Asked by: Josh Dean (Labour - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to encourage and incentivise mainstream schools to use data-driven assessment tools to identify children’s hidden social, emotional, and mental health needs before they escalate into behavioural issues or necessitate an Education, Health and Care Plan.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is supporting mainstream schools to take a more evidence‑based approach to early identification of need, including social, emotional and mental health needs.
We are developing National Inclusion Standards, backed by up to £15 million, which will provide schools with evidence‑based identification tools and approaches, including a digital library to support consistent, data‑driven assessment. We are also funding UKRI‑led research to improve early identification and needs assessment methods, to be rolled out by 2028.
Schools are being incentivised through the £1.6 billion Inclusive Mainstream Fund, helping them invest in early intervention and targeted support without requiring an education, health and care plan.
The new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer, backed by £1.8 billion of investment over the next three years, will enable greater access to expert advice and support from education and health professionals, including educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and outreach from specialist settings including alternative provision, into mainstream schools, early years settings, and colleges.
We are also introducing digital Individual Support Plans and a duty on schools to identify and meet needs early.
Asked by: Josh Dean (Labour - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to help ensure that the proposed school inclusion bases are designed as integrated, short-term bridges back to mainstream education rather than pathways toward permanent exclusion.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Inclusion bases will have specialisms, providing tailored and expert teaching and support for specific groups of children. We know there are lots of great examples of mainstream schools delivering specialist provision through inclusion bases, enabling children to benefit and remain part of mainstream education and wider school life.
Support bases, commissioned by individual settings and trusts will deliver ‘targeted plus’ support, whilst specialist bases, commissioned by the local authority, will deliver ‘specialist’ support.
We will shortly be publishing guidance to help mainstream settings implement high quality inclusion bases, including the importance of supporting integration.
Ofsted consider published destinations data as part of the inspection methodology when they gather inspection evidence to determine grades. The current data collection would not enable destination outcomes to be tracked in this way. Instead, inspectors will explore the extent to which inclusion bases are used in the best interests of pupils and improving their outcomes, as set out in school inspection operating guide for inspectors.
Asked by: Josh Dean (Labour - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether Ofsted or another regulatory body will be mandated to track the destination outcomes of children placed in school inclusion bases.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Inclusion bases will have specialisms, providing tailored and expert teaching and support for specific groups of children. We know there are lots of great examples of mainstream schools delivering specialist provision through inclusion bases, enabling children to benefit and remain part of mainstream education and wider school life.
Support bases, commissioned by individual settings and trusts will deliver ‘targeted plus’ support, whilst specialist bases, commissioned by the local authority, will deliver ‘specialist’ support.
We will shortly be publishing guidance to help mainstream settings implement high quality inclusion bases, including the importance of supporting integration.
Ofsted consider published destinations data as part of the inspection methodology when they gather inspection evidence to determine grades. The current data collection would not enable destination outcomes to be tracked in this way. Instead, inspectors will explore the extent to which inclusion bases are used in the best interests of pupils and improving their outcomes, as set out in school inspection operating guide for inspectors.
Asked by: Josh Dean (Labour - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that the new initial teacher training and early career framework includes content related to (a) identifying children’s social and emotional developmental needs and (b) supporting children with their identified social and emotional developmental needs.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Initial Teacher Training (ITT) and Early Career Framework covers the first three years or more of a teacher’s career. It sets out a minimum entitlement to training for all new teachers and, following a review, now contains significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
This includes content on how teaching and modelling a range of social and emotional skills, including how to recognise and understand feelings, manage emotions, and sustain positive relationships, can support pupils’ social and emotional development.
ITT providers must also ensure that their courses enable trainee teachers to meet the Teachers’ Standards, to be recommended for qualified teacher status. The Teachers’ Standards set clear expectations that teachers must understand the needs of all pupils, which includes those with speech and language challenges.
We are investing over £200 million to improve SEND training for all staff across education settings, and developing national inclusion standards to help teachers identify needs and put evidence-based support in place. From September 2026, all staff will have access to new government-backed training, with further courses from 2027.
Asked by: Josh Dean (Labour - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support individuals over 50 back into employment.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I provided on 17 March 2026 to question: UIN 119633.
Asked by: Josh Dean (Labour - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support people over the age of 50 out of work to return to work.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Work helps everyone play active and fulfilling roles in society while building financial security for retirement, and we recognise the wealth of skills and experience that older workers bring both to the workplace and the economy. The Department is committed to supporting people over the age of 50 out of work to return to work through a wide-ranging strategy that promotes inclusion, flexibility, and progression.
We provide additional dedicated support for customers aged 50 and over in Jobcentres, including through our 50PLUS Champions, who ensure that the specific needs of this age group are recognised and met. This includes facilitating engagement with local employers, promoting age inclusive policies, and supporting work coaches to deliver activity locally. We also offer the Midlife MOT, which helps individuals assess their health, skills and finances, and directs them to appropriate guidance to support their return to work. In addition, our Employer and Partnership Teams work closely with local employers and partners to expand the opportunities, training and employment support available to jobseekers aged 50 and over.
As part of our wider plans to Get Britain Working and create a new Jobs and Careers Service, we are reforming employment support to make it more inclusive and better tailored to individuals. This includes strengthening the support we offer to people aged 50 and over to help them move back into good, meaningful work and progress in work.
Asked by: Josh Dean (Labour - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is taking steps to increase revenue funding for youth services.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
‘Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy’ is a 10 year plan to ensure every young person across the country has somewhere to go, someone who cares for them and a community they feel part of.
The strategy is supported by more than £500 million in funding from DCMS over the next three years, including £150 million in revenue funding. Additionally, the government’s ‘Every Child Can’ programme is backed by £132.5m of dormant assets to break down barriers for disadvantaged young people to access to culture, sport and enrichment opportunities
Through working with philanthropists, social impact investors, and businesses to unlock match funding, we aim to increase the revenue funding available for youth services and support them further.
Asked by: Josh Dean (Labour - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to introduce new duties on councils to deliver youth services.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As set out in the National Youth Strategy, we will explore reviewing the current local authorities’ statutory duty for youth services and how to empower local authorities to better deliver on their responsibilities for youth services.
DCMS recognises the importance of ensuring that Local Authorities are appropriately supported to deliver safe and effective youth provision. DCMS has committed £70 million over the next three years to support local authorities to rebuild a high-quality offer for young people and create a network of 50 Young Futures Hubs.
Asked by: Josh Dean (Labour - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she had with Cabinet colleagues on the implementation of the National Youth Strategy.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
On 10th December 2025, we published ‘Youth Matters’, the first cross-government Strategy for young people in England in 15 years. Backed by £500m of DCMS funding over the next 3 years, the Strategy will ensure every young person has somewhere to go, someone who cares for them and a community they feel part of.
We regularly engaged with Cabinet colleagues to develop the Strategy and are continuing to work closely to ensure successful delivery and sharing of evidence, including through interministerial meetings on the Young Futures Hubs and a thematic Value for Money review to better align government youth provision spending with the Strategy.
Asked by: Josh Dean (Labour - Hertford and Stortford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed retrospective changes to settlement requirements for European Communities Association Agreement visa holders on levels of migration for each of the next five years.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The earned settlement model, proposed in ’A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, was subject to a 12 week public consultation, which closed on 12 February 2026.
The consultation sought views on whether there should be transitional arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement, such as those currently on European Communities Association Agreement (ECAA) visas. In the meantime, the current rules for settlement under the ECAA route will continue to apply. We will continue to meet our international obligations.
Details of the earned settlement model will now be finalised following the consultation and will be subject to economic and equality impact assessments, which we have committed to publish in due course.