Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure (a) support plans and (b) informal capability procedures are appropriately used to (i) improve staff performance and (ii) retain staff.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Department has established policies for managing both performance and underperformance, with an emphasis on early, supportive intervention to help staff succeed and remain in their roles.
Line managers are expected to work with staff to put in place appropriate support, including identifying development needs and access to learning opportunities at an early stage. Where performance concerns persist, informal measures such as performance improvement plans provide clear expectations, structured support and regular review.
This year, the Department is introducing a more structured approach to performance management, building on existing good practice to support greater consistency, clarity and fairness in how performance is assessed and managed.
These approaches are designed to improve performance in a timely and proportionate way, while supporting staff development and maximising retention wherever possible.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of teachers placed on (a) support plans and (b) informal capability procedures in each of the last five years.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department sets out the broad statutory requirements that maintained schools must follow and recently updated non-statutory guidance in relation to teacher appraisal, including informal support arrangements, which is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66a253b20808eaf43b50d742/Teacher_Appraisal_-_guidance_for_schools_July_2024.pdf.
Academies are free to make their own arrangements, but most choose to follow the statutory process.
As the department is not the employer of any teachers, it does not collect any data on the numbers of teachers with support plans or in informal capability procedures.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the policy paper entitled Protecting What Matters: Towards a more confident, cohesive, and resilient United Kingdom, if he will set out the (a) timeline and (b) consultation process planned for his Department's review of English language provision.
Answered by Nesil Caliskan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In Protecting What Matters, this government committed to review English language provision to identify best practice, and explore how innovation, including digital delivery, can increase the numbers able to speak English, with conclusions published in Autumn this year. This review will engage providers and learners throughout.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she intends to provide further funding to the Metropolitan Police's Operation Martello programme.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Hotspots policing is a key, evidence-based tactic that should be embedded in mainstream activity, forming a central component of the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee (NPG). As a result, we are transitioning hotspot activity from a grant funded programme into mainstream practice.
To support this transition to mainstream activity, the wider reforms being taken forward by this government will put 13,000 more neighbourhood officers into roles by the end of this Parliament to tackle local crime and increase patrolling. Total funding to police forces in England and Wales will be up to £18.4 billion in 2026-27, an increase of up to £834 million compared to the 2025-26 police funding settlement. This equates to a 4.7% cash increase and a 2.7% real terms increase in funding. The Metropolitan Police will receive up to £3,991.2m of funding, an increase of £184.1 million compared to 2025-26. The additional officers being delivered through the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee will support this shift, and we will continue working with forces this year on the practicalities of mainstreaming hotspot activity.
As we mainstream hotspot patrolling, we are also continuing to drive efforts to halve knife crime in a decade by focusing on tackling the worst affected areas via the Knife Crime Concentrations Fund (KCCF), directing investment where it will reduce knife crime most effectively.
As announced in Protecting lives, building hope: a plan to halve knife crime, this fund will be £26.25m in FY 2026-27, with allocations directed to those force areas with the highest knife crime volumes over the last three years and which together make up 90% of total knife crime across England and Wales. The Metropolitan Police Service has been allocated £8,185,952 through the KCCF in 2026-27.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish the terms of reference of the Department’s SEND Development Group.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Development Group was launched as part of the period of co-creation, which was announced in December 2025. The group is an informal engagement group led by myself, as Minister for Schools, to bring together a wider group of SEND stakeholders.
The group’s objectives are:
The group is attended by myself and our expert advisors Dame Christine Lenehan and Tom Rees. External attendees include representatives from the Council for Disabled Children (CDC), the Disabled Children’s Partnership (DCP), the National Network of Parents Carers Forums (NNPCF), the National Association for Special Educational Needs (NASEN), The Difference, Dingley’s Promise, The Athelstan Trust, Let Us Learn Too, The Global Black Maternal Health Institute, Aylsham Learning Federation, and the SEND Sanctuary. The group has recently been expanded to include the following.
SEND representative stakeholders:
Local authorities:
Alternative Provision:
Early Years:
Post-16:
Individual voices from teacher workforce:
Parent and carer groups:
Departmental advisors such as Christine Lenehan and Andrew O'Neil are also invited to this group, as are representatives from the Independent Panel.
Alongside the Development Group, I have set up the Complex Needs Group to expand stakeholder conversations in the department. This group consists of the following.
Parent voices:
Departmental SEN advisers:
National disability charities:
Teacher workforce:
Local authorities:
Health:
Academic:
Departmental advisors such as Tom Rees, Christine Lenehan and Andrew O’Neil are invited to this group.
The members of these groups all have independent positions outside of their contributions to the group and engage separately outside.
Both of these groups will meet monthly during the consultation period.
The National Conversation on SEND reached over 8,000 people to help shape the future of support for children and young people. The dates of the meetings are available in the published quarterly returns on Ministerial meetings: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dfe-ministers-quarterly-returns.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish the full list of members of her Department’s SEND Development Group, the criteria for membership of this group and the dates on which the group has met.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Development Group was launched as part of the period of co-creation, which was announced in December 2025. The group is an informal engagement group led by myself, as Minister for Schools, to bring together a wider group of SEND stakeholders.
The group’s objectives are:
The group is attended by myself and our expert advisors Dame Christine Lenehan and Tom Rees. External attendees include representatives from the Council for Disabled Children (CDC), the Disabled Children’s Partnership (DCP), the National Network of Parents Carers Forums (NNPCF), the National Association for Special Educational Needs (NASEN), The Difference, Dingley’s Promise, The Athelstan Trust, Let Us Learn Too, The Global Black Maternal Health Institute, Aylsham Learning Federation, and the SEND Sanctuary. The group has recently been expanded to include the following.
SEND representative stakeholders:
Local authorities:
Alternative Provision:
Early Years:
Post-16:
Individual voices from teacher workforce:
Parent and carer groups:
Departmental advisors such as Christine Lenehan and Andrew O'Neil are also invited to this group, as are representatives from the Independent Panel.
Alongside the Development Group, I have set up the Complex Needs Group to expand stakeholder conversations in the department. This group consists of the following.
Parent voices:
Departmental SEN advisers:
National disability charities:
Teacher workforce:
Local authorities:
Health:
Academic:
Departmental advisors such as Tom Rees, Christine Lenehan and Andrew O’Neil are invited to this group.
The members of these groups all have independent positions outside of their contributions to the group and engage separately outside.
Both of these groups will meet monthly during the consultation period.
The National Conversation on SEND reached over 8,000 people to help shape the future of support for children and young people. The dates of the meetings are available in the published quarterly returns on Ministerial meetings: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dfe-ministers-quarterly-returns.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her department is taking to ensure that every child in care has their immigration status resolved before turning 18.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The previous Home Secretary set out in the Immigration White Paper published on 12 May 2025 that the Home Office will ensure children who have been in the UK for some time, turn 18 and discover they do not have status, are fully supported and able to regularise their status and settle where appropriate. This will also include a clear pathway for those children in care and care leavers.
This commitment will be delivered primarily through an update to the ‘children in care policy.
As part of this, separate targeted engagement will take place with external stakeholders to help us to understand the challenges in this area and develop a policy solution which supports children in care without status while upholding the need to have a robust and coherent migration system. Children who have claimed asylum are dealt with under separate provisions.
A range of reforms are underway across the immigration and asylum system, and the development of a clear pathway to settlement for children in care and care leavers must be considered alongside these changes.
When handling child applications, all caseworkers must comply with their duty under Section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009, to have regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
Further detail on this will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the impact of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact on the effectiveness of UK overseas development assistance spending.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to Baroness Chapman's appearance before the International Development Committee on 20 January, where she addressed these issues at length.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the impact of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact on the transparency of UK overseas development assistance.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to Baroness Chapman's appearance before the International Development Committee on 20 January, where she addressed these issues at length.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what engagement has she had with the a) Independent Commission for Aid Impact and b) recipients of UK overseas development assistance, on future funding for the ICAI.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the Minister for International Development's appearance before the International Development Committee on 20 January, where she addressed these issues at length.
The Independent Commission for Aid Impact's (ICAI) budget allocation for 2025/26 is £3.97 million. Details of its past funding can be found in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) annual reports and accounts, and decisions on its future funding will be announced in due course when we publish our allocations of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget up to 2028/29. The FCDO remains committed to full transparency and scrutiny of our ODA spend.
Over the previous five financial years (2021/22 to 2025/26), ICAI have published on average 5.6 reviews and 1.6 shorter information notes per year. This financial year, ICAI have published 2 reviews to date.
Ministers and FCDO officials continue to have regular engagement with ICAI.