Oral Answers to Questions

Jess Brown-Fuller Excerpts

Monday 2nd March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Olivia Bailey]

I thank my hon. Friend for his excellent support for the schools in his constituency. Lockable pouches are being used successfully by many schools and are listed in the Department’s examples of best practice approaches. Heads can rightly choose how they implement the mobile phone ban in their school to reflect what works best in context.

[Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)]

Last week, I spent time with teachers and students from Chichester high school who have implemented the use of lockable magnetic pouches. Students told me that this had improved their focus in lessons and, interestingly, that the number of bathroom breaks had halved. Their use has reduced the pull of the addictive features on phones, and teachers report that children are just being children at break times rather than being glued to their phones. I am glad that the Minister shares my ambition to see every school become phone free, but what support are the Government going to provide for schools that have really tight budget restrictions to enable them to achieve this?

[Olivia Bailey]

I congratulate the pupils and staff at Chichester high school on their great work in this space. It is fantastic to hear that the policy they are implementing is making a difference for the children. Phones should not be in schools, and we are going to be working with schools through our attendance and behaviour hubs, along with our toughened guidance, to make sure we support them to implement this policy properly.

Student Loan Repayment Plans

Jess Brown-Fuller Excerpts

Wednesday 25th February 2026 Westminster Hall

[Jas Athwal]

I absolutely agree. This is so important, which is why we are here to look at the system.

Interest accrues from the moment the first payment is made, and it is linked to RPI, with the current maximum rate of 6.2%. Here is the stark reality: in 2024-25, plan 2 loans accrued £12.6 billion in interest, while borrowers repaid just £2.8 billion. In a single year, interest added to balances was more than four times the amount repaid. That is not a slogan but official data.

When graduates open their statements and see their balances rising, despite working hard and repaying every month, their anger is not ideological—it is rational. Students finishing university in 2024 entered repayment with an average debt of £53,000. That is the price tag now attached to aspiration. That burden falls unevenly, as those from wealthier families often avoid large maintenance borrowing and high earners quickly clear balances and reduce interest exposure. But the vast majority of middle earners—our nurses, teachers, engineers and small business employees—repay for decades, and most will never clear the balance.

[Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)]

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that this issue disproportionately affects women and those who have caring responsibilities? I have a constituent who was successfully paying down her student loan. She took a few years off to have children, and when she came back to the employed world, her bill was bigger than when she left university, so the starting point was higher. She knows that she will be paying it off until she retires. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that that is an unacceptable situation to be in?

[Jas Athwal]

The hon. Lady makes a valid point. I wholeheartedly agree that the system is rigged against working women who take time out to have children, so we need to make it fairer.

A graduate constituent of mine told me that she was the first woman in her entire lineage to go to university and get a degree, but she feels that that proud moment in her family’s history has been taken away from her by the regret that she has accrued a huge debt. The issue is not an isolated to Ilford South. As we hear from hon. Members across the Chamber, all across the country a whole generation feels bled dry by a system that keeps taking from them.

Another constituent told me that he left university with £64,000 of debt. Four years of repayment later, he now owes more than £99,000. This is not shared sacrifice, but a structural imbalance. We often speak of aspiration, but aspiration cannot thrive under compound interest designed in Whitehall. The repayment threshold sits only a few thousand pounds above the full-time minimum wage. Repayments begin early, just as graduates are finding their feet. People face income tax, national insurance, pension contributions, council tax and rent or, for those who are fortunate enough, a mortgage—and then we add 9%. For many, this does not feel like a loan; it functions as a long-term graduate tax, but without the honesty of calling it one.

From April 2027, the repayment threshold is scheduled to be frozen for three years. Freezing thresholds during wage growth means that more income falls into repayment. It increases lifetime contributions and tightens the squeeze on those who are already stretched. Yes, it improves Treasury forecasts, but is that really the motivation? Fairness is not measured only by spreadsheets. Outstanding student loan balances are projected to reach £500 billion in today’s prices by the mid-2040s.

Creative Education

Jess Brown-Fuller Excerpts

Tuesday 9th December 2025 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Olivia Bailey)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stuart.

I am hugely grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Dr Opher) for opening this valuable debate on creative education and for his thoughtful suggestions and campaign work. I also thank other colleagues for their contributions, which have included interesting comments about outdoor education and the importance of community-based arts organisations. I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Reading Central (Matt Rodda) for his campaign work on Reading Gaol, and my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud for his campaign on musical instruments. The Government have invested £25 million in the last year on funding for musical instruments, and I will say more on that later. Finally, the hon. Member for Leicester South (Shockat Adam) reminded us of the benefits of the arts to the wider curriculum.

My hon. Friend the Member for Stroud is a great advocate for creative education, especially music. I understand that he is a keen flautist. I attempted to play the violin and viola at school, but I suspect that the joys of playing music were felt only by me, and not by anyone forced to endure my performances. None the less, music education gave me, like so many children and young people, a chance to build confidence, make friends and explore my creativity—although I would rather forget my rockstar phase, even if I maintain that Standard Deviation was a great name for a band.

The Government are clear: high-quality arts education must not be the preserve of the privileged few. Arts subjects are important pillars of the rounded and enriching education that every child deserves. As my hon. Friend highlighted, creative education also benefits children’s wellbeing.

[Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)]

Will the Minister give way?

[Olivia Bailey]

Very briefly. I cannot take too many interventions because I am short on time.

[Jess Brown-Fuller]

Does the Minister agree that a creative arts education opens up multiple opportunities and careers for young people that do not necessarily involve being on a stage or creating music? The creative industries need intelligent engineers to make the lights and sound work, so a creative education can open many doors to exciting careers in the creative industries.

[Olivia Bailey]

I agree entirely with the hon. Lady. The creative industries unlock so many skills for the wider economy.

My hon. Friend the Member for Stroud spoke powerfully about the important subject of children’s mental health. We are providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school, so that every child and young person can access early support. Schools can also play a vital role by promoting good mental wellbeing and providing effective early support to pupils who may be struggling, and we are clear that creative activities can be part of their approach. For example, our targeted support toolkit gives education staff guidance on the use of creative and arts therapies to support pupils’ emotional wellbeing.

Access to the arts starts with the curriculum, as was rightly said. All young people should have the same opportunities that my hon. Friend and I did to develop their creativity and to find their voice. That is why one of our first actions in government was to launch an independent curriculum and assessment review. We will improve the arts curriculum through clear and rigorous programmes of study for music, art and design, and strengthened curriculum content for dance in physical education and drama in English. We are legislating so that academies will be required to teach the reformed national curriculum, including arts subjects, ensuring that creative education is not subject to a postcode lottery.

However, curriculum reform alone will not be enough to ensure that all children have access to a high-quality arts education; we also need to support our schools and our teachers. That is why in March we announced our intention to launch a new national centre for arts and music education. I am pleased to give my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud the additional detail that he requested: this new centre will help us to support schools in the teaching of music, art and design, drama and dance, and our intention is to establish it by September 2026, appointing a delivery partner for the centre through an open competitive procurement that we will issue in the new year.

The centre will also be the national delivery partner for the 43 music hub partnerships across England, which offer whole-class ensemble teaching, music instrument tuition and instrument loans, as well as continuing professional development for teachers. This Government continue to support that crucial programme, with grant funding of £76 million secured for this academic year and longer-term funding to be confirmed in due course.

For some pupils, particularly those facing disadvantage and with additional needs, the barriers to accessing music education can be particularly significant. That is why we are investing in a music opportunities pilot, backed by £2 million of Government investment and £3.85 million of funding from Arts Council England and Youth Music, with targeted support for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds or with special educational needs and disabilities. The pilot offers pupils across primary and secondary schools the opportunity to learn to play an instrument of their choice or to sing to a high standard by providing free lessons.

We also recognise the importance of specialist training in supporting young people to pursue the most advanced levels of arts education, including through means-tested bursaries through the dance and music scheme. That is why this Government continue to provide generous support to help more than 2,000 students access specialist music and dance education, committing £36.5 million for this academic year. Future funding for the scheme will be announced in due course.

In concluding, I would first like to take a moment of the Chamber’s time to pay tribute to the late Michael Harper, a vocal coach and champion of under-represented voices in the arts. Working with institutions such as the Royal Northern College of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the English National Opera, Michael was a passionate advocate for music education in every region of the UK. It is people such as Michael and his husband Tony—friends to many of us in Reading and in the Labour party—who recognise the transformational impact that access to the arts can have on children and young people. We remember him fondly.

This Government are committed to ensuring that all children can access and engage with high-quality arts education. I thank, once again, my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud for bringing forward this debate, and all the teachers, volunteers, music trusts and arts education advocates who work tirelessly to give our children a love for the arts. Creative subjects such as art, music, drama and dance are a vital part of a rich, broad school experience and must not be the preserve of a privileged few. While my violin playing was patchy and Standard Deviation never got our big break, I want every child to have the same opportunity to discover their love for the arts.

Question put and agreed to.

Children with SEND: Assessments and Support

Jess Brown-Fuller Excerpts

Monday 15th September 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)]

I thank the Petitions Committee for accepting this debate. The e-petition received over 200 signatures from my constituents in Chichester. It is a pleasure to see the Minister in her place. I put on record thanks from the parental organisations and advocacy organisations, because I know she has reached out and asked to speak to them ahead of the White Paper’s publication, which is really appreciated. Time and again, when talking to parents, teachers and those in local authority about the SEND system, I hear the word “adversarial” and that it is failing to deliver for our young people. Parents often feel pitted against their school, or even against other parents, in a system that is complex to navigate and distressing for all involved.

Where West Sussex county council is concerned, parents report a pattern that has been cited by many Members on both sides of the Chamber today. In the latest quarterly figures, it managed to put in place just 14.3% of all EHCPs within the 20-week statutory framework, which puts it among the worst councils in England on timelines. When an EHCP is refused, even after lengthy assessments, families appeal, then on the eve of the tribunal, the council concedes and issues the plan—but often, that is only the start of the process for those families. It wastes months that a child does not get back, and it wastes public money on process rather than provision.

[Tom Gordon (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (LD)]

On exactly that point, the problem often starts earlier than that—in schools. My mum, a councillor in Wakefield, has been fighting to get my sister assessed for two years, but the school has lost the paperwork so we are no further forward. Does my hon. Friend agree, similar to what my hon. Friend the Member for Yeovil (Adam Dance) said, that we need more support in schools to make sure that people get the assessments they need?

[Jess Brown-Fuller]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Many schools that I have spoken to in my constituency say they cannot fund a full-time SENCO; instead, they might share them with other primary schools in the area. SENCOs are at the frontline of this issue. They want to deliver for the children they are asked to represent, but they are not paid enough nor given enough hours to do the job. We need decisions that get it right first time and support that starts when the need is identified, not after a courtroom date is set.

I welcome the ten-minute rule Bill tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Yeovil (Adam Dance) on neurodivergent screening and teacher training. His principle is simple: we must identify needs early, including dyslexia; equip teachers with the knowledge and confidence to respond in class; and make specialist pathways clear and timely for those who need them. As he rightly said in his moving contribution in the main Chamber, neurodivergence is not a weakness or a flaw; with the right support, it can be a superpower. If Ministers are serious about addressing the crisis in SEND, parent voice must be at the centre. Parents know their children best and what works, because they live with the consequences of policy every day. Change will command confidence only if families can see and feel the difference.

[Dr Rosena Allin-Khan (in the Chair)]

I am afraid that I have to take the time limit down to one and a half minutes to get everybody in.

Early Education and Childcare

Jess Brown-Fuller Excerpts

Thursday 4th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Morgan]

I am very happy to meet my hon. Friend. The 1,000 Best Start family hubs that we have been rolling out across the country will make a huge difference, ensuring that every child gets the best start in life, alongside the parent hub that we launched earlier this week, which will provide practical support to parents on breastfeeding, access to childcare and other issues. I note that no Reform Members are in the House today, and I know the public will note that too.

[Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)]

I thank the Minister for his statement. Maintained nurseries such as Chichester nursery school provide bespoke support for children, especially those with special educational needs and disabilities, but less than 400 maintained nurseries remain open. Will he outline what steps he is taking to ensure long-term financial stability for those nurseries so that they can keep the lights on and continue supporting the children they care for in their critical early years?

[Stephen Morgan]

We aim to ensure that every child with developmental differences and special educational needs is supported at the start of their life. The hon. Lady will know that we will publish a White Paper on those issues later this year. I commend the work of maintained nurseries; they provide a unique role in communities across the country, and I hope they have a bright future ahead of them in the light of the ambitions we set out in the “best start in life” strategy in July.

Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund

Jess Brown-Fuller Excerpts

Thursday 4th September 2025 Westminster Hall

[Alison Bennett (Mid Sussex) (LD)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund.

It is a pleasure to serve under you, Ms Lewell. I thank the Backbench Business Committee for granting this debate, and I thank hon. Members who supported my application.

The Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund has, since 2015, been a lifeline for families who are raising children who have endured immense hardship and trauma. I welcome the announcement this morning—nicely timed for this debate—that the fund will continue into the next financial year, giving families and providers a little more of a chance to plan and deliver therapy. It is also good news that the Department plans to engage with providers and families during the reform process. That shows that the campaigning of colleagues, families and providers—including those in the Public Gallery for this debate—makes a difference, and shows that we cannot stop now.

But while the extension is welcome, it does not properly address any of the fundamental issues that exist as a result of the cuts announced in April, such as the significant decrease in per child funding, or the lack of a long-term settlement for the fund. The fund was designed to provide children with the therapeutic support that they need to recover from trauma, neglect and abuse. It has enabled outstanding providers, such as Beacon House and Jigsaw in my constituency of Mid Sussex, to deliver life-changing therapy to vulnerable children. The fund also provides vital support to parents such as Rachel, who is here today and who speaks so powerfully about the importance of the fund and the irreversible damage its withdrawal does.

[Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)]

I put on record my thanks to my hon. Friend for her tireless campaigning on this specific issue, on behalf of us all. Providers such as Beacon House, which also serves my constituency, have been clear that proper assessments are essential; they are not optional extras. Does my hon. Friend agree that cutting funding for those specialist assessments means that therapy risks starting without the foundations needed for long-term healing, which is both clinically unsafe and deeply unfair to the families involved?

[Alison Bennett]

I thank my hon. Friend for her kind words. She is absolutely right. I will address her point in due course.

When I saw Rachel this morning and told her about the one-year renewal of the fund, she told me that she had come out in goosebumps as a result. That is how much this fund matters to adoptive families. I have seen for myself the difference that the fund makes. One parent told me that her gratitude for the ASGSF was immeasurable, and that she would never have been able to be an adoptive parent today without it. She spoke about two professionals whose

“deep understanding, profound compassion and reflective empathy”

had supported her and her children through multiple crises and out the other side. Such stories are not rare. Every year, Adoption UK’s adoption barometer shows consistent results: 85% of families who access the fund say that it makes a positive impact; 94% say that they would use it again. So, yes, it was a relief in April when my hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson) secured a commitment from the Minister that the fund would continue, but that relief came only after weeks of absolutely unnecessary anxiety. Families were left in limbo, and providers unsure if they could keep going. Even now, huge problems and unanswered questions remain. The profound concern that I am hearing from families, therapists and charities working with adoptive and kinship families is about whether the Government are going to learn from the shambles of the spring and not repeat those mistakes.

Early Years Providers: Government Support

Jess Brown-Fuller Excerpts

Wednesday 9th July 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)]

I thank the hon. Member for Sherwood Forest (Michelle Welsh) for securing this important and timely debate—I am sure she intended it to fall in the week when the Secretary of State announced the roll-out of Best Start centres. I also pay tribute to the hon. Lady for her ongoing advocacy for children, parents and early years providers up and down the country, often using her personal experiences to impress the importance of getting this right. Her commitment to the early years is noted across the House. She has also highlighted that early years providers span not just nurseries, but pre-schools, maintained nurseries, childminders, independent nurseries and in-school nurseries as well.

Quality early years education is the single best investment that any Government can make in the future of our society. It supports children’s development at a critical stage of their lives and lays the groundwork for future educational attainment, wellbeing and opportunity. It also matters enormously for families. Flexible and affordable childcare is not just a convenience; it is a vital part of the country’s economic and social infrastructure. With the UK’s statutory parental pay among the lowest in the OECD, parents are often having to choose an early years provider earlier than they might like in order to return to work.

The Government’s plans to expand the 30 hours free childcare entitlement have received broad support across the House, and rightly so. However, I would like to take this opportunity to ask the Minister whether the ambition will be matched with realism. Is he confident that the promise will be delivered? Many providers are already struggling to keep their doors open. In 2023, half of them reported that their income did not cover basic operating costs, and that is before factoring in the Government’s increases to national insurance contributions and the national living wage.

In real terms, the average funding for three to four-year-olds is still below where it was in 2016. While the headlines about expanded entitlement sound impressive, and are no doubt welcome across the country, we have to ask whether it is enough to keep the sector afloat.

[Edward Morello (West Dorset) (LD)]

Over the weekend, I was at a village fête. I will not name the primary school, but I was approached by the head, who told me that with the expansion of the number of hours and the rate that they are being paid, the school will close within 18 months. Even though, by the standards of its sector, it had a reasonable buffer going into this, the cost of delivering the service is not matched by Government funding. This village will lose a vital service as a result.

[Jess Brown-Fuller]

My hon. Friend raises a valid and important point that has been made in various contributions to this debate. At the start of this week, I spent my morning at Fishbourne pre-school. It does not have a lovely name like the Bears or the Acorns—I am quite jealous, actually—but it is a brilliant, popular, charity-run pre-school that is doing everything it can to serve local families.

I was covered in shaving foam the moment I walked through the door. There were activities, messy play and free play going on everywhere. We had a lovely “Wind the Bobbin Up” in the forest school, but I also took the opportunity to talk to the manager of the pre-school. She told me very plainly that, under the new arrangements, not only will their funding model be affected, but they will end up taking fewer children overall. The demand is there—they are already at capacity—but this change will mean that they can serve fewer families in the Fishbourne area.

I think that is what my hon. Friend the Member for West Dorset (Edward Morello) was alluding to: in those rural areas where there is not a huge amount of choice, and just one local service provider, if they can take on fewer children, where are the others meant to go?

[Caroline Voaden]

My hon. Friend is talking about the provision in rural areas. We have a wonderful nursery called Rainbow nursery in Totnes, which serves not only the town but the wider area. There are very few, if any, village nurseries, so lots of people come into the town to use the nursery provision. It is absolutely rammed, with a huge waiting list, and many parents will not even get a place before their child moves on. As other hon. Members have said, it is really struggling, with the free childcare hours, to cover its costs. If that nursery becomes unsustainable, there will be no provision. There are not lots of alternatives, so we are at a really crucial point.

[Jess Brown-Fuller]

I hope that the Minister hears the message loud and clear from across the House that many service providers are flagging this to us in our constituencies. I send my concern to Rainbow nursery—another great name for a nursery.

Fishbourne pre-school is just about covering wages and keeping the lights on, but there is nothing left over for the things that actually make early years special: the new books, the toys and the equipment to support those additional needs. Anything extra for the pre-school has to be raised by the parents via raffles or voluntary donations.

The staff at Fishbourne pre-school were conscientious, engaged and passionate about the young people who they look after. I could tell that they valued every single one of them. I was really pleased to see that it had recently taken on a male member of staff, which goes back to earlier contributions from hon. Members. The nursery manager told me that it is brilliant to have a male presence in the nursery because so many of those children only see females in nursery settings. He is doing a marvellous job and I commend him for it. He was not in charge of the shaving foam.

These professionals value every single one of the children they look after. Do the Government believe that they are valuing those professionals in the same way? The Department for Education itself has said that we will need 70,000 new childcare places and 35,000 additional staff by this autumn. Those already in the sector report feeling underpaid, overworked and under-recognised, despite the enormous responsibility that they hold looking after the most precious members of our families. If the Government are to recruit 35,000 more people into the early years sector, they need to make it an attractive career path.

The new entitlements from September are meant to support all families, but the current design risks deepening inequality. The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that 80% of the families who will benefit earn over £45,000 a year. Just 20% are lower income families. That means that some of the children who would benefit most from early years intervention and education are the least likely to get it. I hope that the Minister is across that.

My party has welcomed the Government’s commitment to increasing the frequency of Ofsted inspections for early years settings to keep children safe. As the hon. Member for Altrincham and Sale West (Mr Rand) mentioned, that is incredibly welcome, but there is concern that the numbers on the floor can be boosted the day before an Ofsted inspection. The tragic case of Gigi Meehan in Cheadle and the horrific abuse uncovered at Twickenham Green nursery are searing reminders of what can happen when safeguarding fails. Gigi’s parents, along with my hon. Friends the Members for Cheadle (Mr Morrison) and for Twickenham (Munira Wilson), have long campaigned for more regular and more robust inspections, as they are a vital part of raising standards and safeguarding children.

Going back to supporting the workforce who are delivering this essential care, we need to invest in proper training, setting clear standards for oversight and ensuring that there is a meaningful career path for nursery staff. Requiring a recognised early years qualification and helping staff to access and complete that training is key to building a confident, skilled workforce and ensuring that every child receives the best possible start. So many Members across the House mentioned SEND; that skilled workforce can identify the additional support that a child may need as they move on towards school.

I will briefly touch on the comments by the Chair of the Select Committee, the hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes), on maintained nurseries. I have a maintained nursery in my constituency, which is relaying the same concerns that she raised: it has the additional onus of employing a headteacher and operating like a school, but it cannot access the funding that schools can. The burden and pressure on its balance sheet are huge, and it is at risk of closing, but maintained nurseries have the greatest majority of SEND children. They are doing those early interventions and some incredible work. I was grateful to visit my local maintained nursery.

[Cameron Thomas]

I was a very nervous father when I handed my daughter to the childminder in her early years setting. She was an absolutely fantastic lady called Jade Bamford in Oxfordshire. When calling for SEND training for early years staff, would my hon. Friend call on the Government to incorporate childminders within that?

[Jess Brown-Fuller]

My hon. Friend raises an important point that childminders are quite often the bedrock of early years provision. So often they are the experts, because they have a small cohort of children so they take the time to understand the needs of every single one of those children that they look after, and I praise them for it.

I would like to briefly touch on the comments made by the Secretary of State for Education during her announcement on school readiness, about children needing to have the ability to sit still. I have two children in primary school. Before they started school, the fantastic nursery that they attended and their primary school were in absolute lockstep on what it means to be school ready. Can they put their own coat and shoes on independently? Can they go to the toilet unaided? Can they hold a pencil? Can they recognise their name if it is written out? There was no requirement for them to be able to sit still, especially in reception where so much of the foundation of their education is rooted in play, as the hon. Member for Sherwood Forest spoke about. I know that the Secretary of State is a mother, and I am sure that she recognises that it was a poorly phrased statement, so can the Minister reassure parents across the UK that play will continue to be the bedrock of early years teaching, and that it will continue throughout key stage 1?

We were very pleased to see the Government’s recent announcements on Best Start hubs and early years workforce support. Those are welcome steps, and I know that a Best Start hub will be really welcomed in my constituency of Chichester. It is a real opportunity to ensure that families have access to all those support networks under one roof.

I will close by asking the Minister a couple of questions. Will he tell us whether the Department will urgently review the funding rates to ensure that they reflect the true cost of delivering early years education, especially in the light of rising staffing and operational costs? Will the Government please consider exempting early years providers from the recent national insurance increase, given the unique pressures facing the sector? What steps are being taken to ensure that the roll-out in September does not leave providers short-staffed and under-resourced? How will the Department support those that are already warning that they may not be able to meet demand?

[Mark Pritchard (in the Chair)]

I will give an extra two minutes to the shadow Minister if she wants them, given that we have a little bit of time.

Adoption and Kinship Placements

Jess Brown-Fuller Excerpts

Tuesday 20th May 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Harris. I thank the hon. Member for South West Devon (Rebecca Smith) for securing this important and timely debate. As a member of the all-party parliamentary group on kinship care, I will focus on how vital kinship carers are and on how they are often overlooked and under-supported. Many do not even identify as kinship carers, yet they are the ones providing stability, safety and love to children who can no longer live with their birth parents. Often, they are grandparents, aunts, uncles or family friends; they do this for the love of the children, and often of the families the children can no longer be with, yet kinship carers need proper support to avoid these arrangements breaking down.

In a 2024 survey, 35% of kinship carers rated the information they received from their local authority as very poor, while 44% said they did not trust their local authority at all. They are exhausted by being forced to battle a system that should be supporting them. Many are navigating complex traumas on top of a failing special educational needs and disability system, with half of children in kinship care also not getting the help they need in their education setting. Families also face a cliff edge of support when the young person turns 18.

That is why the adoption and special guardianship support fund—a pot that kinship carers have been able to access only since 2023—is so crucial to getting the bespoke therapies that these children and their trusted adults rely on. In my Chichester constituency, we are lucky to have Beacon House, which is a truly outstanding therapeutic service for young people, families and adults. I will share some of the comments from the children who have had the support of Beacon House. One said:

“It has helped me to understand why I sometimes act the way I do in scenarios and to unload my day to day worries that perhaps were taking a toll on my mental health”.

Another said:

“It’s made me feel safer. It doesn’t make me feel I’m not welcome here”.

And finally:

“It has helped me to think about why I do things and help to understand and for my parents to understand too”.

For so many of the families using services like Beacon House, the adoption and special guardianship support fund has been a lifeline. It benefited more than 18,000 children last year. I believe that the Government know this fund is vital to families up and down the UK, and I understand their desire to increase its availability so that more families can benefit, but the fund is preventing breakdowns in adoptions and special guardianship arrangements. Will the Minister make the argument to the Treasury for increasing the fund, so that all children under care arrangements can access this support, with proper clinical assessments funded so the support can be tailored? These families do extraordinary things, stepping in, often at a moment’s notice, to give vulnerable children a future. The least we can do is give them the support they deserve.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jess Brown-Fuller Excerpts

Monday 28th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Bridget Phillipson]

I have visited Gateshead college to see the fantastic work it does on digital skills, but I know that it has also developed innovative, flexible apprenticeships for careers in building design and construction, which I hope can be replicated elsewhere. I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend and perhaps to visit Gateshead college to learn more about what it is doing on construction.

[Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)]

Further education colleges such as Chichester college in my constituency are vital to the delivery of construction apprenticeships and skills training. Many colleges, however, have raised a concern with me that a loophole in the last Government’s Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022, which brought colleges back into the public sector, means that they cannot go out and get public investment into their colleges. What is the Minister doing to address their concerns and ensure that FE colleges can invest in the facilities and courses needed to train our future construction workforce?

[Bridget Phillipson]

The hon. Lady raises an important point about that reclassification. Through the construction announcement we made ahead of the spring statement, we created a capital pot for employer-led and match-funded projects to ensure that we are really working to deliver some of the programmes that are needed. We are also investing more in further education—again through boosting teaching in this area—and making sure that young people have access to industry placements, which we know are crucial in making sure that they succeed, especially in areas like construction.

Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund

Jess Brown-Fuller Excerpts

Tuesday 1st April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Janet Daby]

We believe that children need to be secure in a long-term home, whether that is with kinship families, adoptive families or various others. Our commitment and our endeavour is to make sure that we provide the best home for a child so that they can grow, learn, play and thrive.

[Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)]

John, my constituent in Chichester, is 12. He sent an email to Beacon House, a therapy provider in Chichester, which said:

“I’m really sad and worried that I won’t be able to see Becky any more.”—

Becky is his therapist. The email continued:

“Can someone please tell me how to not feel so sad?”

John will be delighted that his support from Becky will continue, but the lack of clarity has been felt acutely by vulnerable families, who find uncertainty incredibly triggering. Will the Minister please provide clarity on the Floor of the House today—that we will not be back here next year having the same discussion?

[Janet Daby]

I thank the hon. Member for sharing that information regarding John. I would like to think that many children are being protected from certain information so that it does not cause them further anxiety. I am delighted that we have been able to confirm that there will be £50 million for the adoption and special guardianship support fund for 2025-26, and I absolutely understand the need to ensure that such funding is ongoing and delivered in a timely manner.