Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has received Suffolk County Council's Best Start Family Hubs plan; and what steps her Department takes when a local authority's plan proposes fewer family hubs than it currently operates.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has received Suffolk County Council’s Best Start Family Hubs (BSFH) delivery plan and officials are reviewing the authority’s proposals to ensure they align with the expectations of the programme and support improved outcomes for children and families.
Decisions about the number, location and configuration of family hubs and related services are matters for local authorities, subject to their statutory duties assessment of local need. BSFH funding does not require authorities to maintain a particular number of Family Hubs. Where a local authority proposes changes to existing provision, the department will work with them to ensure that BSFH funding is used to enhance, expand and reshape existing services so that families experience an improved and strengthened offer, rather than maintain existing provision.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of reductions in (a) family hubs and (b) health visiting on progress towards the target of children reaching a good level of development by 2028.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is investing over £900 million in Best Start Family Hubs (BSFH) and Healthy Babies between 2026 and 2029 to deliver a more connected, prevention-led system that improves outcomes for babies, children and their families. Local authorities are expected to use BSFH funding to enhance, expand and reshape existing services to provide families with an improved and strengthened offer, rather than maintaining existing provision.
This investment supports the government's ambition for 75% of children to reach a good level of development by 2028. Recent Early Years Foundation Stage Profile data shows continued progress towards this ambition.
The department will undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the BSFH programme to assess whether it is achieving its intended objectives and improving outcomes for children and families. The evaluation will help strengthen the evidence base on the programme's impact and inform future delivery and policy decisions.
Health visiting provides unique access to families, with the early mandated reviews often delivered in the family home. It enables trained professionals to identify emerging health, developmental and safeguarding needs in children that may otherwise go unnoticed.
In September 2026, the department published the first ever dataset for the children’s public health nursing workforce. This data will be published annually to allow local authorities to monitor delivery and support the government’s commitment to strengthen health visiting.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the conditions of Best Start Family Hubs funding permit a local authority to reduce the number of family hubs in its area while receiving that funding.
Answered by Paul Waugh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Decisions about how family services are configured are for local authorities, which must act in line with their statutory duties and respond to local needs.
Best Start Family Hubs funding does not require authorities to maintain a particular number of Family Hubs. Instead, funding is intended to support the enhancement, expansion and transformation of services, ensuring that families benefit from a stronger, more accessible and better integrated offer. This includes delivery through both Best Start Family Hubs and Best Start Network Sites, which extend the reach of support by providing services through trusted community locations.
The aim is to improve access to services, strengthen integration across the wider system and ensure support is available in ways that best reflect local circumstances. Where authorities propose changes to existing provision, the department will work closely with them to ensure funding is used in line with programme expectations and delivers a demonstrably improved service.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether Best Start in Life Family Hubs will include families with children aged 2 and under at risk of developing speech and language challenges.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
Best Start Family Hubs focus on pregnancy and the early years,including the 1,001 critical days from conception to age 2,while also welcoming all families with older children up to age 19 (or 25 for young people with special educational needs and disabilities). This includes children aged 2 and under at risk of developing speech, language and communication needs. They bring together health, parenting and early years services, backed by £900 million to deliver a strong universal and targeted offer.
Evidence shows that what happens at home is central to a child’s development and long-term life chances. Hubs offer accessible services such as stay and play sessions and play‑based early language activities, giving parents practical advice and guidance, building confidence and relationships, and supporting a rich home learning environment through warmth, play and everyday communication.
Each hub will have a Best Start Inclusion Practitioner (BSIP) to provide early support for children aged 0 to 5 with emerging needs, without need for a formal diagnosis. BSIPs work across hubs and outreach locations, collaborating with speech and language therapists and others to provide joined‑up support.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to engage with the (a) National Association of Teachers of Religious Education and (b) Religious Education Council on the RE curriculum.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The purpose of teaching on religious education (RE) is to help pupils understand the wide range of religions and beliefs, including non-religious beliefs, that exist in our country and the wider world. A consequence of high-quality teaching can be the development of respect, tolerance and community cohesion, built through a greater understanding of different viewpoints. The department has previously issued guidance on the teaching of RE which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/religious-education-guidance-in-english-schools-non-statutory-guidance-2010.
The government is grateful to Vanessa Ogden for her work leading the sector to come together on developing a draft RE curriculum. The Curriculum and Assessment Review recommended that government should explore including RE in the national curriculum, contingent on sector consensus. We continue to engage with the sector, including the National Association of Teachers of Religious Education and the Religious Education Council.
More widely, our reforms to the curriculum will support pupils’ understanding of mutual tolerance and respect.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department provides guidance to schools to use religious education to promote respect, tolerance, and community cohesion.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The purpose of teaching on religious education (RE) is to help pupils understand the wide range of religions and beliefs, including non-religious beliefs, that exist in our country and the wider world. A consequence of high-quality teaching can be the development of respect, tolerance and community cohesion, built through a greater understanding of different viewpoints. The department has previously issued guidance on the teaching of RE which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/religious-education-guidance-in-english-schools-non-statutory-guidance-2010.
The government is grateful to Vanessa Ogden for her work leading the sector to come together on developing a draft RE curriculum. The Curriculum and Assessment Review recommended that government should explore including RE in the national curriculum, contingent on sector consensus. We continue to engage with the sector, including the National Association of Teachers of Religious Education and the Religious Education Council.
More widely, our reforms to the curriculum will support pupils’ understanding of mutual tolerance and respect.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to publish an annual assessment of care leavers' experiences of education, training and employment destinations, housing status and criminal justice involvement.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department knows care leavers have some of the worst long-term life outcomes in society. We are determined to address this so that all care leavers have support to build enduring relationships and stable homes.
Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act, we will roll out the Staying Close programme to support care leavers up to the age of 25; require each local authority to publish information about its arrangements for supporting care leavers’ transition to adulthood; change housing legislation so that care leavers cannot be found intentionally homeless; and introduce new corporate parenting responsibilities for government departments and relevant public bodies.
The government collects national data on care leavers through the Children Looked After in England including adoptions dataset. This is published annually, and provides information on accommodation, education, training and employment and is used to monitor outcomes and inform policy development and the targeting of support for children and young people leaving care nationally.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has a strategy for reducing inequalities experienced by care-experienced children and young people.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department knows care leavers have some of the worst long-term life outcomes in society. We are determined to address this so that all care leavers have support to build enduring relationships and stable homes.
Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act, we will roll out the Staying Close programme to support care leavers up to the age of 25; require each local authority to publish information about its arrangements for supporting care leavers’ transition to adulthood; change housing legislation so that care leavers cannot be found intentionally homeless; and introduce new corporate parenting responsibilities for government departments and relevant public bodies.
The government collects national data on care leavers through the Children Looked After in England including adoptions dataset. This is published annually, and provides information on accommodation, education, training and employment and is used to monitor outcomes and inform policy development and the targeting of support for children and young people leaving care nationally.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason initial teacher training bursaries have been withdrawn for (a) Music, (b) Art & Design and (c) Religious Education for the 2026–27 financial year.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Initial teacher training (ITT) bursaries are offered to incentivise more applications to ITT courses. As such, we review bursaries annually to take account of several factors, including recruitment to date, forecast economic conditions, and teacher need in each subject. The purpose of the scheme is to target resources to where the evidence shows need is highest.
Between the 2023/24 and 2025/26 academic years, postgraduate ITT recruitment increased by 55% in music, 119% in art and design and 71% in religious education, amongst the largest increases across all subjects. Partly due to this improved recruitment and higher retention of existing teachers, the need for new postgraduate trainee teachers in the 2026/27 academic year has reduced in all three subjects.
The department will continue to assess the need for trainee teachers across all subjects and will review the bursaries on offer accordingly, prior to announcing the bursary offer for the 2027/28 academic year this autumn.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to implement Recommendation 7 in the Module 2 Report of the Covid-19 Inquiry, published on 20 November 2025.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government does not intend to introduce legislation to make Child’s Rights Impact Assessments a statutory requirement at this time.
The department is working closely with Cabinet Office and other government departments to strengthen the consideration of children and young people’s interests within overall risk planning, including in relation to pandemics and other emergencies.