Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of the £1 billion funding for Special Education Needs announced in the Budget she expects to be used (a) by local authorities to reduce deficits and (b) to improve support for pupils.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.

The department is providing the almost £1 billion increase in high needs funding to help meet the rise in costs faced by local authorities next year, as they in turn provide support to schools and children with SEND.

Local authorities’ responsibility to provide the required support remains unchanged. No part of the additional funding that is being provided has been ear-marked for use by local authorities to reduce existing dedicated schools grant deficits.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answers of 29 October to Question 11052 and of 8 November to Question 12117 on Free Schools, for what reason she has not provided the list requested.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government confirmed a review of mainstream free school projects to ensure that they continue to meet a need for places, offer value for money for the taxpayer and are not to the detriment of the other schools in the local area.

The department is currently in discussion with trusts, local authorities and other partners to gather more information in relation to projects. It would be unhelpful to increase speculation about individual projects at this stage.

No final decisions have been made at this point, and the department will publicly communicate the outcomes of the review in due course. It is also established departmental process that all cancellations and withdrawals are routinely published on GOV.UK. These can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-schools-successful-applications.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2024 to Question 14758 on Special Educational Needs: Finance, and with reference to Table 5.1 in the Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, on what evidential basis item 62, page 121, entitled Special Education Needs and Disabilities: Reduction in Local Authority SEND deficits as a result of additional DEL funding specifies £865 million of spending in 2025-26.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

The Office for Budget Responsibility had forecast that local authorities would spend £1.4 billion more than the funding they would receive on high needs in the 2025/26 financial year. This was on the assumption that high needs funding would increase only by the gross domestic product (GDP) deflator. In fact, overall high needs funding increased by £1 billion, and given this higher level of funding, HM Treasury have recorded in their tables that this creates a corresponding £865 million reduction in expected local government spending on high needs (that is, in the level of local government spending over the funding they will receive).

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England's commissioning guidance entitled Transcranial magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy for treatment of medication-refractory essential tremor, updated 5 October 2021, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of this guidance on trends in the number of patients accessing this treatment.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department has made no assessment of the potential impact of NHS England’s guidance on trends in the number of patients accessing transcranial magnetic resonance. Transcranial magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy is recommended for the treatment of refractory essential tremor in patients who are not eligible for deep brain stimulation, within the criteria set put in NHS England’s commissioning policy, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/1904-transcranial-magnetic-resonance-guided-focused-ultrasound-thalamotomy-for-treatment-of-medication-refract.pdf

Epidemiology and needs assessment data set out in the commissioning policy estimates that there will be up to 150 patients that meet the inclusion criteria for this therapy per year in England. NHS England will review the policy should any new evidence become available.