Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether any assessment has been made of the potential impact of allowing academy trusts to prioritise feeder schools within their own trust in their admissions policy on the average distance that children have to travel to school.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The School Admissions Code permits a trust naming another school in the trust as a feeder school. As with any selection of a feeder school, the trust must ensure that the named school is chosen on reasonable grounds, and the arrangements must be lawful and fair according to local circumstances.
Admission authorities must consult on any change to their admissions arrangements. Once set, anyone who believes a school's admission arrangements are unfair or unlawful can object to the independent schools adjudicator.
In its 2015/16 annual report, the Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) noted an increasing trend for trusts to name all trust primaries as feeders for a secondary school, for reasons including promoting continuity and reflecting trust-wide links.
The report noted some objections to feeder school arrangements were upheld as unfair where distant feeders were prioritised over local children, resulting in longer journeys. However, where priority for distant feeders came after priority for local children, this was unlikely to be found unfair.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of feeder schools taking priority in school admissions on the average distance that pupils have to travel to school.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
It is for admission authorities to set the oversubscription criteria which are most suitable for their schools according to their local circumstances. The School Admissions Code allows admission authorities to give priority within their oversubscription criteria to pupils attending a named feeder school. The selection of a feeder school or schools as an oversubscription criterion must be transparent and made on reasonable grounds.
Admission authorities must consult on any change to their admissions arrangements, including introducing a new feeder school, to ensure that any local impacts are considered. Once set, anyone who believes a school's admission arrangements are unfair or unlawful can object to the Independent Schools Adjudicator.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of support provided to care leavers transitioning to independent living (a) in general and (b) housed outside their home local authority.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The move to independence is a critical milestone in any young person’s life. Care leavers should expect the same level of care and support that others would expect from a parent.
The local authority responsible for their care should make sure they have the skills, confidence, support and opportunities to thrive. This includes offering them more than one chance as they grapple with the responsibilities of adulthood.
Ofsted is responsible for assessing the adequacy of support for care leavers in each local authority and, as part of its inspection of local authority children’s services, has a specific remit to set out the key strengths and areas for improvement on the experiences and progress of care leavers.
We recognise the additional challenges faced by young people who are placed into care outside their home local authority area. This can leave them with few local connections to either the area they are currently living in, or the area they are expected to return to, and has restricted their access to social housing upon leaving care. We have introduced an exemption to address this so that, as of July 2025, the local area connection test no longer applies to care leavers.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with local authorities on ensuring the availability of support for parents of children with severe SEND needs who require two-to-one support during the school holidays.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Local authorities have a legal duty to complete an annual childcare sufficiency assessment. In this assessment, they must have regard to the needs of parents in their area for the provision of childcare which is suitable for disabled children. Where adequate childcare provision is not available, parents have the right to request a wraparound or holiday childcare place for their child.
The holiday activities and food (HAF) programme funding is primarily for school-aged children from reception to year 11 who receive benefits-related free school meals (FSM). Local authorities have discretion to use up to 15% of their funding to provide free holiday club places for children who are not in receipt of benefits-related FSM but who the local authority believes could benefit from HAF provision.
The department regularly meets with local authorities to discuss HAF provision and encourages them to engage with local and national organisations, including special schools with expertise in working with children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or additional needs. Local authorities are obligated to include the numbers of children with SEND or additional needs who have participated in their programme in their post provision reporting to us.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of reminding parents who are claiming free childcare for working parents to reconfirm their details by (a) telephone call and (b) letter.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
It is the government’s ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change. The department is delivering more support to working families than ever with the rollout of 30 hours government-funded childcare. Reconfirmation ensures that parents continue to meet the eligibility criteria. Eligibility for 30 hours is based on expected income for the next three months.
Parents receive an email and/or text prompt four weeks before their reconfirmation deadline and again two weeks before the deadline if they still have not reconfirmed. This email will remind parents that they will need to confirm their details are up to date and will provide instructions on how to reconfirm.
Parents who do not have access to a mobile phone or email address will receive letters reminding them to reconfirm.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of issuing further reminders to parents who claim free childcare for working parents to reconfirm their details after the deadline has passed.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
It is our ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change. We are delivering more support to working families than ever with the rollout of 30 hours government-funded childcare. Reconfirmation ensures parents continue to meet the eligibility criteria, which is based on expected income for the next three months. To reconfirm, parents receive an email and/or text prompt four weeks and two weeks before the reconfirmation deadline.
A notification is also sent on deadline date to notify a parent they are no longer eligible and to reconfirm as soon as possible.
If a child is already in a funded place, they will enter a ‘grace period’ which allows the child to continue their place temporarily. If the parent becomes eligible again during this period, the child can continue to access their place. Specific grace period dates are set out in the department’s statutory guidance.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to include media literacy within the English curriculum as part of the ongoing curriculum review.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The current English language GCSE curriculum equips students with critical reading and comprehension skills. They learn to identify and interpret themes in diverse texts, read for various purposes, draw inferences, support viewpoints with evidence and identify bias.
In its interim report, the Curriculum and Assessment Review noted the importance of the curriculum keeping pace with the rise of artificial intelligence and trends in digital information. To address this, as well as securing learning in foundational subjects, the curriculum needs to reflect the growing demand for key knowledge and skills such as digital and media literacy and critical thinking skills.
The Curriculum and Assessment Review’s final report and recommendations will be published in the autumn, at which point the government will respond.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will respond to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Financial Education for Young People's report, entitled: Laying Firm Foundations: Financial education in schools and colleges across the UK and the opportunities of devolution.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and this response outlines the information for England only.
The government welcomes the work of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Financial Education for Young People to highlight the importance of financial education.
The independent Curriculum and Assessment Review seeks to deliver an excellent foundation in core subjects, including mathematics, and a rich and broad, inclusive and innovative curriculum that readies young people for life and work.
The interim report highlighted that the Review has heard, from children, young people and their parents, that they want more focus on the applied knowledge and skills that will equip them for later life and work, such as financial education.
The Review’s final report will be published in autumn, following which we will consider how to ensure the financial education pupils receive is relevant and taught by confident and committed teachers.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that teachers receive adequate (a) training and (b) other resources to provide financial education.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Hazel Grove to the answer of 7 January 2025 to Question 21190.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to enhance the teaching of financial education within the Personal, Social, Health and Economic curriculum.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Hazel Grove to the answer of 9 April 2025 to Question 43513.