Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2026 to Question 900535 on Children: Protection, whether (a) current and (b) proposed measures require relevant child risk information about dangerous adults in children’s lives to be proactively disclosed to protective (i) parents and (ii) carers before harm occurs.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Current powers and procedures including ‘Sarah’s Law’ allow both proactive and application-based disclosures of relevant information where this is necessary to protect a child, regardless of the recipient’s relationship to that child.
Any disclosure must be within the existing legal framework and have due regard to the established case law, the Human Rights Act 1998, and the UK General Data Protection Regulation and Part 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018.
To better inform where disclosure is necessary, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools’ Act’s Information Sharing Duty and the Crime and Policing Act’s Child Cruelty Register will improve the identification of risk and the visibility of individuals who may pose a risk to children, helping agencies determine when disclosure is necessary to safeguard a child.
The government recognises the importance of timely risk disclosure and has assessed that the benefits of a dedicated risk disclosure mechanism can be achieved through existing legislation that enables disclosure to protect children, particularly the Crime and Policing Act, which places Sarah's Law on statutory footing.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2026 to Question 900535 on Children: Protection, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of creating a dedicated mechanism requiring relevant child risk information to be proactively disclosed to protective parents and carers where necessary to safeguard a child.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Current powers and procedures including ‘Sarah’s Law’ allow both proactive and application-based disclosures of relevant information where this is necessary to protect a child, regardless of the recipient’s relationship to that child.
Any disclosure must be within the existing legal framework and have due regard to the established case law, the Human Rights Act 1998, and the UK General Data Protection Regulation and Part 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018.
To better inform where disclosure is necessary, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools’ Act’s Information Sharing Duty and the Crime and Policing Act’s Child Cruelty Register will improve the identification of risk and the visibility of individuals who may pose a risk to children, helping agencies determine when disclosure is necessary to safeguard a child.
The government recognises the importance of timely risk disclosure and has assessed that the benefits of a dedicated risk disclosure mechanism can be achieved through existing legislation that enables disclosure to protect children, particularly the Crime and Policing Act, which places Sarah's Law on statutory footing.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the utility of Lead Generators within the training sector.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not prescribe the use of lead generators for the further education (FE) and skills sector and has not made a specific assessment of the utility of lead generators within the training sector.
Training providers are responsible for marketing their provision and attracting learners. The use of lead-generation services is a commercial decision for individual providers and forms part of the operation of the wider training market.
The department maintains oversight of the FE and skills sector through its published oversight arrangements with a focus on ensuring that publicly funded training delivers high-quality outcomes for learners and employers. Providers delivering department-funded provision are required to comply with the relevant funding rules and contractual requirements. Outcomes are measured through a range of established performance indicators. Provider performance is monitored through assurance and performance-management arrangements, and the department takes action where providers fail to meet the required standards or contractual expectations.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a child risk disclosure scheme.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government recognises the strength of feeling behind proposals for a Child Risk Disclosure Scheme and has considered the potential merits of such an approach. At its heart, the proposal seeks to ensure that relevant information about risk is shared quickly so that children can be protected from harm.
Some key elements of such a scheme are already possible through existing arrangements. Sarah’s Law enables both proactive and application‑based disclosures where there is a risk to a child, and we are strengthening this by placing it on a statutory footing.
We are also taking further action to improve visibility of risk and support safeguarding professionals, including through the introduction of a child cruelty register and a new information sharing duty. This duty will place a clear legal obligation on agencies to share information relevant to a child’s welfare at the earliest opportunity.
These reforms along with a strengthened role for education in local safeguarding arrangements, the creation of multi-agency child protection teams and a new Child Protection Authority will strengthen safeguarding in England, helping keep children safe from harm.
We will continue to engage closely with Maya Chappell’s family and other stakeholders to test whether ongoing reforms are addressing the risks they have identified.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the impact of local government reorganisation on local authorities' ability to (a) convene and (b) support Standing Advisory Councils for Religious Educations effectively.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The legal duty on local authorities, or any replacement of these entities, to convene a standing advisory council on religious education (SACRE) remain included throughout local government reorganisation. Discussions have been held about the role of SACREs with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government as part of regular engagement.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government regarding the role of Standing Advisory Councils for Religious Education since the publication of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government's policy paper entitled Protecting What Matters: Towards a more confident, cohesive, and resilient United Kingdom.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The legal duty on local authorities, or any replacement of these entities, to convene a standing advisory council on religious education (SACRE) remain included throughout local government reorganisation. Discussions have been held about the role of SACREs with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government as part of regular engagement.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that reintroduced maintenance grants reach students who need them most; what proportion of the student population will be eligible for support; and what steps she is taking to ensure take-up rates among students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to supporting the aspiration of every person who meets the requirements and wants to attend higher education. This is why we are reintroducing maintenance grants for students from low-income households studying courses aligned with the government’s Missions and the Industrial Strategy. Maintenance grants will be available to new and continuing full-time students from the 2028/29 academic year. Students who have a household residual income of £25,000 or less will receive the maximum grant of £1,000 per year.
The proportion of students that receive maintenance grants will depend on the list of eligible subjects, and it is vital that this is informed by the best and most up-to-date evidence on future employment and skills priorities. The full list of eligible subjects will be confirmed in advance of maintenance grant introduction, helping raise awareness amongst prospective students.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the (a) revenue from the international student levy on higher education providers’ income from international students and (b) cost of introducing maintenance grants for the most disadvantaged students.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The International Student Levy (ISL) will require higher education providers to pay a flat fee of £925 per international student per year. An impact analysis of the ISL published in November 2025 estimated that the levy would raise £445 million in the 2028/29 financial year, rising to £480 million in 2030/31. The full impact analysis is available here: https://consult.education.gov.uk/international-student-levy-unit/international-student-levy/supporting_documents/international-student-levy-impact-analysispdf.
Proceeds from the ISL will be fully reinvested into higher education and skills, to support the reintroduction of targeted maintenance grants, progression through the post-16 system, and for wider skills. This will make sure that revenue from international students directly benefits domestic students from low-income households.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will extend funding for the holiday activities and food programme beyond 21 March 2025.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for North Durham to the answer of 17 January 2025 to Question 24633.