Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of using evidence-based parenting programmes, like Triple P and Incredible Years, to ensure more families receive more support to manage their children’s online activities.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

As part of our ‘Giving every child the best start in life’ strategy, the department is investing in evidence-based parenting and home learning environment interventions delivered through Best Start Family Hubs.

These interventions are designed to strengthen children’s social, emotional and behavioural wellbeing and promote positive parent-child interactions, encouraging families to chat, play and read together. They help parents create balanced routines that may include using screens as a tool for learning while also supporting activities away from screens, fostering healthy habits and strong relationships.

The department is working in partnership with the National Centre for Family Hubs, the Foundations - What Works Centre for Children & Families, and Nesta to ensure local areas can identify and implement the most effective programmes. This approach will promote greater consistency and quality across the country and support our ambition for 75% of children to achieve a good level of development by 2028.

Protecting children online is a priority, and we will continue to build the evidence base on the impact of screen time on children and listen to parents, children and schools to help us improve our guidance and our understanding of emerging needs and gaps.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that funding being provided for secondary schools on the National School Breakfast Programme in the 2026/2027 academic year is used as effectively as possible.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

From September 2026, participating national school breakfast programme schools with secondary-aged pupils will continue to be supported to an equivalent value of what they currently receive on the national school breakfast programme. Further details and guidance for eligible schools will be published in the spring term.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the funding that mainstream primary schools with SEN Units receive to fund their free breakfast club.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The department selected schools, including those with special educational needs units, for the early adopter (EA) scheme to ensure that there is a range of participating schools operating within different contexts and from diverse starting points.

The EA ‘test and learn’ phase has been crucial to informing the national rollout of free breakfast clubs. Through consultation with EAs, we have heard from the sector about what schools and trusts need to do to ensure free breakfast clubs effectively support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). EA funding was designed to take account of the numbers of children with additional needs in different schools. However, we heard from EAs that the way funding was allocated did not always align with the number of children attending a club who may need additional support and was therefore not working as effectively as possible for some EA schools. In line with our ‘test and learn’ approach, we have therefore changed the funding rate and allocations for mainstream schools on the programme for national rollout so that the funding better enables all schools to meet the needs of children who attend, including children with SEND. These changes simplify the funding rate and mean schools will receive more money, at a rate of £25 per day, plus £1 per child per day. Schools have the autonomy to spend this funding according to how it best fits their needs.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether a student with settled status, who has lived in the UK for three years, can obtain a student loan.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Eligibility for student finance is determined by several criteria, including residency status, the type of course, its location, the student’s previous study history, and whether they already hold a higher education qualification.

Students residing in England who hold settled status and have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands (the Channel Islands and Isle of Man) for the three years preceding the first day of the first academic year of their course will be eligible for student finance, subject to meeting all other eligibility criteria. To qualify, this period of residence must not have been wholly or mainly for the purpose of receiving full-time education.

Found: Opposition parties Responding to the government’s white paper, the Shadow Education Secretary, Laura Trott