Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to develop a National Trauma Strategy for England.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The government recognises that trauma can have a profound impact on children’s lives and that addressing it requires support from the whole of society.
The NHS provides specialist assessment, talking therapies and medical treatment for conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as self‑help resources and routes to urgent or ongoing psychological support.
Education settings also play an important role in identifying and supporting pupils affected by adversity, with the flexibility to choose the pastoral support that best meets their pupils’ needs. The department’s guidance emphasises creating safe, supportive environments and understanding the lasting impact trauma can have on wellbeing and learning.
The government is expanding mental health support teams to ensure access to specialist mental health professionals in all schools and colleges by 2029, alongside £13 million in pilots to enhance support for children with more complex needs, including those linked to trauma, neurodivergence and disordered eating.
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) implemented a domestic abuse policy for staff and (b) trained line managers to effectively respond to staff who are experiencing domestic abuse.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department has issued guidance for staff on domestic abuse. This guidance includes information for line managers on how to respond to staff experiencing domestic abuse alongside routes for further advice and support.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's policy paper Giving every child the best start in life strategy, published on 7 July 2025, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that parenting support delivered as part of the strategy is evidence-based.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
As part of the ‘Giving every child the best start in life’ strategy, the department is investing in evidence-based parenting and home learning environment (HLE) interventions delivered through Best Start Family Hubs. These programmes are designed to support children’s early development across key domains, including communication and language, early literacy, cognitive skills, and social, emotional and behavioural wellbeing.
To support local authorities in commissioning high quality provision, the department will provide guidance on the commissioning of parenting and HLE interventions with a strong evidence base and proven impact. We are working in partnership with the National Centre for Family Hubs, the Foundations What Works Centre for Children & Families, and Nesta to help local areas identify and implement the most effective programmes. This will ensure greater consistency and quality across the country and support our ambition for 75% of children to achieve a good level of development by 2028.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the extension of the PINS programme on children with developmental language disorder.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The partnerships for inclusion of neurodiversity in schools (PINS) programme covers all neurodivergence and so includes developmental language disorder. An independent evaluation of the PINS programme is underway. This evaluation will thoroughly explore the implementation and outcomes of the PINS programme, including to what extent the programme may have supported children with developmental language disorder. Interim findings from this evaluation are expected in autumn 2025 and will be published in accordance with Government Social Research protocol.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing annual statistics on the number of children who miss education due to long term illness; and if she will publish statistics on the child's (a) region, (b) age, (c) ethnicity, (d) gender and (e) type of illness.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The department collects data on children missing education from local authorities. The latest data, including breakdowns by geography, characteristic and length of time missing education, is published here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-missing-education/2024-25-autumn-term. This includes data by region, age, ethnicity and gender.
The department does not yet publish data on physical health or mental health as a primary reason for children missing education. However, these fields have been added to the aggregate termly local authority data collection for the first time beginning autumn 2025 and will be included in the next official statistics release.
Data on pupil absence is collected via the school census and the latest publication is here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-absence-in-schools-in-england/2023-24. Reasons for absence are included in the publication, including the illness rate.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department’s statutory guidance entitled Children missing education - Statutory guidance for local authorities, updated August 2024, when she plans to update the guidance; and if she will make it her policy to regularly update the guidance to adapt to emerging trends and needs as indicated by new data collected.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The department conducted a call for evidence from 18 May to 20 July 2023 on ‘Improving support for children missing education’ to understand the sector’s current approach to identifying and supporting children missing education (CME), and to inform any changes which will help us to improve this support.
To address current challenges in identifying and supporting CME, the department has already:
Following the call for evidence, the department is reviewing its CME guidance with a view to publishing an updated version in due course.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to support schools to develop timetabling expertise in order to enable more flexible working patterns for teachers (a) who are mothers and (b) generally.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department is taking action to support and promote flexible working in schools for all teachers and leaders. We have published non-statutory guidance alongside our flexible working toolkit, which includes practical resources to help leaders implement flexible working and to support school staff to request it. We have also clarified the position on planning, preparation and assessment time, so that schools are aware that teachers can use this time more flexibly. This can include taking it in a single chunk of time, or working from home, where the school deems this operationally feasible.
The department is also funding support for teachers and school leaders. We are delivering a culture change programme, focused on embedding flexible working in schools and multi-academy trusts (MATs). This programme allows schools to access support to overcome the perceived or practical barriers they face to implementing flexible working. This includes peer support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and MATs, and the delivery of supportive webinars, including several specifically addressing how timetabling can support flexible working.
Our programme also offers practical support on combining flexible working with life as a parent and has a range of tailored content such as a webinar on making a flexible working request when returning from parental leave.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department’s statutory guidance entitled Children missing education: statutory guidance for local authorities, published August 2024, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of specifying the (a) role and (b) responsibility of local authorities for providing education to children who are absent from mainstream education due to long term illness.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Local authorities do have a statutory duty under section 19 of the Education Act 1996 to arrange suitable and (normally) full-time education for children of compulsory school age who, because of exclusion, illness or other reasons, would not receive suitable education without such provision. This means that where a child cannot attend school because of a physical or mental health need, and cannot access suitable full-time education, the local authority is responsible for arranging suitable alternative provision.
The department sets out guidance to support local authorities to fulfil their section 19 duty available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/657995f0254aaa000d050bff/Arranging_education_for_children_who_cannot_attend_school_because_of_health_needs.pdf.
The department has also issued statutory guidance for local authorities that makes clear their role and responsibilities for ’Children missing education’ which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-missing-education.
This statutory guidance sets key principles to enable local authorities in England to implement their legal duty to identify, as far as it is possible to do so, children missing education and get them back into education.
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 take steps to help minimise the potential impact of prosecutions for child truancy from school on mothers.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Absence is one of the biggest barriers to success for children and young people. Missing school regularly is harmful to a child’s attainment, safety and physical and mental health, limiting their opportunity to succeed. This government is committed to improving school attendance through our ‘support-first’ approach which seeks to foster strong relationships between families, schools, local authorities and other relevant local services. This ensures that support is made available at an early stage to help children to improve their school attendance. This approach is set out in our statutory attendance guidance, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance.
Schools, local authorities and other partners should always work together to understand and remove the barriers to attendance. The guidance, which came into effect last August, specifically underlines the importance of working in partnership with families. It also details when Notices to Improve should be issued as a final opportunity for a parent to engage in support and improve attendance before legal intervention is pursued.
The decision to prosecute rests solely with the local authority, but paragraph 164 of the guidance sets out factors for their consideration, including public interest tests and equalities considerations.
The department’s attendance guidance is based on best practice and was introduced following full public consultation.
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 prosecutions for child truancy from school on mothers.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Absence is one of the biggest barriers to success for children and young people. Missing school regularly is harmful to a child’s attainment, safety and physical and mental health, limiting their opportunity to succeed. This government is committed to improving school attendance through our ‘support-first’ approach which seeks to foster strong relationships between families, schools, local authorities and other relevant local services. This ensures that support is made available at an early stage to help children to improve their school attendance. This approach is set out in our statutory attendance guidance, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance.
Schools, local authorities and other partners should always work together to understand and remove the barriers to attendance. The guidance, which came into effect last August, specifically underlines the importance of working in partnership with families. It also details when Notices to Improve should be issued as a final opportunity for a parent to engage in support and improve attendance before legal intervention is pursued.
The decision to prosecute rests solely with the local authority, but paragraph 164 of the guidance sets out factors for their consideration, including public interest tests and equalities considerations.
The department’s attendance guidance is based on best practice and was introduced following full public consultation.