Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to increase school funding to expand the provision of free school meals.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department spends around £1.5 billion annually on free lunches for 2.1 million school pupils under benefits-based free school meals, over 90,000 disadvantaged students in further education, and around 1.3 million infants under universal infant free school meals. In addition to this, eligibility for free meals drives billions of additional pounds in disadvantage funding.
Schools have autonomy to allocate their budgets to comply with their duty to provide free meals in line with nutritional guidance set out in the school food standards.
As with all government programmes, including free school meals, we keep our approach under continued review.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that funding allocated to schools for free school meals is not used for other purposes.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department spends around £1.5 billion annually on free lunches for 2.1 million school pupils under benefits-based free school meals, over 90,000 disadvantaged students in further education, and around 1.3 million infants under universal infant free school meals. In addition to this, eligibility for free meals drives billions of additional pounds in disadvantage funding.
Schools have autonomy to allocate their budgets to comply with their duty to provide free meals in line with nutritional guidance set out in the school food standards.
As with all government programmes, including free school meals, we keep our approach under continued review.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that schools in deprived areas offer A-level physics courses to pupils.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
High and rising school standards are central to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and provide every child with the best start in life. Whilst it is ultimately for individual schools to decide which A level courses to offer their students, the best way of supporting schools to offer A level physics courses, including those in deprived areas, is to ensure high quality physics teaching at all levels by helping schools to recruit and retain good teachers.
For the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years, the department is offering a targeted retention incentive worth up to £6,000 after tax for physics teachers in the first five years of their careers who work in schools in disadvantaged areas. This is double the payments that were previously offered.
For those training to teach in the 2025/26 academic year, there is a bursary worth £29,000 tax-free or a prestigious scholarship worth £31,000 tax-free to train to teach physics.
There were 688 new entrants to physics postgraduate initial teacher training (PGITT) in the 2024/25 academic year, a 48% increase on the number of 2023/24 entrants.
Recruitment is on track to improve even further for the cohort set to start training in the 2025/26 academic year. As of April 2025, 962 candidates have accepted offers for PGITT courses in physics, an increase of around 47% compared to the same point last year.
Subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) courses support recruitment to initial teacher training in hard-to-recruit subjects, such as physics. SKE participants benefit from blended courses tailored to their individual needs to meet the minimum knowledge required to train to teach their chosen subject, which leads to the award of qualified teacher status.
The department also funds the Subject Knowledge for Physics Teaching programme. This is a series of blended learning courses, with modules available each term to support non-specialist teachers of key stage 3 and 4 physics to enhance their subject knowledge.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that all schools within a local authority accept children with Education, Health and Care Plans.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on schools named by a local authority on an education, health and care plan to admit a child. The local authority must have consulted with the school and carefully considered any views expressed before naming it on a plan. This duty to admit applies to maintained schools, academies, non-maintained special schools and independent schools approved for these purposes by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, under section 41 of the Act.
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. We are committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, and ensuring special schools cater to children and young people with the most complex needs, restoring parents’ trust that their child will get the support they need.
The department is working closely with experts on reforms, recently appointing a Strategic Advisor for SEND, who will play a key role in convening and engaging with the sector, including leaders, practitioners, children and families as we consider the next steps for the future of SEND reform.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure that primary schools can fund their SEND provision without reallocating funding from other budget areas.
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 additional £3.2 billion for mainstream schools and young people with complex SEND for the 2025/26 financial year. This means that overall school funding will total almost £64.8 billion in 2025/26. Most schools funding is not allocated and ring-fenced for specific purposes, such as for supporting pupils with SEND. Schools decide how to spend their budgets to meet their legal duties and other responsibilities, including support for their pupils with SEND.
Of the increase in total schools funding, £1 billion will be for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND to over £12 billion. Of that total, West Berkshire Council is being allocated over £30 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £1.8 million on this year’s DSG high needs block. High needs funding is allocated by local authorities to primary schools for the costs of special educational needs support in excess of £6,000 per pupil per annum.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish the draft guidance for gender questioning children in schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department is currently reviewing the draft non-statutory guidance for schools and colleges on gender questioning children, in addition to reviewing the statutory guidance on relationships, sex and health education.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has been clear that children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of this guidance and, as such, the government is looking carefully at the consultation responses, discussing with stakeholders and considering the relevant evidence, including the final report of the Cass Review which was published post-consultation, before setting out next steps.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing funding to ensure that the Lifelong Links programme can be extended to all children in care.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to helping children thrive and wants the best for every child and family. We know that a stable support network and loving relationships are crucial to supporting children in care and care leavers to thrive.
To support this, the department is currently funding 50 family finding, befriending and mentoring programmes, being delivered by 45 local authorities. These programmes will help children in care and care leavers to identify and connect with the important people in their lives and create safe, stable loving relationships. Of the 45 local authorities, 23 are delivering Lifelong Links as their family finding programme.
The family finding, befriending and mentoring programme is being evaluated and this will inform decisions about the future of the programme.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that education, health and care plan assessments are (a) progressed and (b) issued promptly.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Newbury to the answer of 26 November to Question 14834.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that teachers have the (a) classroom support and (b) equipment needed to support pupils with SEND.
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) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.
High quality teaching is central to ensuring that pupils with SEND are given the best possible opportunity to achieve in their education. To support all teachers, the department is implementing a range of teacher training reforms to ensure teachers have the skills to support all pupils to succeed, including those with SEND.
On 1 September 2024, the government introduced a new mandatory leadership level National Professional Qualification (NPQ) for special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCOs). The NPQ will play a key role in improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND by ensuring SENCOs consistently receive high quality, evidence based training. This is crucial given the central role SENCOs play in supporting pupils with SEND.
A new Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF) is due to be implemented from September 2025, which contains significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with SEND, such as developing an understanding of different pupil needs and learning how to provide opportunities for success for all pupils.
The availability of training and career progression opportunities for teaching assistants helps ensure schools have the skilled staff they need to deliver high quality education. The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education has recently approved a new Level 5 Specialist Teaching Assistant apprenticeship, allowing teaching assistants to specialise in one of three areas: SEND, Social and Emotional Wellbeing, or Curriculum Provision. The apprenticeship will be available for candidates to undertake in 2025.
In addition, assistive technology (AT) can break down barriers to opportunity for students with SEND. The department is broadening the effective use of AT for teachers through research, training and guidance.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing the pupil premium for (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Every child, regardless of background, deserves the opportunity to progress and succeed in school and beyond. This government is committed to breaking the link between young people’s backgrounds and their future success. That is why removing barriers to opportunity and raising school standards are at the heart of the department’s mission to transform life chances and ensure all children can achieve and thrive.
The department is providing over £2.9 billion of pupil premium funding in 2024/25 to improve the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils in England.
The department is taking time to consider the various funding formulae going forward, recognising the importance of establishing a fair funding system that directs funding where it is needed. We will consider the pupil premium as part of that process, and decisions on pupil premium funding for 2025/26 will be taken later this year.
The department will continue to support schools to achieve maximum impact from the pupil premium.