Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding allocated to his Department during the Spending Review 2025 is committed to establishing Young Futures Hubs.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is taking a collaborative approach to the design of Young Futures Hubs, meeting regularly with a variety of relevant stakeholders including children and young people, charities, local authorities and experts.
To roll-out Young Futures Hubs, building on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, the government will establish a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. This will inform the longer-term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs and where they may be located.
The government will set out more details on this in due course, including confirming funding allocation.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she (a) has had and (b) plans to have with stakeholders on the delivery model for Young Futures Hubs.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is taking a collaborative approach to the design of Young Futures Hubs, meeting regularly with a variety of relevant stakeholders including children and young people, charities, local authorities and experts.
To roll-out Young Futures Hubs, building on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, the government will establish a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. This will inform the longer-term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs and where they may be located.
The government will set out more details on this in due course, including confirming funding allocation.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish the delivery model for Young Futures Hubs.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is taking a collaborative approach to the design of Young Futures Hubs, meeting regularly with a variety of relevant stakeholders including children and young people, charities, local authorities and experts.
To roll-out Young Futures Hubs, building on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, the government will establish a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. This will inform the longer-term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs and where they may be located.
The government will set out more details on this in due course, including confirming funding allocation.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the rollout of defibrillators in schools.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s defibrillator programme has provided over 20,000 devices to schools, the largest rollout of defibrillators across England to date.
The department is working with the British Heart Foundation to understand the impact the programme is having. Since the rollout, the number of school defibrillators registered on the British Heart Foundation’s national defibrillator database, The Circuit, has risen by 252%, with 66% of all schools in England now having registered at least one device. Our evaluation shows that defibrillators provided by the department have been available for use and deployed in over 12,000 emergency situations, where there has been a suspected cardiac arrest.
In January 2025, the British Heart Foundation published Barry’s story. Barry’s life was saved by a school defibrillator provided by the department. More information can be found at: https://www.bhf.org.uk/how-you-can-help/how-to-save-a-life/defibrillators/stories/barry-on-being-saved-by-local-school#:~:text=Barry%20had%20popped%20into%20his,road%2C%20his%20life%20was%20saved.
We continue to work with the British Heart Foundation to evaluate and understand the impact of the department’s programme and support schools in registering their defibrillators on The Circuit.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of free school meal entitled children not being automatically registered on the levels of (a) relative child poverty, (b) deep poverty, and (c) very deep poverty.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
All children in households in receipt of Universal Credit will be eligible for free school meals (FSM) from September 2026. This unprecedented step will put £500 back into families’ pockets in respect of each child each year and lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty, helping to break down barriers to opportunity and tackle the scar of child poverty across our country.
Giving children access to a nutritious lunchtime meal every school day also leads to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes, meaning they get the best possible education and chance to succeed in work and life. That is why this government is taking action to make it quicker and easier for both families and local authorities to get children signed up for FSM with our new Eligibility Checking System. This will allow parents to check their own eligibility and helps the local efforts we have seen to ensure children receive this support. Improvements we are making to the process for reviewing eligibility for meals will make it simpler than it has ever been to receive this entitlement.
Departmental officials are working with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to explore options on further data sharing that can get more families signed up for their entitlements.
Departmental officials are also working with the Department for Work and Pensions to explore options on supporting enrolment through the Universal Credit claims process. The department will engage with local authorities to monitor and assess the impact that these changes are having on the uptake of FSM.
We will closely monitor the impact of the rollout on take-up and are carefully considering measures for improving enrolment in light of the recent announcement.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on enrolling families for free school meals during the Universal Credit application process.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
All children in households in receipt of Universal Credit will be eligible for free school meals (FSM) from September 2026. This unprecedented step will put £500 back into families’ pockets in respect of each child each year and lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty, helping to break down barriers to opportunity and tackle the scar of child poverty across our country.
Giving children access to a nutritious lunchtime meal every school day also leads to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes, meaning they get the best possible education and chance to succeed in work and life. That is why this government is taking action to make it quicker and easier for both families and local authorities to get children signed up for FSM with our new Eligibility Checking System. This will allow parents to check their own eligibility and helps the local efforts we have seen to ensure children receive this support. Improvements we are making to the process for reviewing eligibility for meals will make it simpler than it has ever been to receive this entitlement.
Departmental officials are working with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to explore options on further data sharing that can get more families signed up for their entitlements.
Departmental officials are also working with the Department for Work and Pensions to explore options on supporting enrolment through the Universal Credit claims process. The department will engage with local authorities to monitor and assess the impact that these changes are having on the uptake of FSM.
We will closely monitor the impact of the rollout on take-up and are carefully considering measures for improving enrolment in light of the recent announcement.
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 she is taking to ensure that children entitled to free schools meals are registered for them in the context of the expansion of eligibility in September 2026.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
All children in households in receipt of Universal Credit will be eligible for free school meals (FSM) from September 2026. This unprecedented step will put £500 back into families’ pockets in respect of each child each year and lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty, helping to break down barriers to opportunity and tackle the scar of child poverty across our country.
Giving children access to a nutritious lunchtime meal every school day also leads to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes, meaning they get the best possible education and chance to succeed in work and life. That is why this government is taking action to make it quicker and easier for both families and local authorities to get children signed up for FSM with our new Eligibility Checking System. This will allow parents to check their own eligibility and helps the local efforts we have seen to ensure children receive this support. Improvements we are making to the process for reviewing eligibility for meals will make it simpler than it has ever been to receive this entitlement.
Departmental officials are working with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to explore options on further data sharing that can get more families signed up for their entitlements.
Departmental officials are also working with the Department for Work and Pensions to explore options on supporting enrolment through the Universal Credit claims process. The department will engage with local authorities to monitor and assess the impact that these changes are having on the uptake of FSM.
We will closely monitor the impact of the rollout on take-up and are carefully considering measures for improving enrolment in light of the recent announcement.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of automatically enrolling eligible children for free school meals.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
All children in households in receipt of Universal Credit will be eligible for free school meals (FSM) from September 2026. This unprecedented step will put £500 back into families’ pockets in respect of each child each year and lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty, helping to break down barriers to opportunity and tackle the scar of child poverty across our country.
Giving children access to a nutritious lunchtime meal every school day also leads to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes, meaning they get the best possible education and chance to succeed in work and life. That is why this government is taking action to make it quicker and easier for both families and local authorities to get children signed up for FSM with our new Eligibility Checking System. This will allow parents to check their own eligibility and helps the local efforts we have seen to ensure children receive this support. Improvements we are making to the process for reviewing eligibility for meals will make it simpler than it has ever been to receive this entitlement.
Departmental officials are working with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to explore options on further data sharing that can get more families signed up for their entitlements.
Departmental officials are also working with the Department for Work and Pensions to explore options on supporting enrolment through the Universal Credit claims process. The department will engage with local authorities to monitor and assess the impact that these changes are having on the uptake of FSM.
We will closely monitor the impact of the rollout on take-up and are carefully considering measures for improving enrolment in light of the recent announcement.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on implementing the Lifelong Learning Entitlement.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government recognises that lifelong learning is a core part of a sustainable higher education system which provides opportunities for all and offers learners greater flexibility in an ever-evolving economy. We are committed to supporting lifelong learning as part of our wider commitment to skills.
Since the general election, we have been working to ensure that our approach to lifelong learning is as effective as possible, enabling people to gain the skills they need to support their careers.
We are currently working through the outcomes of the multi-year Spending Review on policies and programmes across the department. We recognise the importance of communicating our Lifelong Learning Entitlement policy detail and plan to share this as soon as possible.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in receipt of Personal Independent Payment in England scored (a) 8-11, (b) 12-15, (c) 15-18, (d) 18-21 and (e) more than 21 points for the daily living elements but did not score more than four in any single criteria in the most recent reporting year.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The volume of Personal Independence Payment claimants in England who scored fewer than four points in all daily living activities but scored a total of 8 – 11 (inclusive) points for their daily living activities was 1,039,150. The volume who scored fewer than four points in all daily living activities but scored a total of 12 points or higher for their daily living activities was 184,780.
A breakdown of the volume of PIP claimants in England who scored fewer than 4 points in all daily living activities by their total daily living activity point scores is provided in the table below.
Daily Living Points | Volume |
less than 8 | 106,000 |
8 to 11 | 1,039,000 |
12 to 15 | 180,000 |
16 to 18 | 5,000 |
19 to 21 | - |
More than 21 | 0 |
The number of people currently on PIP who did not score 4 points in one category in their last assessment should not be equated with the number who are likely to lose PIP in future. It’s important to make a clear distinction between the two, not least because we don’t want constituents to be unnecessarily fearful about their situation, when we understand many are already anxious. Someone who did not score 4 points in an activity in a previous assessment may well score 4 points in a future assessment as conditions change over time.
No one will lose access to PIP immediately - and most people will not lose access at all. Our intention is that changes will start to come into effect from November 2026 for PIP, subject to parliamentary approval and will only apply at a claimant’s next scheduled award review, which on average occurs every three years. At that point, a claimant will be reassessed by a trained assessor or healthcare professional based on their individual needs and circumstances.
After accounting for behavioural changes, the OBR predicts that 9 out of 10 PIP recipients at the time of policy implementation are expected to be unaffected by the PIP 4-point change in 2029/30. Despite the reforms, the overall number of people on PIP and DLA is expected to increase by 750,000 by the end of this Parliament and spending is projected to rise from £23 billion in 2024/25 to £31 billion in 2029/30.
We are consulting on how best to support those who are affected by the new eligibility changes, including ensuring health and care needs are met. We have also announced a wider review of the PIP assessment to make it fair and fit for purpose, which I am leading. We are bringing together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this. We will provide further details as plans progress.
Notes:
- The volumes provided are rounded to the nearest 1,000.
- Where a value above 0 has been rounded down to below 1,000, a “-“ has been used.
- The volumes provided exclude claimants over State Pension age and Special Rules for End of Life claimants.