Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to grant local authorities greater flexibility in setting school term dates.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Local authorities already have responsibility for setting term dates for schools where they are the employer, including community schools, community special schools, voluntary controlled schools, pupil referral units and maintained nursery schools. These will be set in line with the requirements set out in the Education (School Day and School Year) (England) Regulations 1999.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve the educational support system for post-16 students who missed GCSE examinations due to unforeseen circumstances.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
If a student is unable to sit an exam or assessment for a qualification for an acceptable reason, but has completed at least one other exam or assessment in that subject, schools and colleges may be able to apply for special consideration.
When in post-16 education, students can agree a study programme with their institution that meets their needs. 16 to 19 funding is flexible in supporting a wide range of study programmes, though these need to include English and mathematics if students have not yet achieved a GCSE grade 4 in these subjects.
The 16 to 19 funding formula allocates additional funding to support students who need to continue with English and mathematics, and funding to help with the more general additional costs incurred for teaching and supporting students who have low prior attainment.
When learning programmes are designed to enable students to re-sit or retake examinations and assessments these are not generally eligible for funding as the activity has already been funded. However, when there are exceptional circumstances outside the control of the student or institution then the retake delivery hours for individual students may be included in the funded study programme hours.
In the guidance ‘16 to 19 funding: information for 2025 to 2026’, published 5 March 2025, the department announced additional 16 to 19 education funding in the 2025/26 financial year on top of the £300 million announced at the Autumn Budget 2024. This guidance can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/16-to-19-funding-information-for-2025-to-2026. This means that we will be spending over £400 million more to ensure enough funding is available given the very significant increase in student numbers and other pressures on the system.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much additional funding for special educational needs and disabilities has been allocated to Suffolk County Council since July 2024.
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) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.
In July 2024, the government announced that an additional core schools budget grant (CSBG) would be allocated to local authorities to help special and alternative provision (AP) schools with the costs of the 2024 teacher and support staff pay increases. Suffolk County Council was allocated a 2024/25 financial year CSBG amount of over £1.5 million.
Following the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year. This brings total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND to over £12 billion. Of that total, Suffolk County Council is being allocated over £124 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £10.3 million on the 2024/25 DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula (NFF). This NFF allocation is an 9% increase per head of their 2 to 18-year-old population, on their equivalent 2024/25 NFF allocation.
In addition to the DSG, local authorities will also receive a separate CSBG in the 2025/26 financial year. This CSBG continues the 2024/25 CSBG and other separate grants payable in 2024/25, which were to help special and AP schools with the costs of teachers’ pay and pension increases and other staff pay increases, and now includes additional funding to help those schools with the increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions. The department plans to publish individual local authorities’ allocations of this funding for 2025/26 in May 2025.
Decisions on funding for SEND for the years beyond 2025/26 will be taken following the forthcoming spending review.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the potential cost to the public purse was of funding from her Department to Suffolk County Council to help pay for Tribunal fees for each year between 2019-2023.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not fund local authorities to cover the costs associated with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) first-tier tribunal hearings. Local authorities fund their legal costs from their operational budgets.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding her Department has provided to local authorities for Special Educational Needs and Disability First-tier Tribunal hearings in the past 12 months.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not fund local authorities to cover the costs associated with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) first-tier tribunal hearings. Local authorities fund their legal costs from their operational budgets.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to continue the Academies Programme.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Academies are a crucial and valued part of our school system.
This government is proud of the change the academies movement has delivered for children. The government's mission is to break down the barriers for all children. We’re building on the academies programme to ensure that all children and every family has a core entitlement to a high standard curriculum taught by qualified, expert teachers, with space for innovation and flexibility beyond this.
The department wants high quality trusts to continue to grow where schools wish to join them and there is a strong case for them to do so.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much additional funding her Department has allocated for special educational needs provision by Suffolk County Council following the Autumn Budget 2024.
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.
Following the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is providing an increase of almost £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND to £11.9 billion. Of that total, Suffolk County Council is being allocated over £124 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £10.3 million on this year’s DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula (NFF). This NFF allocation is a 9% increase per head of their 2 to 18-year-old population, on their equivalent 2024/25 NFF allocation.
As also announced at the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is receiving compensation in recognition of the increase in National Insurance contributions paid by schools and other state-funded SEND provision. That funding is additional to the £1 billion increase in high needs funding. Due to timing constraints, it will be provided as a separate grant, alongside the 2025/26 DSG for local authorities. The department will provide further information on the allocations as soon as possible.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of children receive special educational needs and disability services in (a) Suffolk and (b) the UK.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department publishes statistics on all children with special educational needs (SEN) in schools here, which can be viewed at local authority level: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england.
The department also publishes statistics on all children and young people that have an education, health and care plan which ranges from ages 0-25 here, which can also be viewed at local authority level: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans.
Asked by: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Labour - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the provision of special educational needs and disability services for children in Suffolk.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Ofsted inspected local arrangements for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in Suffolk in November 2023. Its report, which was published on 30 January 2024, concluded that there are widespread and/or systemic failings, leading to significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND, which the local area partnership must address urgently.
The department provides support and challenge to the Suffolk local area partnership by monitoring progress against its Priority Action Plan and improvement plan, and by providing advice and guidance through a SEND expert adviser. The partnership has also established an independently chaired SEND Improvement Board, to oversee progress.
This government is committed to providing the necessary support to improve the experiences for children and young people with SEND and their families. The department is committed to taking a community-wide approach, to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools and alternative provision settings, and to ensure that special schools cater to those with the most complex needs.