Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the joint letter on children’s media literacy from experts and organisations published on 7th October, if her Department will provide schools and teachers with the guidance, training and resources required to deliver a high-quality media and digital literacy education to all children.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for North Durham to the answer of 30 October to Question 36476.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to establish a media and digital literacy framework setting out (a) what pupils should know and be able to do at each key stage and (b) how Citizenship, English, Computing, relationships, sex and health education and the wider curriculum should contribute.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for North Durham to the answer of 30 October to Question 36476.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will meet representatives of organisations that signed the joint letter on children’s media literacy, coordinated by Internet Matters and Molly Rose Foundation and published on 7 October 2026.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for North Durham to the answer of 30 October to Question 36476.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to improve levels of consistency in how swimming attainment is assessed and reported by schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The current PE national curriculum requires all primary pupils to be taught to swim competently and confidently over 25 metres, use a range of strokes effectively, and perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.
The government accepted the recommendations of the Curriculum and Assessment Review, which recognised the benefits of PE while identifying a need for greater clarity, consistency and progression across the curriculum, including in swimming and water safety. In response, the department is developing a revised PE programme of study, which will be subject to consultation.
The reforms will strengthen the emphasis on swimming and water safety and will be supported through the new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network, drawing on expertise from organisations including Swim England.
The department has not made a specific assessment of recruitment and retention among those delivering curriculum swimming. However, the School and College Voice survey published in May 2025 found that 94% of primary schools surveyed relied solely on external teachers to teach swimming and water safety, compared with 6% using internal swimming staff and 20% supporting delivery. Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-and-college-voice-omnibus-surveys-for-2024-to-2025/school-and-college-voice-may-2025#sec-Swimming-and-water-safety.
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 recruitment and retention trends among teachers involved in delivering curriculum swimming and water safety lessons in schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The current PE national curriculum requires all primary pupils to be taught to swim competently and confidently over 25 metres, use a range of strokes effectively, and perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.
The government accepted the recommendations of the Curriculum and Assessment Review, which recognised the benefits of PE while identifying a need for greater clarity, consistency and progression across the curriculum, including in swimming and water safety. In response, the department is developing a revised PE programme of study, which will be subject to consultation.
The reforms will strengthen the emphasis on swimming and water safety and will be supported through the new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network, drawing on expertise from organisations including Swim England.
The department has not made a specific assessment of recruitment and retention among those delivering curriculum swimming. However, the School and College Voice survey published in May 2025 found that 94% of primary schools surveyed relied solely on external teachers to teach swimming and water safety, compared with 6% using internal swimming staff and 20% supporting delivery. Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-and-college-voice-omnibus-surveys-for-2024-to-2025/school-and-college-voice-may-2025#sec-Swimming-and-water-safety.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to review the statutory swimming and water safety requirements in the National Curriculum.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The current PE national curriculum requires all primary pupils to be taught to swim competently and confidently over 25 metres, use a range of strokes effectively, and perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.
The government accepted the recommendations of the Curriculum and Assessment Review, which recognised the benefits of PE while identifying a need for greater clarity, consistency and progression across the curriculum, including in swimming and water safety. In response, the department is developing a revised PE programme of study, which will be subject to consultation.
The reforms will strengthen the emphasis on swimming and water safety and will be supported through the new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network, drawing on expertise from organisations including Swim England.
The department has not made a specific assessment of recruitment and retention among those delivering curriculum swimming. However, the School and College Voice survey published in May 2025 found that 94% of primary schools surveyed relied solely on external teachers to teach swimming and water safety, compared with 6% using internal swimming staff and 20% supporting delivery. Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-and-college-voice-omnibus-surveys-for-2024-to-2025/school-and-college-voice-may-2025#sec-Swimming-and-water-safety.
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 adequacy of Ofqual’s powers in relation to regulating the training sector.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Ofqual is an independent, non-ministerial government department responsible for regulating qualifications, examinations and assessments in England. Its statutory remit and powers are set out principally in the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009.
Ofqual's current powers enable them to protect learners and regulate qualifications, including technical and vocational qualifications.
The department keeps the effectiveness of the wider qualifications regulatory framework under review and works closely with Ofqual to support the delivery of skills reforms.
Ofqual regularly reviews and consults on its policies and procedures, and the department maintains regular engagement with Ofqual as part of its oversight of the qualifications system.
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 adequacy of powers available to Ofqual to protect learners and training providers.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Ofqual is an independent, non-ministerial government department responsible for regulating qualifications, examinations and assessments in England. Its statutory remit and powers are set out principally in the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009.
Ofqual's current powers enable them to protect learners and regulate qualifications, including technical and vocational qualifications.
The department keeps the effectiveness of the wider qualifications regulatory framework under review and works closely with Ofqual to support the delivery of skills reforms.
Ofqual regularly reviews and consults on its policies and procedures, and the department maintains regular engagement with Ofqual as part of its oversight of the qualifications system.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department last reviewed Ofqual’s procedures and policies.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Ofqual is an independent, non-ministerial government department responsible for regulating qualifications, examinations and assessments in England. Its statutory remit and powers are set out principally in the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009.
Ofqual's current powers enable them to protect learners and regulate qualifications, including technical and vocational qualifications.
The department keeps the effectiveness of the wider qualifications regulatory framework under review and works closely with Ofqual to support the delivery of skills reforms.
Ofqual regularly reviews and consults on its policies and procedures, and the department maintains regular engagement with Ofqual as part of its oversight of the qualifications system.
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.