Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make it his policy to support future applications for sustainable mining of coal.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has committed to not granting new coal licences and has set out its policy position in a written statement on 14th November 2024 https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2024-11-14/hcws215.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of trends in attainment levels between boys and girls in schools in Ashfield constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
All young people should have every opportunity to succeed, no matter who they are or where they are from. That is why, through our work to deliver the Opportunity Mission, this government will improve opportunities across the country for all children and young people.
As in previous years, the latest attainment data shows girls continue to do better than boys across all headline measures. However, the gap has narrowed when comparing 2023/24 to 2018/19. The department publishes attainment data by sex on an annual basis in the autumn term, which can be broken down by specific local authorities, including Ashfield. The relevant data can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/0b85fb67-0628-414c-95b1-08dd85738b16.
High and rising standards across education are at the heart of this mission and are key to unlocking stronger outcomes and a better future for all children and young people, regardless of their gender. As one of the department’s first steps for change, we are committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 expert teachers. We have also introduced new regional improvement for standards and excellence teams and launched an independent, expert-led Curriculum and Assessment Review that is looking closely at the key challenges to attainment.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many SEN schools have informed her Department that they require additional funding in each of the last five years.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.
Following the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year. This brings total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND to over £12 billion. Of that total, Nottinghamshire County Council is being allocated over £130 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), which is an increase of £10.8 million on their 2024/25 DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula.
Departmental officials regularly meet with representatives of special schools to discuss a wider variety of matters, including funding levels.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase SEND funding in Nottinghamshire.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.
Following the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year. This brings total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND to over £12 billion. Of that total, Nottinghamshire County Council is being allocated over £130 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), which is an increase of £10.8 million on their 2024/25 DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula.
Departmental officials regularly meet with representatives of special schools to discuss a wider variety of matters, including funding levels.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure teachers remain political impartiality in secondary schools in Nottinghamshire.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Ashfield to the answer of 9 April 2025 to Question 43267.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps is she taking to meet the demand for specialist SEND school places in Nottinghamshire.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or who require alternative provision sits with local authorities.
We recognise the vital role that special schools play in catering to those with the most complex needs. We also want more children and young people to receive the support they need to thrive in their local mainstream school, reducing the need for pupils to travel a long way to access a specialist placement. Many mainstream settings are already committed to delivering specialist provision locally, including through resourced provision and special educational needs units.
The department has now published allocations for £740 million in high needs provision capital allocations for the 2025/26 financial year, to support local authorities to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings, and to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing buildings.
The funding can be used to adapt schools to be more accessible for children with SEND, to create specialist facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs and to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs.
Nottinghamshire Council has been allocated £14 million for the 2025/26 financial year and it is up to the local authority to make decisions about the places they create and to prioritise this funding to meet local needs.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of school buildings in Ashfield constituency.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department supports academy trusts, local authorities and voluntary-aided bodies, who are responsible for managing the safety and maintenance of their estates, with capital funding, rebuilding programmes and guidance on effective estate management.
We recently confirmed details of £2.1 billion of capital funding for the 2025/26 financial year to improve the condition of schools, up from the £1.8 billion committed for the 2024/25 financial year. Allocations are partly informed by consistent data on the condition of the estate collected by the department reflecting the relative need of schools.
This is in addition to the continuing school rebuilding programme, which includes Ashfield Comprehensive School and Outwood Academy Kirkby in Ashfield constituency.
The department also provides capital funding through the basic need grant to support local authorities meet their statutory duty to provide sufficient school places, based on their own pupil forecasts and school capacity data.
In March 2025, the department announced that Nottinghamshire County Council has been allocated just over £21.7 million to support it to create the mainstream school places needed by September 2028. This is on top of the just over £55 million we have previously allocated to support Nottinghamshire County Council provide the new school places needed over the current and next two academic years, up to and including the academic year starting in September 2026.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools ban the use of mobile phones by pupils during the school day in Ashfield constituency.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Schools should prohibit the use of mobile phones and other smart technology with similar functionality to mobile phones throughout the school day, including during lessons, the time between lessons, breaktimes and lunchtime, as set out in the department’s ‘Mobile phones in schools’ guidance. The department expects all schools to take steps in line with this guidance to ensure mobile phones do not disrupt pupils’ learning.
New research from the Children’s Commissioner, with responses from nearly all schools and colleges in England show that the overwhelming majority of schools, 99.8% of primary schools and 90% of secondary schools, already have policies in place that limit or restrict the use of mobile phones during the school day.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve access to healthcare for the elderly population in Ashfield constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that patients are finding it difficult to see a general practitioner (GP), and we are committed to bringing back the family doctor so patients with complex conditions and the elderly population receive the care they deserve. We have invested an additional £889 million in GPs and, through the 2025/26 GP Contract, have incentivised primary care networks (PCNs) to improve continuity of care.
The Enhanced Health in Care Homes framework is a key contractual requirement for PCNs, ensuring coordinated healthcare services for care home residents across the country. Under the terms of this framework, all residents must have a comprehensive assessment of need completed and personalised care and support plans put in place within seven days of admission or re-admission to a care home, and all care homes must have a weekly home round supported by a multidisciplinary team.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were assessed for a role in the Prison Service by nationality in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department welcomes job applications from everyone, irrespective of background, identity, experience, or circumstance, and particularly those underrepresented in our workforce.
The number of people assessed for a role in the prison service by nationality from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024 is provided in the attached table 1.
All staff undergo robust assessments and training before they work in prisons. Our strengthened vetting process roots out those who fall below our high standards.