Educational Assessment System Reform

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 15th October 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I thank the hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford (Josh Dean) for securing this debate and for the personal story he told. That always helps us to focus on where we are and where we need to be.

The issue of educational assessment affects every single constituency within this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. As every parent, grandparent and teacher knows, exam times are stressful, whether that stress comes from knowing that their child is not studying at all, thinking that they are studying too much, knowing that they are stressed out themselves or worrying that they will not reach their potential. All of it seems incredibly stressful and worrisome. I can still remember the advice that my mother gave to me—wee wise woman that she is, now 94 years of age—“Do your best, work hard and leave the rest to God.” I think that is where we all want to be. It did not do me any harm in my life.

At exam results time in my constituency, I always strive to tell my story. I am the MP for Strangford. I did my GCSEs; I did not do A-levels. The path to success does not always have to be academic. I say that with great respect to those who decide to go that way—I am not against that. It is about making sure that everyone has a chance. I know many businessmen and women who left school at 16 and are multimillionaires. Hard work and good character are their qualifications. My point is that people can achieve their goals in other ways. Exams are not the be-all and end-all. However, they are undoubtedly part of life, and rightly so. Any teacher will tell us that assessment is needed to ensure that a child is getting the help they need and understanding the things they need to.

We are all aware that there are more children with differing needs, and they may well require different assessments. Official stats show a significant rise in autism diagnoses among school-aged children, with the prevalence rate in Northern Ireland increasing from approximately 1.2% in 2009 to 5.8%. However, we know that a diagnosis of autism is an indication not of the level of intelligence, but that a different approach is needed to get the best from that child. That is the way to do it. It does not mean that they are less able; it just means that we need to do it a different way. That is what we need to look at: how do we tailor educational assessment to the large range of needs that mainstream education is dealing with? I believe that that begins with support for teachers in lesson planning to ensure that they can reach a full class that may have a range of very different needs.

The hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford raised some points about assessments being changed, but I believe that our entire approach needs to change. We need an approach that values vocational callings as well as academic ones, and in which children feel that they succeed not because they managed to pass maths, but because they learned their skills well—a system in which academic children can thrive and hands-on learning can be equal.

That will not come by changing exam structures, but by changing the system of education from the ground up. I know that it is the desire of teachers throughout this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to help children to achieve their best, find job fulfilment and be confident in their strengths. I look to my grandchildren—I have six of them, from the age of three to 16—and know that their futures, in each of their own unique ways, are bright. We need an education system that facilitates those ways. That is the change we all need to achieve.

Children with SEND: Assessments and Support

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Monday 15th September 2025 Westminster Hall

[Neil Duncan-Jordan]

As I am a keen universalist, I have to agree with my hon. Friend.

There is also a bureaucracy to navigate. It takes massive amounts of time, effort and knowledge of process for parents to navigate the system to get the support they need. That puts parents with lower educational attainment, complex personal needs or busy working lives at a disadvantage. It is no wonder that 62% of parent-carers of SEND children are not in paid employment.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

Today, I attended the Adoption Barometer event, which many other hon. Members probably also attended. It showed that adopted and fostered children can have not only trauma and other medical issues but educational issues—it is a double whammy for those who look after those children. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that, in summing up, perhaps the Minister should consider the double issues facing foster parents and foster children?

Early Education and Childcare

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 4th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Morgan]

My hon. Friend likes to lobby me on these issues, and I pay tribute to his hard work in delivering for his constituency. I also thank those who work in nurseries and schools across his constituency, who we have worked really hard to rebuild the relationship with after the failures of the previous Government.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the Minister for his very positive statement. He works very closely with the Minister in Northern Ireland, who announced back in May a package of measures worth some £55 million for the same purpose. The uptake has been huge, and has demonstrated the need for working families to receive help and for children to have support. However, more grandparents are having to work later in life, which means that childcare is at a premium. Has the Minister had the opportunity to discuss that problem with the relevant Minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly, to share ideas and help all regions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to work together?

[Stephen Morgan]

The hon. Member will know that I have prioritised getting to know the Minister responsible in Northern Ireland in order to discuss these issues, and I am really pleased that the Northern Ireland Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Fleur Anderson), is sat next to me. I will continue to engage with the Government in Northern Ireland on the issues of workforce and sufficiency, and where we can, I am very keen to support the community in dealing with the challenges they face.

Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 4th September 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is, as always, a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell— I think I have done so three or four times this week already. I thank the hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Alison Bennett) for bringing this issue to the House and for the passion she obviously has for this subject. She brought that to us all really well, and we thank her for that.

As Members will be aware, I always give a Northern Ireland perspective to these debates. Northern Ireland offers support through the regional adoption and fostering services and the health and social care trusts, providing an assessment of need and funding for therapy for eligible families. Although the process and funding structure differ from the system we have here—the ASGSF—the issue is exactly the same. Demand far outstrips funding, and the bottom line is that children’s lives and futures are on the line.

It has been well established by numerous studies that cared-for children do better in kinship care, which enables them to be with those they have a connection with, those who will care for them because they have that biological connection and probably a very strong relationship. I am sold on the benefits of kinship care, as others are. Evidence shows that kinship care provides better long-term outcomes and a safe and stable home for children and young people who are likely to have experienced significant early life adversity, such as loss, trauma or neglect.

The impact of the lack of funding is clearly heading towards families who are struggling, and cannot afford to fund another child with additional emotional needs, saying that they cannot provide kinship care. We must do all we can to prevent that outcome in order to get the best outlook for the child, and because of the financial burden that care places on social services. I know that the Minister will look at this very honestly.

Research from the Centre for Care estimates that kinship care is worth some £4.3 billion a year to the Government, which is equivalent to nearly 40% of the entire children’s service budget for England. If that care was no longer available, that is a lot of money—another black hole that the Government will have to try to find the money for. We must not let that happen. To address the rising demand for children requiring alternative forms of care, most commonly foster care, which costs taxpayers millions each year, we need to ensure that kinship carers receive help and support. That is essential to the entire care system, whether in Northern Ireland or England. Funding to allow support and help must match the needs of children whose difficult upbringing or shocking change in circumstances has the potential to derail them for life.

We have a responsibility to ensure that cared for children are exactly that: cared for, protected and supported, with hope for the future.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Monday 21st July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Morgan]

Ensuring that schools and colleges have the resources and buildings that they need is key to our mission to break down barriers to opportunity and ensure that every child can succeed and thrive. As always, I am very happy to meet the hon. Gentleman.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the Minister very much for his answers, as always. The hon. Member for Derby North (Catherine Atkinson) referred to the construction sector. Is it time perhaps to think outside the circle of what we usually do, through deals and partnerships with construction companies? That would give us the opportunity to improve the education and college estate while making people available and knowledgeable for jobs in their future life, whether in construction or otherwise. It is time for partnerships—let us do something perhaps a wee bit different.

[Stephen Morgan]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right: the construction sector is fundamental to the UK economy. That is why the Government’s industrial strategy includes a construction sector deal. We have committed £625 million to supporting construction skills training, and that funding includes capital investment through the establishment of technical excellence colleges and the creation of an employer match funding pot worth £80 million.

Government Support for Ukrainians

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Monday 21st July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Martin Wrigley]

I absolutely agree, and people in that situation are very worried—I have several in my own constituency. I have spoken to groups of guests in Newton Abbot, and they are mostly working, getting on with integrating into the local community and strongly supporting each other.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Gentleman for bringing this issue forward. The reason so many of us are here is that it impacts each and every one of us, and I have a very strong Ukrainian contingent in my constituency. Many refugees have made their homes in our constituencies—in Newton Abbot, Strangford and elsewhere. Ukrainian children are being educated in our schools and making lives for themselves, with their parents working, paying tax and spending in the local community. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that that must continue with as little stress and hassle as possible? The fact is that Ukrainians have become an integral part of all our communities.

[Martin Wrigley]

I thank the hon. Member for his intervention and I absolutely agree.

Ukrainians are scared of what happens next, and we have no answer for them. They see reports of their countrymen being refused asylum in the UK because it is said to be safe to return to Ukraine, even while Putin’s drones explode in Ukraine’s cities in record numbers.

Further Education Institutions

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 16th July 2025 Westminster Hall

[Anna Dixon (Shipley) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered Government support for further education institutions.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Christopher. Up and down the country, further education institutions are educating and training 1.6 million people, providing them with the skills they need. These colleges are the lifeblood of the British economy, serving as a vital bridge between compulsory schooling and higher education and employment. However, further education was cut to the bone under the previous Conservative Government, and colleges are crying out for more support. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, spending on adult skills and apprenticeships was 23% lower in 2024-25 than it was back in 2009-10. That is a huge cause for concern.

Many of us in this room have seen the great work that these colleges do at first hand, and I am sure we will hear that from colleagues during the debate. I pay tribute to Shipley college in my constituency, and I hope to draw attention to some of the challenges that it and others face, as well as their tremendous contributions. Shipley college is the local lead on health training, and has built a strong relationship with Bradford Royal Infirmary. They have developed a T-level cadetship programme, giving local 16 to 17-year-olds invaluable experience on hospital wards.

I recently visited Shipley college and met students and staff who were training on life-like robots with AI-generated voices to mimic a conversation with a patient. That was clearly giving the students confidence, and preparing them much better than traditional teaching methods. Government funding has enabled the college to invest in such amazing resources as Gaumard human simulators, Anatomage tables for learning anatomy and physiology, and an immersive classroom where students get to prepare to deliver skills in a real-life situation.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Lady, who has made a reputation for herself in the Chamber by asking all the questions. I understand this is her first Westminster Hall debate, and I congratulate her on it and wish her well. Last year there were almost 19,000 UCAS applicants who self-identified as young adult carers. That is around 4% of all applicants. I spoke to the hon. Lady before the debate; does she agree that more support must be offered in further education settings to those who have caring responsibilities—from caring for a parent or being a parent themselves—so they can achieve educational standards?

[Anna Dixon]

I agree that we must open up access to education for all, including carers. Further education colleges require significant investment to upgrade and maintain their buildings and ensure that they can provide a modern learning environment and access to up-to-date technology. However, staff tell me that their ambitions for further capital investment are limited. Since colleges were brought back into public ownership, their ability to borrow money and invest in capital projects has been removed, and they must now seek permission from the Department for Education to borrow money, which is a slow process. I would appreciate the Minister outlining what the Government are doing to address the capital funding needs of further education colleges.

I would like to move on to some issues around skills training. Every year, 3.8 million people aged 19 and over access skills education in England. That is a critical part of our education system, enabling people to build rewarding careers and fulfil their dreams. Yet, across the country, businesses do not have the right skills available to deliver the services they want and we need. According to the Learning and Work Institute, the UK could face a £120 billion loss by 2030, with a projected shortfall of 2.5 million highly skilled workers.

In Saltaire in my constituency, businesses tell me that they are struggling to recruit people with digital and tech skills locally. Is that any wonder when the Conservatives cut FE funding so significantly? With the right support, FE colleges can drive productivity gains across key sectors, such as engineering, healthcare, digital technology and construction. They can supply skilled technicians and specialists, enabling businesses to expand, innovate and compete.

SEND Provision: South-east England

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 15th July 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Edward. I congratulate the hon. Member for Tunbridge Wells (Mike Martin) on setting the scene so well. My contribution to this debate is to support him in his request to his education authority and to outline some of the concerns we have where we are, which are replicated by him and will be replicated by others.

The situation back home is no better. The Minister has no responsibility for it—I wish her well in her answers. In Northern Ireland, we have incredible problems with the transformation programme. The budget was cut by 50%—an example of the financial restraints that we are all under, which the hon. Member for Tunbridge Wells and others referred to. There is a duty of care to children who, due to their educational needs, need that little extra support, and it comes down to money, as most things in the world do. The hon. Gentleman outlined a serious case in his constituency. I have spoken to some of the principals in my constituency of Strangford, who have stated that the current funding is not fit for purpose and that children will be the ones who suffer because of those cuts—a point made by other Members.

One teacher said that

“it is so difficult when you have a passion for supporting and wanting to do your best for SEN children, but it seems impossible to get the tools to do so. It feels like its always budget cuts and reduced staffing, there is never any good news where you feel inspired to do your best.”

That is every teacher who works in the SEND sector. They want to do their best for their children and make sure that the children will be inspired to do their best when they get the opportunity.

The other massive question, which was mentioned by the hon. Member for Tunbridge Wells and will be mentioned by others, is about support for the provision of classroom assistants. One-to-one and small group support is crucial but again, unfortunately, the funding is simply not there to sustain their employment. SEND pupils back home already fall behind their peers in other parts of the UK, so we have a big problem, although the Minister’s response will relate to her responsibilities here.

My last point is about the hundreds—indeed, thousands—of university students out there with a lifelong dream of working with special needs children in schools. How can we tell them that, once they complete their three to four years of education to do that, the funding is simply not there to sustain a job in that field? Can the Minister give us some idea of what we can do for those who are coming through with the potential to help and educate our young people?

We can and must do better. While it is understood that this is a devolved matter for us back home in Northern Ireland, and also for Scotland, our central funding comes from here. I thank the Minister for her contributions and social engagement with the relevant Minister back home. I am very keen to hear what she can do.

British Nationality (Irish Citizens) Act 2024

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 15th July 2025 Westminster Hall

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the implementation of the British Nationality (Irish Citizens) Act 2024.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison. At the centre of the issue that we are debating today is how successive Governments—Labour, Conservative, Conservative and Lib Dem, and now Labour again—have determined how the issue of nationality in Northern Ireland is dealt with. A consensus has come about, with all the successive Administrations following a series of what have been called internationally binding agreements, including the Anglo-Irish agreement, the Belfast agreement and the St Andrews agreement. They all left successive Governments with the consensus view that people in Northern Ireland who wished to describe themselves as British, Irish or a combination of both could do so. Each successive Government said that they would ensure that they dealt with people impartially and proactively, according to the nationality of their choice—in the constitutional framework of Northern Ireland within the UK, of course.

The consensus emerged, and many people in Northern Ireland expected that to mean—they certainly did not receive any information to the contrary—that whenever a nationality issue arose, there would not be any differentiation or favouritism shown between a person wanting to express an Irish identity and a person wishing to express a British identity, within the context of the United Kingdom. That all came about as a result, as I said, of those successive agreements, but the seeds of the issue in relation to UK passports were sown in 1949, when what is now the Republic of Ireland left the Commonwealth.

At that stage, legislation was passed to allow people who previously had lived in what is now the Republic, and had moved to Northern Ireland, to be regarded as British citizens and to acquire a British passport. That worked fine for a number of years, because most of the people who had moved had moved prior to that date. But obviously, as the decades wore on and we got into the 1960s and the troubles in Northern Ireland emerged, more people who had been born after 1949 were moving from the Republic into Northern Ireland.

For example, if we take the beginning of the troubles, the period from 1969 to 1972, people who had moved to Northern Ireland because of disturbances and violence in the Republic were at that stage in their early or mid-20s. They were born in the period from 1950 right up to the mid-1950s. All of them—including their children—were born after 1949 and none of them was able to avail themselves of a British passport, unless they went through the expensive and time-consuming naturalisation process. Therein lay the problem, because as time wore on, more and more people were falling foul of the 1949 process.

I have in my hands a British passport and an Irish passport. We expected Governments to treat people who were owners of these passports equitably and not to deal with them in a partisan way that would result in someone saying, “Well, is this because I own an Irish passport?” or “Is this because I own a British passport?” I entered this House in 2001, and in June 2005 I tabled my first written parliamentary question, which was to ask the Secretary of State whether he would

“ensure that people who have resided in Northern Ireland for a certain length of time, but were born in the Irish Republic, can obtain a British passport at the same cost as those who were born in Northern Ireland.”—[Official Report, 13 June 2005; Vol. 435, c. 167W.]

The answer was a standard answer about the fee that was payable, and did not distinguish between whether someone was born in the Republic or in Northern Ireland.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I was minded, when my hon. Friend had a passport in either hand there, to think, “Which one is best?” Well, we know which one is best: the British one. Does he agree that one of the benefits is that people who designate as Irish can and do have the facility to apply for the greatest passport in the world—the United Kingdom one? There are people who want to have the protection of their local British embassy, yet they are being precluded from that due to a delay that is difficult to understand, so does my hon. Friend further agree that those in Ireland who designate as British must be enabled to have that British protection that we take for granted with no further delay?

[Mr Campbell]

I thank my hon. Friend for that. Indeed, of the passports that I held, the British one was mine. The other one was not—I can reassure him of that. I acquired it temporarily for the purpose of this debate; I will hand it back to its rightful owner. My hon. Friend is right: we have at long last seen an end to the delay, and I will come to that shortly.

In July 2005, immediately after the non-reply that I got in June 2005, I attempted to drill down and ask about the distinction between those who had been born in the Republic and those born in Northern Ireland. The answer came from the then Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office—now Mayor of Greater Manchester, no less—Mr Andy Burnham. He again indicated that the full fee had to be paid in order for someone who had been born in the Republic but moved to live in Northern Ireland in the past 60-odd years to acquire a British passport. That answer was given 20 years ago this month.

I should add at this stage that I live very close to the border—I was born there. I can walk to the Irish Republic. It is within five miles, so on a good, nice day, I can walk there in an hour or an hour and a half, depending on how quickly I walk. There are 280 crossing points along this uncloseable border, which we have debated in other contexts. The relationship between people who live in the Republic, but close to the border, and those who live in Northern Ireland is intense, because there is much that we share. Those who moved from the Republic to Northern Ireland cherish the fact that their Britishness is enshrined deeply within their family, their generations of service in the military and their loyalty to the Crown—to Her Majesty previously and His Majesty now—so they took great offence at having to go through this expensive process to get what they thought would be their right.

After July 2005, when I seemed to be getting nowhere, I succeeded in November 2005 in getting a private Member’s Bill, which ran into the ground, as most of them do. I then embarked upon a whole series of questions. I will not bore Members with them, but I asked a written parliamentary question in November 2006 and I raised the matter in the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee in 2008—from memory, Dr Murrison, you served with me on the Committee when we looked at this issue—in the Chamber in May 2008, in the Northern Ireland Assembly in June 2011, again in the House of Commons in June 2013, July 2013, March 2014, January 2015, March 2018, November 2018 and February 2019, and again in the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee in October 2019. We were struggling to get through the undergrowth of problems and bureaucracy in sections of the Home Office, to try to convince it that these people were entitled to a British passport.

Then we came to the 2020s. I raised the matter in September 2020, October 2022 and June 2023, and then my right hon. Friend the Member for Belfast East (Gavin Robinson) managed to secure a private Member’s Bill in April 2024, which brought us to where we are today. Thankfully, that got Government support and became law.

Early Years Providers: Government Support

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 9th July 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Pritchard. I thank the hon. Member for Sherwood Forest (Michelle Welsh) for highlighting this issue and setting the scene incredibly well. Early years are the foundational building blocks for our society. I read recently about the Shaping Us campaign, led by the Princess of Wales, which strongly focuses on the need for early years support. The campaign highlights that:

“During early childhood, from pregnancy to the age of five, our brains develop at an amazing rate—faster than at any other times in our lives. Our experiences, relationships, our surroundings at that very young age, shape the rest of our lives.”

I subscribe to that not just because the Shaping Us campaign stated it, but because my youngest son Luke and his wife Rachael are staying with us with their two children—Freya is five, and her birthday was Saturday, a week ago, and Ezra is two and a half—and I can honestly say that the two of them absorb everything that happens around them like a sponge. Ezra is not able to speak yet, but he clearly understands everything said to him; we have to be careful with our language and with what we insinuate and do, because he is watching. Freya is the same.

I can absolutely understand why the years from pregnancy to the age of five are so important. Because children are by their very nature innocent, whenever we are having a bad day, they manage to cheer us up with a smile, a hug or whatever it may be. Those things mean a lot to their grandad.

The importance of the early years is well documented and accepted, and this House needs to play a greater role in supporting people to provide an environment for children that ensures that we raise a generation of happy children and highly functioning adults. That responsibility is incredibly important.

I am pleased, as always, to see the Minister in his place. The Minister does not have any responsibility for Northern Ireland—he will probably say, “Thank goodness for that”—but he interacts and exchanges ideas with the Minister from the Northern Ireland Executive. This great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has a wealth of ideas, and it is good that we can exchange them between the different regions.

Childcare costs, particularly for full-time places, have increased significantly, with some providers experiencing a 14% rise since 2021. According to Employers For Childcare, 43% of providers describe their financial situation as “struggling” or “distressed”. It is essential that parents have access not simply to people who watch their children, but to people who help their developmental progress.

In Northern Ireland, approximately 79% of women with dependent children are economically active. That is a good figure—that means that they are employed or actively seeking work. The spin-off of that, which may sometimes be negative, is that they are entrusting their children to other people, who will spend a lot of time with them. The atmosphere needs to be bright, engaging and, above all, safe. In many cases that will be provided by grandparents, family members and those who have available time.

Nurseries are having to take more children to balance the books, and they need greater support. I want to tell Westminster Hall about some of the things we are doing in Northern Ireland. Childcare is one of the most significant bills faced by many families across Northern Ireland. My party, the Democratic Unionist party, saw that—not that we are better than anybody else, by the way—and our Minister acted on it, so some credit can be given to our Minister for doing so. We instigated a survey of 1,000 parents, which found that nearly 85% of people had their return to work impacted by childcare costs. In other words, people go back to work early because they need the money, or they can put it off a bit longer if granny and granda, uncles and aunts, or other family members will help out.

Almost a quarter of parents also say that childcare costs consumed nearly a full wage in the household. Those figures are incredibly scary. The most recent Employers For Childcare survey highlighted an average cost of some £170 a week, which represents a significant financial hurdle, yet Northern Ireland lagged behind other UK regions in supporting working families, so we decided to do something. The DUP was determined to change this situation, and subsequently brought in the Northern Ireland childcare subsidy scheme in September 2024—it will be a year old come this September. It provides a 15% subsidy for childcare costs to support working parents with children who have not yet started primary school. The NICSS is a really good scheme, not because it was introduced by our party, but because it helps everybody, irrespective of whether they vote DUP in Northern Ireland. That is what politics is about: delivering for all, irrespective of whether people vote for us on the ballot paper.

The childcare is delivered by registered childcare providers participating in the tax-free childcare scheme, or TFC scheme, including daycare providers, playgroups, childminders and approved home child carers. The overarching aim of the scheme is to help working parents with the affordability of childcare costs. The Northern Ireland Executive has agreed that the subsidy scheme will target working parents who are eligible for the tax-free childcare and who have children who have not yet started primary school. It is really important that we have that scheme in place.

[Carla Lockhart (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

My hon. Friend makes a powerful point with regard to the interventions that have been made. However, returning to SEND growth, in Northern Ireland it is outpacing the growth of the general school population, and I believe that late identification of SEND and delayed support for it is one of the biggest failures right across the United Kingdom. So often, children are not identified as having SEND until they reach school age, by which point their language, social skills and cognitive delays are often entrenched. Therefore, does he agree that there needs to be more investment into funding specialist training for pre-school educators, because often early years is the poor cousin of the education system, despite the fact that, as we have already heard, zero to five is the most important time in a child’s life?

[Jim Shannon]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, and the words of a mother and the words on behalf of her constituents are well documented; we thank her for that. She has outlined the issues very clearly.

The tax-free childcare scheme will be extended from 1 September 2025 to include provision for school-age children for families registered with the scheme. There is a lot more to do, but that means that from 1 September 2025 working parents of school-age children will be able to receive the 15% subsidy. The scheme started a year ago by focusing on a limited number of children, but it has done more since. This year, the subsidy will embrace even more people, up to the capped amount on their childcare bills.

To assist with the early years development of their children, parents need to have reliable and affordable childcare. I believe that this House needs to look at providing such childcare for working families, for the very reason that my hon. Friend the Member for Upper Bann (Carla Lockhart) referred to. As I said earlier, I know that the Minister has regular contact with the Northern Ireland Executive and with the relevant Northern Ireland Minister in particular. I would just be interested to know what ideas have been swapped and how we can do things better together. I know that he will see the benefits of the Democratic Unionist party scheme, for instance, and hopefully there can be funding for more schemes that offer such practical help across this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

There is nothing more important than looking after our children. As a grandfather of six, I understand the importance of schooling, as the ages of my grandchildren vary from two and a half right up to 16 and they are going through the system. I can see the improvement that we have made in Northern Ireland. I believe that improvement can be made elsewhere, and I know that this House and the Minister in particular will do their best to make sure that they deliver the best for all children across this great United Kingdom.