Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department conducted an equality impact assessment prior to the decision to withdraw funding for non-specialist disabled students' allowance software.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department made the decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar software from the disabled students’ allowance (DSA) funding on the grounds that there are now free-to-access versions available with the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs. It is therefore not an effective use of public money to continue to fund this type of software through the DSA. Full details of the policy change are available at: https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/media/2070/ssin-spelling-and-grammar-software.pdf.

The department conducted an equality impact assessment prior to the decision, which is attached to this response.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reasons her Department has withdrawn funding for non-specialist disabled students' allowance software.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department made the decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar software from the disabled students’ allowance (DSA) funding on the grounds that there are now free-to-access versions available with the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs. It is therefore not an effective use of public money to continue to fund this type of software through the DSA. Full details of the policy change are available at: https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/media/2070/ssin-spelling-and-grammar-software.pdf.

The department conducted an equality impact assessment prior to the decision, which is attached to this response.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her planned timetable is for launching the kinship allowance trial scheme; and if she will make a statement.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government recognises the important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children.

In October 2024, we announced a £40 million package to trial a kinship allowance in up to ten local authorities. The pilot will provide a weekly financial allowance to kinship carers to support them with the additional costs incurred when taking on the parental responsibility of a child.

The kinship allowance pilot will begin in autumn 2025, with assessment of immediate impact and options for national rollout informed by an independent evaluation. The department will confirm the eligible cohort for the pilot, as well as the participating local authorities, in due course.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which local authority areas have been selected to take part in the kinship allowance trial scheme.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government recognises the important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children.

In October 2024, we announced a £40 million package to trial a kinship allowance in up to ten local authorities. The pilot will provide a weekly financial allowance to kinship carers to support them with the additional costs incurred when taking on the parental responsibility of a child.

The kinship allowance pilot will begin in autumn 2025, with assessment of immediate impact and options for national rollout informed by an independent evaluation. The department will confirm the eligible cohort for the pilot, as well as the participating local authorities, in due course.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how her Department plans to assess the outcomes of the kinship allowance trial scheme.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government recognises the important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children.

In October 2024, we announced a £40 million package to trial a kinship allowance in up to ten local authorities. The pilot will provide a weekly financial allowance to kinship carers to support them with the additional costs incurred when taking on the parental responsibility of a child.

The kinship allowance pilot will begin in autumn 2025, with assessment of immediate impact and options for national rollout informed by an independent evaluation. The department will confirm the eligible cohort for the pilot, as well as the participating local authorities, in due course.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with NHS England on increasing the use of symptomatic FIT for patients with suspected bowel cancer symptoms within General Practice.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The NHS Bowel Cancer Screening program currently invites people aged 56 to 74 years old for a screening every two years. However, this age cohort is being expanded to people aged 50 to 74 years old in 2025, with the use of Faecal Immunochemical Test kits which can be sent directly to people's homes.

Furthermore, the National Health Service is prioritising the roll-out of additional diagnostic capacity, delivering the final year of the three-year investment plan for establishing community diagnostic centres, with capacity prioritised for cancer diagnostics, including for those with bowel cancer.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with the Future of Work Cabinet Committee on (a) employment support and (b) paid employment leave for kinship carers.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department recognises the challenge that many kinship carers face in continuing to work alongside the pressures of taking in and raising a child.

‘Kinship Carers in the Workplace: Guidance for Employers’ sets out best practice for supporting kinship carers at work, including how to adapt internal policies, signpost existing entitlements and create a culture of support to best meet the needs of kinship carers. The department encourages all organisations to review their guidance and explore what changes can be made.

The department employs more than 7,500 public sector workers and has recently joined a small number of private sector employers, including Card Factory, Tesco and John Lewis, in offering a pay and leave entitlement to all eligible staff who become kinship carers.

This government has also committed, in the Plan to Make Work Pay, to review the system of parental leave to ensure that it better supports working families.

It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place at Cabinet and its committees is not normally made public.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on funding for future teacher pay increases.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

This government is committed to supporting schools to deliver on the opportunity mission, as shown by the funding increases seen in the core schools budget grant for 2024/25 and at the Autumn Budget 2024, in the context of a challenging fiscal picture. Planning for the multi-year spending review is taking place across government, and the department will provide further updates on funding for schools in due course.

Pay for teachers and leaders in maintained schools is set through an annual statutory process with independent recommendations made by the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB). Each year the STRB recommends a pay award based on different factors, including the economy, school workforce data and evidence from organisations including the department, employers and the teaching unions. The government then considers the recommendations in depth and decides on the pay award teachers receive for the coming year.

Final decisions on the teacher’s pay award for 2025 will be made following recommendations from the independent pay review body process.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of families unable to access the Support for Families with Disabilities grant scheme due to oversubscription in 2024-25.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

This government’s ambition is that all families with children and young people with disabilities receive the right support, regardless of socio-economic background. The Supporting Families with Disabled Children programme provides individual grants to around 60,000 low-income families raising a disabled or seriously ill child to support with the additional costs that families can face.

Where families experience challenges, the department signposts available support from the family’s local Information, Advice and Support Service. This is independent of the local authority and can provide impartial advice about local special educational needs and disabilities arrangements and support for children’s needs.

In addition, the department also signposts families to Contact, a national charity for families with disabled children, which provides information, advice and support, and brings families together to support each other.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make the data on the use of symptomatic FIT for patients with suspected bowel cancer symptoms across each ICB publicly available.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department does not hold the data at an integrated care board level, however, data for the number of lower gastrointestinal referrals, at a practice level, with a Faecal Immunochemical Test attached, is publicly available through the Investment and Impact Fund. It can be found in the monthly data by the following codes: CAN03; and CAN04.

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