worcestershire county council has repeatedly failed children with special educational needs and disabilities and their families. Many parents report persistent failures to meet statutory duties and experiences of being dismissed or gaslit, causing prolonged distress to families already under extreme pressure. Can the Minister assure me and families in Redditch that, as part of the schools White Paper, she will be looking at how we can properly hold local authorities to account, and where there is failure, drive swift improvement?

[Georgia Gould]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this issue. I have travelled around the country talking to parents and, sadly, the story he has set out in his constituency of parents having to battle for support is one we hear in too many communities. We want to ensure that the voices of children and their parents are at the heart of reform, and we want a system based on partnership and collaboration, but we know that it has to be underpinned by robust accountability. In the meantime, we will continue to work closely with Ofsted to ensure that performance is monitored and, where it drops, that we are taking action.

[Steve Barclay (North East Cambridgeshire) (Con)]

In the Secretary of State’s letter to me of 11 January, she said that the much-needed special educational needs school, Lime academy in March, could proceed if the Lib Dem county council responds by 27 February to say that it is a priority. Could the Minister confirm from the Dispatch Box that funding will be allocated for that priority school if the local authority, run by the Lib Dems, confirms to the Government its desire to do so?

[Georgia Gould]

We have set out that that special school can continue. In most cases we have given local authorities a choice about whether they want to build a special school or come forward with places that would be fully funded. We can follow up with a letter, but our intention is to provide that support, which is why we have written to the right hon. Member.

[Dr Beccy Cooper (Worthing West) (Lab)]

8. What assessment she has made of the potential impact of flu vaccination levels on rates of school absence in autumn 2025.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

The autumn Budget made it clear that future special educational needs and disabilities funding will be managed as part of overall Government departmental expenditure. We have subsequently set out new investment, including £3 billion for creating 50,000 new specialist places, and £200 million for SEND training for education staff.

[Gregory Stafford]

In Surrey, the high needs block deficit is forecast to rise to £165 million by 2027. Although Conservative-run Surrey county council has earmarked £144 million in reserves to ease that pressure, that cannot be a long-term solution. Can the Minister confirm whether and when Surrey’s safety valve agreement will be extended?

[Georgia Gould]

We recognise that the size of deficits that councils are accruing while the statutory override is in place might not be manageable with local resources alone. We will be setting out more information in the local government settlement this year.

[Peter Swallow (Bracknell) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Minister for visiting my constituency last year, and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education for visiting last week, when she came to see an expanded school nursery at Uplands primary in Sandhurst. She took the opportunity to speak to some fantastic hard-working teachers, and to hear their concerns about the level of SEND need and the need for more support. I welcome the announcement of £200 million extra funding for SEND training, which will be vital for teachers who need that extra support.

[Georgia Gould]

I was delighted to visit my hon. Friend’s constituency and to see some brilliant work, including a new SEND resource base that means children who would otherwise have to travel for miles are instead being educated in their community. As my hon. Friend sets out, I heard from teachers who wanted to put in more support but did not always have the tools to allow them to do so. I am delighted that we are able to invest in teacher training, which will support teachers in his constituency and across the country.

[Iqbal Mohamed (Dewsbury and Batley) (Ind)]

In Kirklees, where my constituency sits, three quarters of EHCPs—education, health and care plans—took more than 20 weeks. Some 46% took over one year, which is six and a half times higher than the 2024 national average of 7.3%. What steps is the Secretary of State taking to ensure timely access to legally entitled support for children with SEND in Kirklees?

[Georgia Gould]

As I set out, we have heard that too many families across the country are having to fight for, and wait for, support. That is not acceptable, which is why we are bringing forward the investment in early intervention that we have talked about today: the £3 billion for specialist places, the £200 million for teacher training, and the Best Start hubs. But we know that more needs to be done, which is why we are having a national conversation about SEND and will be bringing forward reforms.

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

I note that the Minister has not been to Harlow yet. [Laughter.] Families in Harlow have completely lost faith in the SEND system that we inherited. I do not think that it is too much of a stretch to suggest that parents are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after battling to get support for their children. Will she outline, based on the specialist places she mentioned in a previous answer, what the Government are doing to ensure that we have a system that does not pit families, and indeed education professionals, against a system that is broken?

[Georgia Gould]

I will make sure that that oversight is corrected as soon as possible—although, I am not sure that my hon. Friend has actually invited me to Harlow yet, but I know the Prime Minister has been. My hon. Friend has written to me with stories of parents fighting the system—I have heard many like them—completely exhausted and often having to give up their jobs in order to fight for support for their children. It is just not good enough. We recognise that support needs to be available much earlier, we are investing in it, and that is the basis of the reforms that we will be bringing forward.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Saqib Bhatti (Meriden and Solihull East) (Con)]

I note that the Minister, in response to my hon. Friend the Member for Farnham and Bordon (Gregory Stafford), said that the Budget gave much clarity, but the reality is that the Office for Budget Responsibility analysis highlighted a £6 billion funding gap. I almost feel sorry for the Education team, because the Chancellor has backed them into an uncomfortable corner with her own Back Benchers with nowhere to turn, but they do need to be honest with parents and teachers who rely on these provisions. So again we ask: how do they intend to fill the £6 billion black hole hanging over the Department? Will there be cuts to services or to schools?

[Georgia Gould]

The Chancellor and the Secretary of State have been crystal clear that any remaining deficits will come from across Government. Opposition Members know that but are seeking to spread fear among parents. As we have heard across the House, there is already enough fear about the system. As I have travelled across the country, I have heard from so many families who have been failed—failed for years under the hon. Member’s Government. That is the reality. If I was them, I would come to this Chamber with an apology or with some answers, but we hear neither. We are acting. We are putting £3 billion into desperately needed specialist places. We are putting £200 million into teacher training, which is something that has been asked for across the House. We have changed Ofsted. We are putting money into early intervention for children. We will back children and families across the country.

[Rachel Taylor (North Warwickshire and Bedworth) (Lab)]

11. What steps her Department is taking to help improve the governance of academy trusts.

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

Robust governance is crucial to achieving a strong schools system and helping every child to achieve and thrive. The Department has set out new guidance, including the academy trust handbook, setting out core expectations and providing essential support to governors, trustees and governance professionals in fulfilling their strategic and statutory roles.

[Rachel Taylor]

Financial mismanagement by the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership trust has led to disputes with the National Education Union and, currently, strikes, which is disrupting the learning of students across the west midlands, including at the Coleshill school and Curdworth primary school in my constituency. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that academy trusts are well managed and build positive relationships with staff so that students and parents do not have to endure this disruption again?

[Georgia Gould]

I thank my hon. Friend and other colleagues who came to see me a few weeks ago about this issue and the impact it is having on their communities. We continue to work with the trust. The work of multi-academy trusts is crucial for children, families and school staff, and it is right that they are subject to transparent accountability. We are delivering our manifesto commitment by legislating to introduce Ofsted inspections of academy trusts and related intervention powers for the Secretary of State, which will support strong governance across the sector, ensuring that the interests of children always come first.

[Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)]

Pressures on schools to convert to academy trusts are considerable and widespread, but academising at all costs is not always in everybody’s interests. Some parents in Glastonbury and Somerton have told me that they are concerned that where decisions are taken across a number of schools, performance could diminish as a result. What steps is the Minister taking to monitor trusts and hold them accountable, especially where a school that has joined with an academy has failed to improve?

[Georgia Gould]

I have seen real benefits from collaboration in saving money and sharing best practice to support children in their learning. However, as I have just set out, it is crucial that there is strong accountability, and we are legislating to bring in inspections for multi-academy trusts to ensure that there is strong governance and accountability.

[Rosie Duffield (Canterbury) (Ind)]

12. What recent progress she has made on publishing guidance for gender-questioning children in schools.

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

The Department for Education is currently reviewing the draft non-statutory guidance for schools and colleges on gender-questioning children, looking carefully at the consultation response. We are clear that children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of this guidance.

[Rosie Duffield]

The Secretary of State told the House that the guidance for schools would be published by the end of 2025, yet here we still are without the guidance anywhere to be seen. There is immense pressure on schools, colleges, children’s homes and other settings to socially transition children, often irrespective of parents’ wishes, with the obvious potential risks of long-term psychological harm to the children, many of whom, like Keira Bell and some taking part in the upcoming puberty blockers trial, will go on to change their minds over time. When can schools expect the guidance?

[Georgia Gould]

This is about the wellbeing of children and young people, and it is critical that we get it right. It is therefore important that we consider the consultation responses and evidence carefully alongside the view of stakeholders and the Cass review, in order to get the guidance right for young people.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Saqib Bhatti (Meriden and Solihull East) (Con)]

That was a disappointing answer. The Government have been hiding behind the Cass review, which was published more than two years ago, for months. In April last year, the Education Secretary promised to publish the guidance by the end of the year, to give schools and teachers much needed clarity on these sensitive issues. That deadline has been spectacularly missed, and schools have been left in limbo to figure this out themselves. I implore the Secretary of State and the ministerial team to put ideology aside and finally act to protect our children. Will they do that?

[Georgia Gould]

This is a really serious issue that requires deep thought. We are working to ensure that we listen to the consultation and to experts to get this right for children. We make no apology for taking this decision carefully.

[Daniel Francis (Bexleyheath and Crayford) (Lab)]

13. What steps she is taking to ensure high-quality school places for children with SEND.

--- Later in debate ---

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

16. What assessment she has made of the adequacy of SEND provision for blind and partially sighted children.

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

I thank my hon. Friend for her efforts in so brilliantly representing the interests of visually impaired young people and the time that she has spent with me on this important topic. I am delighted to be attending a roundtable this week that she has organised with the Royal National Institute of Blind People to hear the personal testimonies of young people. All schools have legal duties to make reasonable adjustments for disabled pupils, and special schools must ensure that they cater for those with complex needs. I am really pleased that the teacher training announcement includes support for visually impaired children.

[Marsha De Cordova]

I welcome the work that the Minister is doing, and I look forward to our roundtable meeting. Research by Guide Dogs has found that 69% of non-specialist teachers said that they lacked the confidence and the skills to support disabled children, including children with visual impairments, so I welcome the Government’s new SEND announcement on teacher training, which I know will include blind and partially sighted children. However, training alone is not enough, so can the Minister set out what steps the Government are taking to ensure that schools and local authorities properly understand and implement their legal obligations on reasonable adjustments, so that blind and partially sighted children and young people are not put at a disadvantage?

[Georgia Gould]

We have commissioned research to strengthen the evidence base of what works to improve inclusive practice in mainstream settings, including for sensory impairment, and I look forward to discussing what more we can do together later this week.

[Graham Stuart (Beverley and Holderness) (Con)]

Blind and partially sighted children in the East Riding of Yorkshire receive lower funding through the higher needs block than anywhere else in the country, yet in the settlement the East Riding will receive the smallest increase in the country at just 2%, compared with an average of over 6%. How can it possibly be justified that children in the rural, coastal East Riding of Yorkshire, who are already the worst funded in the country, are going to see the gap widen? Minister, please explain.

[Georgia Gould]

Revenue funding for young people with complex SEND has increased by £1.8 billion since July 2024, bringing total high-needs funding to well over £12 billion. Will be setting out more in the schools White Paper around further funding and how that is distributed.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sarah Owen (Luton North) (Lab)]

T4. Many schools with SEND provision, including Beechwood primary school, would benefit from a sensory room and more family workers, while staff at Woodlands secondary school need more resources to enable them to work safely and support students. Will the Minister commit to better resourcing for SEND, and join me in visiting one of our brilliant schools to see the difference the funding could make?

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

I thank my hon. Friend for our recent discussion about this issue. The £3 billion we are investing in schools is precisely for sensory rooms and other investments to make schools more accessible for young people. I would be delighted to join her on a visit.

[Charlie Dewhirst (Bridlington and The Wolds) (Con)]

T6.   The Secretary of State and I have had a number of exchanges over the past 18 months about the historical formula that leaves children with SEND in the East Riding as the worst funded in the country. I am sure she understands my frustration about the latest settlement, which will increase that inequality—our frustration is reflected in the fact that I am the third Member of Parliament from the East Riding to raise this issue today. Will the Secretary of State assure the House that this is not the end of the matter, and will she meet me and East Riding colleagues to find a constructive way forward?

--- Later in debate ---

[Carla Denyer (Bristol Central) (Green)]

T7. I have heard from constituents who are worried that the updated guidance on relationship and sex education encourages but does not actually require primary schools to teach about same-sex relationships. Will the Minister set out how she will ensure that all children learn, in an age-appropriate way, about a diverse range of relationships if it is left to schools’ discretion? The charity Just Like Us found that only 19% of LGBT parents say their child’s school openly discusses diverse relationships.

[Georgia Gould]

The new guidance sets out inclusion for all children and the recognition of those relationships. As the hon. Member will know, that is mandatory in secondary school, and we continue to take that work forward.

[Jim Dickson (Dartford) (Lab)]

T8. As in many communities across the country, in Dartford there is a real need to improve access to places and spaces where people, especially children, can be physically active, including through play and sport. What plans are there to increase the use of facilities on school sites, including through enrichment and increased community access? What role can the forthcoming school sport partnership networks play?

[Georgia Gould]

We are committed to opening up access to school grounds and sports facilities; that is a key part of the school sport partnership work we are developing. I look forward to working with my hon. Friend to develop it.

[Sarah Green (Chesham and Amersham) (LD)]

The guidance for complaints in children’s social care was issued 20 years ago and has not been updated since. Those who work in the system say that it is out of date, and the ombudsman echoes their concerns. Will the Minister outline what steps the Department is taking to ensure that the guidance is up to date? Will he meet me to hear the concerns that have been shared with me?

Dedicated Schools Grant

Georgia Gould Excerpts

Wednesday 17th December 2025 Written Statements

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

Today the Department for Education has published local authorities’ allocations through the dedicated schools grant for schools, high needs, central schools services and early years for 2026-27. Overall, core schools funding is increasing by £1.7 billion in 2026-27 compared with 2025-26, bringing total core schools funding to £67 billion next year.

For mainstream schools funding, the DSG allocations update the provisional national funding formula allocations that were published on 19 November 2025 with the latest pupil numbers from the autumn 2025 school census. Nationally, mainstream school funding in the DSG is increasing by 2.6% per pupil in 2026-27 compared with 2025-26. This will support mainstream schools with ongoing costs and deliver an excellent education for all, including pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.

High-needs funding for local authorities was increased by over £1 billion, or 11%, in 2025-26, and funding will continue at this increased level in 2026-27. This follows the announcements earlier this month of targeted funding for SEND specialists in Best Start family hubs to provide earlier intervention and support for children and families, and the Department’s announcement on 12 December of at least £3 billion of capital investment between 2026-27 and 2029-30 to deliver 50,000 specialist places, in addition to 10,000 places to be delivered through special and alternative provision free schools or alternative funding for local authorities.

Alongside the DSG allocations, pupil premium funding rates for 2026-27 have been published today. These rates are increasing by 2.23%, in line with the GDP deflator measure of inflation, as the Government continue to invest in closing attainment gaps and breaking the link between background and success.

The Government will publish the Schools White Paper in the new year, building on the work already done to create a system that is rooted in inclusion, where every child receives high-quality support early on and can achieve and thrive in their local school. The Government are undertaking a period of co-creation with families, teachers and experts from across the sector to hear their views and test proposals for reform. The White Paper will set out further details on the investment provided for SEND reform at spending review 2025—on top of the DSG allocations published today to deliver excellent, inclusive education for every child.

In setting their budgets for 2026-27, local authorities will need to continue to ensure that they fulfil existing statutory duties to secure appropriate provision for children with education, health and care plans in both mainstream schools and specialist settings, as well as support moves to make the education system more inclusive, in the run-up to wider reform.

We recognise that the size of deficits that councils are accruing while the statutory override is in place may not be manageable with local resources alone, and will bring forward arrangements to assist with them. The Government will provide further details on our plans to support local authorities with historical and accruing deficits, and on conditions for accessing such support, later in the local government finance settlement process. Support provided to local authorities will be linked to assurance that they are taking steps to make a reformed, inclusive education system a reality, in conjunction with the Government confirming the detail of SEND reform. Local authorities should not wait for these details to assess their current plans to ensure they are realising best outcomes and value for young people. Like all areas of spending, we continue to expect local authorities to make sure they are doing all they can locally to manage their system effectively, ensuring the money is being spent in line with best practice. This is a joint effort, with shared responsibility between Government, local authorities, health partners and schools.

Indicative allocations for the 2026-27 early years block of the DSG have also been published. The early years block funds Government-funded childcare hours, which are crucial to delivering our ambition for a record proportion of children to be starting school ready by 2028, as set out in the “Giving every child the best start in life” strategy. In 2026-27, we expect to spend over £9.5 billion on the early years entitlements—an increase of over £1 billion compared with 2025-26 that delivers an above-inflation increase to entitlements funding rates. Early years allocations are updated based on the numbers of children taking up the entitlements, with final allocations available in July 2027. This investment, alongside the hard work and dedication of early years educators, providers and local authorities, has ensured the successful expansion of Government-funded childcare, with the 30-hours roll-out saving working families an average of £7,500 a year.

The dedicated schools grant allocations are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2026-to-2027

[HCWS1197]

Village Schools

Georgia Gould Excerpts

Wednesday 10th December 2025 Westminster Hall

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

It is a privilege to serve under your chairship, Ms Butler. I thank the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Manuela Perteghella) for securing a debate on this important matter. I share her commitment to investment in education; it is at the core of our opportunity mission, which is why we continue to invest in schools.

We have heard from the hon. Member and others about the importance of rural schools. We recognise the essential role that rural schools play in their communities. We know that to preserve access for young children, local authorities may need to maintain more empty places in schools in rural areas than in urban areas. Small schools generally receive more funding per pupil than larger schools, in recognition of the circumstances that they face.

[Edward Morello (West Dorset) (LD)]

The Minister says that rural schools receive more funding per pupil than urban schools, but one of my local headmasters, who previously taught in London, tells me that he received £10,000 per pupil in London but only £5,000 in West Dorset. That suggests that the Treasury funding model simply does not reflect the increased cost of living and of providing services in rural Britain. Will the Minister have conversations with the Treasury to get rurality included as a metric in its funding model?

[Georgia Gould]

The national funding formula accounts for the challenges faced by small schools in rural areas, both through the lump sum and through the sparsity factor. In 2025-26, primary schools eligible for sparsity funding attract up to £57,400, and all other schools eligible for sparsity funding attract up to £83,400. However, if the hon. Gentleman writes to me about the particular circumstances he raises, I will be very happy to look into them.

Today’s discussion has focused on the future of Great Alne primary school, a small rural school located on the edge of Great Alne, a village in Warwickshire. As I think the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon pointed out, it has been at the heart of the village for over 180 years, educating generations of families. It is known for its small class sizes and close-knit environment and offers a setting in which pupils receive individual attention. Its ethos, “responsible, respectful, ready”, reflects a commitment to nurturing well-rounded learners and positive values.

We believe that decisions about school closures always need careful reflection. They affect pupils, families and communities deeply. As part of this Government’s commitment to supporting every child to achieve and thrive, we want to ensure that every child has access to high-quality education in a sustainable setting. Great Alne primary school serves children aged between four and 11. It has an operational capacity of 105 places, but currently only 21 pupils are on roll, so just 20% of the available places are being used.

The Department has set out guidance to local authorities to support them in carefully considering whether school closure is appropriate. The local authority considers that it has followed the guidance and has actively sought to keep the school open. As the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon knows, the local authority has now progressed to the stage of consulting stakeholders on potential closure proposals.

Local authorities must ensure sufficient school places and manage the school estate efficiently. When school capacity data shows limited capacity in the immediate area for some year groups, the local authority has confirmed that spaces are available in neighbouring areas for any displaced pupils.

[Lisa Smart (Hazel Grove) (LD)]

In my Hazel Grove constituency, the most rural area is Mellor. We have children from primary schools looking to go to Marple Hall, which is their nearest secondary school. Marple Hall has recently joined an academy trust, and of course different rules about admissions come with that. It is causing parents a lot of consternation about the future admissions policy. I wonder whether the Minister could comment on any plans that she and her colleagues have to look at how academies can set their admissions policy to ensure that all local children get a good local secondary place of their choosing.

[Georgia Gould]

As the hon. Member will be aware, local authorities have a responsibility to ensure that all children have a sufficient place. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which is progressing through the House of Lords, has some changes around admissions that we think will ensure that children get a place at a school that meets their needs.

The Department for Education recognises the importance of supporting rural schools and the educational offer in Warwickshire. We have worked in partnership with Warwickshire local authorities since Ofsted published an inspection report of “inadequate” in January 2023. Local authorities hold the statutory place-planning function, ensuring that there are sufficient schools to meet pupil needs. This includes collaborating with academy trusts and partners to balance supply and demand in line with changing demographics.

[Markus Campbell-Savours (Penrith and Solway) (Ind)]

It is not just about money. In my constituency of Penrith and Solway, we have seen the unrestricted change of use of properties from homes to holiday lets, which has led to the depopulation of villages and has undermined local schools. I understand that the Minister for Housing and Planning is currently deliberating on the regulation of the self-catering sector. Will the Minister raise this issue as part of those deliberations?

[Georgia Gould]

I thank the hon. Member for raising that critical issue. I would be happy to raise it to ensure that the impact on school places is taken into account as part of the decision making. I thank him for championing it.

We recognise these challenges. That is why we published “Running rural primary schools efficiently”, which examines how to run small rural schools effectively. Alongside it, “Opening and closing maintained schools” sets out statutory guidance for local authorities considering school closures. The guidance includes a presumption against the closure of rural schools. That does not, however, mean that a rural school will never close, but the case for closure must be strong and it must be clearly in the best interests of educational provision in the area.

I also want to respond to the points that have been made about home-to-school transport. We believe that it is critical for supporting children into education. I understand that Warwickshire county council has written to the Secretary of State with proposals to ask children to walk a greater distance, and the Secretary of State has responded very strongly against those proposals.

[Tom Gordon]

The home-to-school transport issue has affected people across North Yorkshire. One of the campaigners, Jo Foster, has been leading and working with the School Transport Action Group and has highlighted the inconsistency in the local authority’s approach. It used to be catchment-based, which makes sense in big rural areas that follow dales, rather than insisting that children must go to the nearest school geographically as the crow flies, which does not make sense. Will the Minister commit to ensuring that local authorities listen to parents on the ground and ensuring that children can get to the schools their siblings go to, on the routes that they used to be able to reach by public transport? That simply does not exist under these new provisions.

[Georgia Gould]

I thank the hon. Member for raising that issue, on which we are working with colleagues in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. If he writes to me about his specific concerns, I will make sure that they are raised as part of our ongoing work.

Ministers have no direct role in the local statutory process or decision-making arrangements for changes to maintained rural schools. These decisions rest with the local authority. We understand that Warwickshire county council has begun the pre-statutory process for a potential closure by 31 August 2026, which includes full consultation with parents, staff and the wider community. This is a significant decision, and we recognise the strength of local feeling. Our priority remains ensuring that every child receives the highest-quality education, and we will continue to work closely with Warwickshire county council throughout this process to achieve that goal. I welcome the specific points that have been made, and I will follow up on everything that has been discussed today.

Question put and agreed to.

Education

Georgia Gould Excerpts

Wednesday 10th December 2025 Written Corrections

[Baggy Shanker (Derby South) (Lab/Co-op)]

Failed, humiliated and made to feel too much trouble for schools to look after—that is how one Derby mum says she and her son, who has cerebral palsy, felt when, after a staggering 14 months out of school, he was offered a school place that still did not meet his needs. Does the Minister agree that we urgently need to invest in schools to ensure that their facilities are fit to enable children with special educational needs to attend fully?

[Georgia Gould]

I am so sorry to hear that story. Sadly, I have heard too many such stories, of children kept out of education because schools are unable to meet their needs. That is the legacy we inherited, and that is why we are investing £740 million in improving the accessibility of our school buildings.

[Official Report, 1 December 2025; Vol. 776, c. 653.]

Written correction submitted by the Minister for School Standards, the hon. Member for Queen's Park and Maida Vale (Georgia Gould):

[Georgia Gould]

I am so sorry to hear that story. Sadly, I have heard too many such stories, of children kept out of education because schools are unable to meet their needs. That is the legacy we inherited, and that is why we are investing £740 million to support children and young people with SEND, including by improving the accessibility of our school buildings.

Oral Answers to Questions

Georgia Gould Excerpts

Monday 1st December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jessica Toale (Bournemouth West) (Lab)]

6. What steps she is taking to reform the national curriculum.

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

With huge thanks to the work of Professor Becky Francis and the wider team, we are reforming the national curriculum to ensure that it sets up young people for success in a changing world. We are raising standards in oracy, reading, writing and maths, equipping every young person with the knowledge, skills and breadth of education they need to succeed. We will also deliver a digital national curriculum to ensure that teachers can teach a broad and rich curriculum, linking subjects and knowledge.

[Jessica Toale]

Last week during UK Parliament Week, I visited LEAF Studio, a specialist sports and performing arts school and sixth form in my Bournemouth West constituency. While all schools have welcomed the curriculum modernisation, I have a specific question from Mr Jones at LEAF Studio: will drama be made more accessible for children in the curriculum?

[Georgia Gould]

I can absolutely reassure Mr Jones that drama is included within English in the current national curriculum and is compulsory up to the age of 16. The Government plan to strengthen curriculum content for drama and English and ensure that GCSEs and arts subjects are fit for purpose. I know how much brilliant work drama teachers do, and how that supports children with self-expression and confidence, hopefully setting them up for many careers, including the one we are all here doing today.

[Lee Anderson (Ashfield) (Reform)]

Year 9 students at Quarrydale academy in Ashfield are currently studying politics, and on their display board they had the words “extreme right-wing parties”, “Nazi party” and “fascism”. At the side of those words, they had pictures of Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, my hon. Friend the Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage) and me. Does the Minister think that should be on the curriculum?

[Georgia Gould]

We have strict rules about political impartiality within our education system and we are clear about those rules. All schools should apply them.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Saqib Bhatti (Meriden and Solihull East) (Con)]

Last month’s curriculum review demonstrated that the Government are fixated on watering down the curriculum, whether that is scrapping the English baccalaureate or changing Progress 8. These changes will lower standards for our children and harm them in the long term. The Minister thanked Professor Becky Francis, and she was right to do so, so why have the Government ignored the independent curriculum review and decided to change Progress 8 and lower outcomes for our children?

[Georgia Gould]

I am surprised that the Conservatives are continuing to attack this curriculum review when it has been broadly welcomed by businesses, by schools and by education leaders. Our response has also been broadly welcomed. The review strengthens standards, forms a new statutory year 8 reading test and improves access to triple science. It will engage young people who have fallen out of education. It includes a strong focus on standards and a focus on breadth—we want our young people to have both. The previous Government did not invest in the arts, and we are continuing to invest and rebuild in the arts in our curriculum.

[Cameron Thomas (Tewkesbury) (LD)]

8. What recent assessment she has made of trends in the number of suspensions and exclusions among pupils with SEND.

--- Later in debate ---

[Connor Naismith (Crewe and Nantwich) (Lab)]

9. What steps she is taking to help increase levels of attainment in schools.

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

The Government’s mission is to open up opportunity for every child and we are working with schools across the country to strengthen attainment. That includes regional improvement for excellence and standards teams, recruiting 6,500 teachers, a refreshed high-quality curriculum and tackling barriers to attainment, including child poverty.

[Connor Naismith]

I am concerned about attainment levels across secondary schools in Crewe, where, on average, only about 46% of pupils achieve a grade 4 in English and maths. Will the Minister meet me to discuss what further support we can provide to our hard-working school leaders and teaching staff to help raise outcomes and ensure that every child in Crewe gets the opportunities that they deserve?

[Georgia Gould]

I know how hard the leaders, teachers and support staff in Crewe will be working, and we want to get behind them to deliver outcomes for students. We will support schools to use formative assessments in writing and maths, and introduce a new statutory reading test for all year 8 pupils, to prevent children slipping through the net. Of course, I will be delighted to meet my hon. Friend to discuss this further.

[Tom Tugendhat (Tonbridge) (Con)]

I welcome the ambition for greater attainment, but does the Minister agree that cancelling the large programme uplift funding for schools offering the international baccalaureate, as the Government have recently done, has left year 11 students, particularly at schools like Tonbridge grammar school, which I have the privilege to represent, somewhat lost and therefore struggling to achieve the attainment of which she speaks?

[Georgia Gould]

Colleges can continue to fund the international baccalaureate. We are focused on raising standards for all students, and we are already seeing the difference that that is making in increased attendance and increased investment in the school system.

[Alison Bennett (Mid Sussex) (LD)]

10. What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the adoption and special guardianship support fund.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

The Department is working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to improve access to community health services, including speech and language therapy for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, and we have extended the early language support for every child programme.

[Josh Fenton-Glynn]

Currently, about 60,000 children are waiting for their first speech and language therapy appointment, and some are waiting for over a year. As with a lot of SEND problems, this happens because health and education are not working that well together. Can the Minister tell me what we are doing to bring allied health professionals—including speech and language therapists—closer to schools, so that families do not fall through the cracks?

[Georgia Gould]

I welcomed the opportunity to discuss this issue with my hon. Friend last week, and I am grateful for his work on the Health and Social Care Committee on the subject. We agreed about the need for partners to work together to fix the SEND system, and I will be working closely with Ministers from the Department of Health and Social Care to move towards a better system which works for all.

[Iqbal Mohamed (Dewsbury and Batley) (Ind)]

My constituency sits in Kirklees, which continues to face some of the most severe pressures in the country in relation to high needs and SEND provision, including long waits for EHCP assessments and strained specialist support. What additional resources will the Department provide to ensure that children with special educational needs and disabilities in areas such as my constituency receive timely and proper support?

[Georgia Gould]

In this financial year we have already put £1 billion into the high needs budget and £740 million into specialist places around the country. We are committed to helping schools to provide an inclusive service, and we will be setting out more plans in the schools White Paper.

[Clive Jones (Wokingham) (LD)]

15. What steps she is taking to provide adequate funding for special educational needs provision.

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

We are committed to investing in improving the SEND system, and, as I said a moment ago, we have invested an extra £1 billion in the high needs block and £740 million in specialist places. The core schools budget for 2026-27 will total £67 billion, an increase from £65.3 million in 2025-26. That additional funding will provide an above-real-terms per-pupil increase in overall schools funding, which will take per-pupil funding to its highest ever level and help us to transform the SEND system.

[Clive Jones]

In Wokingham there are not enough SEND places for pupils, which means that they have to travel outside the borough and sometimes a long way from their homes to go to school. In 2022, Wokingham bid for two SEND schools and were given those two schools, but nothing has happened since then; the Government have still not committed any funding to the schools. Will the Minister tell me now when the funding will be released so that the council can start building them?

[Georgia Gould]

We are absolutely committed to the education of children in their local communities, and I have seen the difference that the £740 million we have put into specialist places has made: children can now be educated in resource bases linked to schools. In relation to the two schools that the hon. Gentleman mentioned, as the Under-Secretary of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Whitehaven and Workington (Josh MacAlister), said earlier, we hope to provide those answers as soon as possible.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Education Committee.

[Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab)]

This morning I visited the Nido Volans Centre, a specialist college in my constituency, and enjoyed a delicious cup of tea made by two students, Marco and Jason. Nido Volans means “Fly the Nest”, and the college provides education and training on independent living and employability skills for young people with special educational needs and disabilities up to the age of 25. Will the Secretary of State join me in celebrating Natspec’s The Power of Specialist FE Awareness Week, and will she assure me that the Government’s SEND reform proposals will fully recognise the vital role of specialist colleges and the need for sustainable funding, so that every young person who can benefit from a specialist college placement has access to one?

[Georgia Gould]

I should very much like to celebrate this week, and I agree about the importance of access to specialist colleges and helping children into work. I have visited specialist providers and seen how proud headteachers are to be helping children into supported internships and helping them with their next steps. They are doing incredibly important work. Our schools White Paper examines how we can help children with special educational needs to thrive into adulthood.

[Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)]

On 16 June I asked the Secretary of State what she understood to be the drivers behind the phenomenon of the exponential rise in the number of children with special educational needs. She replied:

“My Department, and the Department of Health and Social Care, are keen to understand…the drivers”.—[Official Report, 16 June 2025; Vol. 769, c. 11.]

May I ask what work the Secretary of State has done in the intervening six months, and what she understands better today than she did on 16 June?

[Georgia Gould]

Again, we are absolutely committed to supporting children with special educational needs, and to understanding why we are seeing increases. Much of the evidence suggests that we are much better at diagnosing and understanding their needs, which is a positive development, but we are continuing to work with colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care to review the evidence and understand how we can best intervene and support children—and, critically, not have to wait for a diagnosis, but be able to support children at the point when needs emerge.

[Kim Johnson (Liverpool Riverside) (Lab)]

I really welcome the Government’s increasing funding for SEND. However, almost 8,000 children in Liverpool now require an EHCP. The number has doubled over the past three years, with many parents struggling to find a school place that meets the needs of their child. Can the Minister please provide assurances to the Liverpool Parents and Carers Forum that the plan in the Budget to move the financial responsibility for SEND from local authorities to the Department for Education will be given the funding it needs to provide support to children who need it, including for earlier intervention, adequate specialist places and inclusive mainstream support?

[Georgia Gould]

I can assure my hon. Friend that we are already investing in special educational needs, and we will continue to invest in special educational needs.

[Mr Jonathan Brash (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

19. What steps her Department is taking to help support families to read with their child before they start nursery and school.

--- Later in debate ---

[Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

20. What steps her Department is taking to make school classrooms more accessible to children with SEND.

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

I have seen the difference that fully accessible schools make for young people. Pupils have proudly shown me the sensory spaces that they use to self-regulate, and schools have helped create inclusion hubs, supporting young people to thrive. The Department has invested £740 million in high needs capital to support children and young people with SEND, including through adapting classrooms to improve accessibility.

[Vikki Slade]

Over the last 16 months, I have visited most of my 42 schools—some more than once—so I have seen some really effective use of occupational therapy principles, such as removing sensory triggers and updating lighting and layouts. At Colehill first school, the staff have simplified and rectified the décor throughout the school, and are looking to invest in wooden and natural materials to create a calming environment. However, schools in Mid Dorset and North Poole receive over £2,000 per pupil per year less than those in other parts of the country, so there is little left for this sort of project. Given the focus on inclusion, what can the Minister offer in terms of smaller capital grants to fund this work?

[Georgia Gould]

I thank the hon. Member for sharing those wonderful examples of best practice. That is the work we want to do to ensure that all our schools are inclusive, and there is obviously a lot to learn from her constituency. The Under-Secretary of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Whitehaven and Workington (Josh MacAlister), will bring forward an estate strategy, and we will continue to invest in specialist places within mainstream schools.

[Baggy Shanker (Derby South) (Lab/Co-op)]

Failed, humiliated and made to feel too much trouble for schools to look after—that is how one Derby mum says she and her son, who has cerebral palsy, felt when, after a staggering 14 months out of school, he was offered a school place that still did not meet his needs. Does the Minister agree that we urgently need to invest in schools to ensure that their facilities are fit to enable children with special educational needs to attend fully?

[Georgia Gould]

I am so sorry to hear that story. Sadly, I have heard too many such stories, of children kept out of education because schools are unable to meet their needs. That is the legacy we inherited, and that is why we are investing £740 million in improving the accessibility of our school buildings.[Official Report, 10 December 2025; Vol. 777, c. 5WC.] (Correction)

--- Later in debate ---

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

22. What steps she plans to take to provide new specialist schools for children with SEND.

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

The Department has invested £740 million in high needs capital in 2025-26 to support place creation for children and young people with SEND. Local authorities can use this funding to create specialist places in mainstream schools, enhance accessibility and provide special school places for pupils with the most complex needs.

[Bob Blackman]

I thank the Minister for that answer. The last Government approved the new SEND school in Harrow, which is supported on a cross-party basis and by all headteachers in Harrow. At the moment, young children have to travel an hour and a half each way to get to specialist schools, which is costing the taxpayer huge amounts of money, and that is unacceptable for those children with special educational needs. All we need is the Department to give its approval, and that school could go ahead and start almost immediately. If this funding is available, will she make it available to the London borough of Harrow to start the school that everyone wants?

[Georgia Gould]

The last Government approved a huge number of things that were not funded, which is why this Government were left with a black hole that we are sorting out. I have travelled around the country talking to parents, and we have heard time and again about how they were failed by the last Government. We are investing in the SEND system. In answer to the hon. Member’s specific question about the school, we will be coming forward with more plans shortly.

[Joe Robertson (Isle of Wight East) (Con)]

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dan Carden (Liverpool Walton) (Lab)]

T2. Archbishop Beck Catholic college in my constituency has lost £700 per pupil since 2011, while the number of disadvantaged pupils has risen from 38% to 52%. It is an excellent school with strong leadership, creating great outcomes for pupils. Will the Minister look specifically at the funding calculation for Archbishop Beck and say a little bit about how she is getting resources into deprived areas?

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

I am really grateful for the work of that school. I set out today the further investment we are putting into schools, including into special educational needs. We are focusing our funding on all schools, but particularly on supporting schools in the most deprived areas.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

--- Later in debate ---

[Ian Roome (North Devon) (LD)]

T4. Forces families sometimes find that a child’s education, health and care plan is not automatically recognised when they are reposted to a new area, leaving children without provision. With the children’s services White Paper due next year, will the Minister ensure that military children specifically are included and raise the issue of adopting the Ministry of Defence local authority partnership system with local authorities that currently do not use it?

[Georgia Gould]

I will look into the points that the hon. Gentleman has raised. It would be very helpful if he could write to me on those issues.

[Sir Roger Gale (Herne Bay and Sandwich) (Con)]

T6. I think I must have missed something in the answers the Secretary of State gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight East (Joe Robertson) and the shadow Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Sevenoaks (Laura Trott). Schools in my constituency do not have enough money to pay for SEND pupils. It is no good the Secretary of State talking about capital expenditure with more on this and more on that—we need to know where the money is coming from to pay the revenue costs incurred by SEND pupils.

--- Later in debate ---

[Callum Anderson (Buckingham and Bletchley) (Lab)]

I was pleased to see that the forthcoming curriculum reforms acknowledge the importance of financial capability for young people, but there is the immediate challenge of the scant financial education that exists now, which must be addressed. Can the Minister update the House on how the Department is working with civil society and the financial sector to ensure that young people are getting quality financial education now?

[Georgia Gould]

Young people always tell me how important it is for them to get a financial education. It is something we recognised in our response to the curriculum review, and that we are committed to working with civil society to deliver. If my hon. Friend has ideas of organisations that we can work with, we would be very open to that conversation.

[Dr Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)]

In Herefordshire, families of children with special educational needs, and indeed Herefordshire council, have been waiting more than 18 months for an update on two crucial schools: a new free school, with specialist provision for children with autism spectrum disorder, and the rebuild of Westfield special school. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how we can make progress on ensuring that those vital school places are provided locally?

Evacuation Chairs: Schools and Colleges

Georgia Gould Excerpts

Monday 1st December 2025 Westminster Hall

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Alec. I am really pleased to have the opportunity to discuss fire safety and the provision of evacuation chairs in our schools and colleges.

I thank the Petitions Committee for granting time for this important debate, and I join everyone across this House in congratulating Lucas on his campaign and his leadership. It is because of that leadership, and the national attention he has brought to this issue, that we are having this debate. No one listening to the poem that Lucas wrote can fail to be moved by his words. The fact that we are here discussing it shows the difference that Lucas is already making, and has made, in his own school. I listened with interest to my hon. Friend the Member for Burton and Uttoxeter (Jacob Collier), who spoke really powerfully on Lucas’s behalf. I would be happy to meet him, Lucas and Lucas’s mum to talk through this in more detail, and about some of the ideas we have discussed today.

The safety of all pupils, students and staff at schools and colleges is paramount. Educational premises are workplaces and public buildings, and they are therefore already subject to national health and safety legislation, fire safety legislation and other statutory duties around their use, access and safety. Under current fire safety legislation, those who have responsibility for the building must ensure that everyone in the building can leave safely in the event of a fire.

Schools and colleges need to have an up-to-date fire-risk assessment, appropriate fire alarms and regular fire drills to ensure they are as safe as possible and well prepared in the event of a fire. A school’s fire safety risk assessment should include an emergency evacuation plan for all people likely to be in the premises, as part of its fire safety strategy. Risk assessments include disabled people or anyone needing particular consideration or help during an evacuation, for example because of temporary injuries or pregnancy.

Schools and colleges have a duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments where necessary for anyone who has a disability or needs special consideration because of pregnancy or age. All students or staff who need one should have a personal emergency evacuation plan. As we have heard, a PEEP is a tailored plan to ensure someone who may need assistance in a building evacuation can safely reach a place of safety. It is designed for individuals with disabilities and other permanent or temporary conditions that might make it difficult for them to evacuate on their own.

Ideally, a PEEP should be developed as part of a school enrolment or staff induction process for students or staff with disabilities or otherwise requiring assistance in an emergence evacuation situation. If students have an education, health and care plan or an individual healthcare plan, their PEEP should capture any requirements. PEEPs are developed collaboratively between the individual and relevant staff, such as managers, fire safety officers or disability advisers, to ensure the plan is effective and meets their needs.

A well-prepared PEEP ensures that everyone understands their role, making the evacuation process efficient and effective. It is important to stress that a PEEP is a personal document relating to a specific individual. The requirements and preferences of individuals may vary even when their disability is similar. While some people with mobility impairments will require the use of an evacuation chair, others would not welcome using one to escape and may prefer other options to be available.

An evacuation chair looks like a deck chair with skis and wheels underneath. When placed at the top of the stairway, it slides down the stairs. Although there are wheels on the back that facilitate movement on flat surfaces, they are not suitable for long distances. An evacuation chair is operated by one or two people and it requires training and regular practice to use one safely, as we have heard from hon. Members.

In most instances, training need not include the person with the PEEP, although some may wish to practice being moved in the evacuation chair. It may be appropriate for the group of people trained to operate the evacuation chair to take it in turns during the practices, so that they are ready for an incident. That will increase their confidence in using the equipment and reduce their risk of injury to others. As hon. Members may imagine, not all people with mobility impairments feel comfortable using evacuation chairs, and it is not always possible for wheelchair users to transfer into an evacuation chair or to maintain a seated position once seated in one.

Almost half of schools in England are single-storey buildings, with no stairways on which to operate an evacuation chair. That is why it is important the provision and use of an evacuation chair should be determined on a case-by-case basis at a local level based on the specific needs and preferences of the individual concerned. Government guidance is clear that in any school or college where a personal emergency evacuation plan of a student or member of staff requires an evacuation chair, it must be provided.

Fire marshals or nominated evacuation staff and the person needing the chair must be trained in its use. Under school premises regulations, each school’s responsible body must ensure that schools are maintained so that pupils’ health, safety and welfare is ensured. The responsible body is usually an academy trust or a local authority. Schools and responsible bodies have duties as employers under health and safety legislation.

The Department’s health and safety guidance sets out clearly what schools must do, and the Health and Safety Executive provides additional guidance on managing health and safety in schools. Additionally, as we have heard, all schools must comply with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which requires schools to have an up-to-date fire risk assessment, appropriate fire alarms and regular fire drills to ensure that they are as safe as possible and well prepared in the event of a fire. The Department provides comprehensive supporting guidance to schools in the “Good estate management for schools” guide, which covers all aspects of estate management, including fire safety.

It is the responsibility of those who run our schools, such as academy trusts and local authorities, to ensure that they can be safely operated and to carry out necessary maintenance, including ensuring that a fire risk assessment is undertaken and kept up to date. Since 2010, the Department’s standards require staircases to be wide enough to allow for carry-down evacuation where necessary, and from November 2021, the Department has required that all new schools with more than one storey must have an evacuation lift as standard, providing means of escape from the building for disabled people in the unlikely event of a fire.

The Government have published guidance on fire safety risk assessments for organisations responsible for providing means of escape for disabled people. There is school-specific guidance that includes considerations for mobility-impaired people, and it makes it clear that effective management arrangements must be put in place for those needing help to escape. A well-prepared PEEP ensures that everyone understands their role, making the evacuation process efficient and effective.

A number of other ideas and issues have been raised today, which I will look into further, and I am also happy to take meetings to discuss them. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is rewriting its guidance to ensure that we continue to do all we can to protect children and young people in the event of fires.

SEND Provision: Kent

Georgia Gould Excerpts

Wednesday 12th November 2025 Westminster Hall

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Sir John. I congratulate my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan) on securing this important debate and bringing the voices of young people, parents and teachers in Kent into Parliament so powerfully.

I am grateful to all the Kent MPs who have engaged so widely with their constituents. I have received many letters and reports from those here and others who could not attend today, setting out some of the concerns we have heard. Some key themes, which I have heard time and again, include parents feeling that they have to battle through the system in order to get support; the lack of early intervention and help; and concerns about communication and parents not being listened to.

I was pleased to see Members from further afield—from Wokingham and even Northern Ireland—join the debate. It is telling that we saw more representation here today from Northern Ireland than we did from Reform, which is running Kent county council. I share some of the concerns that I think Members collectively have raised about the language being used by national Reform politicians—language about the system being “hijacked” and attacking parents and sometimes children. It is very difficult for families to have confidence when their legitimate fight for support for their children is being attacked.

I am deeply committed to working alongside families. I assure the hon. Member for South Devon (Caroline Voaden) that I wholeheartedly understand the urgency and the need for reform. As I have said before, I ran a council and I saw every day the huge pressures in the system. I have talked to parents, young people and teachers across the country and heard some of the same stories and concerns. We need to change things, but, as the hon. Member said, we need to work with them, because we saw what happened when the system did not really think about the consequences of decisions. The last Government left office talking about a “lose, lose, lose” system, but we want a system that allows young people to thrive, gives parents confidence in their children’s support and allows teachers and other professionals to give young people the support they need. We are working intensively with parents, teachers and other parts of the system to get this right.

We will bring forward our wider reforms as quickly as we can, but we are not waiting for those reforms in order to act. We have already begun making changes, including creating new places in special schools through a £740 million capital investment for 2025-26, of which £24 million has been allocated to Kent county council. We have heard about the need to have resource bases in communities so children do not have to travel for support, so that investment is incredibly important. I will write to the hon. Member for Meriden and Solihull East (Saqib Bhatti) about the free schools that he mentioned, and I am sure that he will follow up if that is not speedy enough.

We are investing in multimillion-pound programmes such as the partnerships for inclusion of neurodiversity in schools and early language support for every child—new partnerships at a local level that bring together support—and reinvesting in early intervention, because we know how important early years support is for young people’s long-term outcomes. We are making sure, as we roll out the Best Start hubs, that there is specialist SEND support in them to intervene and support families as early as possible. We have worked with Ofsted to create changes in accountability and we are firmly focused on inclusion within the school system. It should not be possible for people to get a good mark from Ofsted if they are not delivering on inclusion.

As I have said, we are taking forward further work around co-creation, working with families and experts around the country, to make sure that we are getting reform right. However, we have already set out some clear principles: supporting early intervention and help; moving to greater inclusion so that more children can be educated locally, close to their families; ensuring fairness, because I have heard from many about a postcode lottery and different support in different parts of the country; and ensuring that the support that is in place is well evidenced and consistent. This is a shared endeavour that includes health, local government, schools and communities. We all need to work together to support young people to thrive.

We heard in some contributions about interventions that have already happened within Kent. Kent’s SEND services were inspected by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission in January 2019. That inspection identified nine significant areas of weakness requiring the local area to produce a written statement of action. A visit in 2022 judged that the area had not made sufficient progress in addressing any of its weaknesses. The council was issued with an improvement notice in March 2023. The progress was closely monitored and in August 2024, following a robust review, the Department lifted the improvement notice on the basis that Kent county council had met the conditions set out within it.

I assure the Members who raised concerns about the improvement notice being lifted that it does not mean that scrutiny has been lifted. We are working very closely to maintain that oversight of services and drive further improvement to make sure that every young person with special educational needs has access to high-quality services. That includes regular review meetings, attendance at Kent’s SEND partnership boards, close working with NHS England and the continued support of a DFE-commissioned SEND adviser. We take seriously all the points that have been made today.

[Dr Lauren Sullivan]

I am grateful for the assurance that scrutiny is still in operation. How can constituents and parents find out about the improvement plan and the scrutiny so that they feel that the pressure is still on?

[Georgia Gould]

As an action from today, I commit to write to MPs setting out more detail about that continuing scrutiny so that they can share it with their constituents.

Wider questions were raised about the curriculum and assessment review and ensuring that the curriculum and the provision in school support inclusion. I hope that my hon. Friend has read the Government’s response, which talks about not only some of the pressures that she mentioned, but the importance of enrichment. In Camden, whose council I used to lead, there is a school that has a phrase: “School should be unmissable”. We want to ensure that young people have high standards and the academic basis that they need, but also experiences in the arts, the outdoors and civic education. Those wider reasons to come to school are so important for a broad range of young people.

I thank Members for this important debate. It is an ongoing conversation and I welcome all the contributions that have been made. I am very committed to working cross-party on this issue: I had a meeting with the hon. Member for Yeovil (Adam Dance) this morning to talk about his advocacy and I will continue to hear from Members on both sides of the House. This is about the future of our young people and it is critical that we get it right, so I am keen to hear from everyone and to work in partnership with parents and young people. I look forward to continuing this conversation in Kent and beyond.