Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average wait time is from initial assessment to an Education, Health, and Care Plan document being produced in East Sussex.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Information on the number and percentage of education, health and care (EHC) plans issued within the statutory 20 week deadline, with and without statutory exceptions to that deadline applying, can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/8a52558d-1cb4-4f5d-7ddd-08dde95299cd.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page one of the First Report of the Public Accounts Committee of Session 2024-25, Support for children and young people with special educational needs, HC 353, what steps her Department is taking to provide adequate funding to meet the level of high special educational needs forecasted in that report.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is providing total high needs funding in England of over £12 billion in the 2025/26 financial year for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Of that total high needs funding, East Sussex County Council is being allocated over £94 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant.
We are considering the funding required for future years and how it is to be allocated, following the conclusion of the recent spending review. Our objective is that future funding for SEND supports our plans for reforming the SEND system to boost children’s outcomes, which will be set out in further detail in a White Paper in the autumn.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve recruitment and retention of SEND teachers.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
High quality teaching is the most important in-school factor for improving outcomes for all children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), which is why the department is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this parliament. We are making good progress. The workforce has grown in secondary and special schools. There were 1,435 more secondary school teachers and 911 more special and pupil referral unit teachers in 2024/25 compared to the previous year, in the schools where they are needed the most.
The Teachers’ Standards set clear expectations that teachers must understand the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND, and this is embedded in teacher training. From September 2025, all new teachers will benefit from three years of evidence-based training through the revised initial teacher training and early career framework, which has significantly more content related to supporting pupils with SEND, including content adapted from the new National Professional Qualification for special educational needs coordinators.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help support the recruitment of teachers in (a) Eastbourne constituency and (b) East Sussex.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
High-quality teaching is the in-school factor that has the biggest impact on children’s outcomes. This is why the government’s Plan for Change has committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers in secondary and special schools, and in our colleges over the course of this Parliament.
To support this key pledge, we recently announced a 4% pay award for 2025/26, building on the 5.5% pay award for 2024/25, resulting in a near 10% pay award for teachers since this government came to power. We also announced a teacher training financial incentives package worth nearly £233 million, including bursaries worth up to £29,000 tax-free, and scholarships up to £31,000 tax free. We also announced targeted retention payments worth up to £6000, with 10 schools in the Eastbourne constituency, and 31 schools in East Sussex qualifying for these.
The teaching workforce has grown by 2,346 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers, between 2023/24 and 2024/25, in secondary and special schools. In Eastbourne constituency there are 30 more secondary and special school teachers, with 457 FTE teachers this year.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to provide guidance to schools on when the roll out free breakfast clubs will take place in Eastbourne.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Free breakfast clubs were made available in up to 750 early adopter schools from April 2025, as part of a test and learn phase in advance of a national rollout. Further details on the national rollout, including guidance for schools, will be available in due course.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many employers in Eastbourne accessed apprenticeship levy funds in the last financial year.
Answered by Janet Daby
120 employers in Eastbourne accessed funding for apprenticeships in the 2024/25 financial year to support new apprenticeship starts or those continuing their apprenticeships from previous years. This figure includes levy-paying employers as well as non-levy paying employers, who are likely to be small and medium-sized employers.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help reduce the number of young people not in employment, education or training in Eastbourne constituency.
Answered by Janet Daby
The government is determined to break down barriers to opportunity for all our young people and transform their life chances, including those in Eastbourne.
Young people are entitled to participate in education and training up to age 18. Local authorities have statutory duties to support young people into education and training, including identifying and helping those who are currently not in education, employment or training (NEET). The department has published guidance to help local authorities identify young people at an increased risk of becoming NEET, based on characteristics such as a learning difficulty or disability, or poor school attendance, so they can be given extra support.
The government will establish a Youth Guarantee of support to access training, an apprenticeship or help to find work for all 18 to 21-year-olds to prevent them becoming excluded from the world of work at a young age. £45 million has been allocated to eight Mayoral Strategic Authority Trailblazers to develop the Youth Guarantee. The department will work with local areas on future expansion.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support the uptake of apprenticeships in (a) Eastbourne and (b) East Sussex.
Answered by Janet Daby
This government is transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer, which will provide greater flexibility to employers and learners across the country, including in Eastbourne and East Sussex, and support the industrial strategy.
From August, the department will be introducing seven new foundation apprenticeships for young people in targeted sectors, including construction and the built environment, digital, and health and social care. We are also reducing the apprenticeship minimum duration to eight months so that shorter apprenticeships are possible from August. These flexibilities will help more people learn new high-quality skills at work and fuel innovation in businesses across the country.
To support employers to access apprenticeships, the government pays £1,000 to employers when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18 years old, and for apprentices aged 19 to 24 years old who have an education, health and care plan or have been in local authority care. We will also provide £2,000 payments to employers for every foundation apprentice they take on and retain. Employers also benefit from not being required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to 25 when they earn less than £50,270 a year.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure pupils are able to access high quality meals in schools in (a) Eastbourne and (b) the South East.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
To ensure quality and nutrition in meals for the future, the department is acting quickly with experts across the sector to revise the school food standards, so every school is supported with the latest nutrition guidance.
School governors and trustees have a statutory duty to ensure compliance with these school food standards. To improve understanding of the school food standards and give governing boards confidence to hold their school leaders to account, the department, along with National Governance Association, developed an online training course on school food for governors and trustees.
Additionally, the department has announced that we are extending free school meals to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. Giving half a million more children access to a nutritious meal during the school day will lift 100,000 out of poverty and lead to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes, meaning they get the best possible education and chance to succeed in work and life.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support the provision and availability of vocational educational programmes for pupils across Eastbourne.
Answered by Janet Daby
As announced in the Spending Review, the government is making over £1 billion of additional investment per year in skills by 2028/29.
This will support and grow the wide range of technical routes and work-based training available for people of all ages across the country including in Eastbourne. This includes:
We have also strengthened legislation to ensure all secondary pupils have multiple opportunities for meaningful encounters with providers of technical education and apprenticeships.