Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) statutory and (b) non-statutory bodies her Department is consulting on her plans for musical education.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
On 18 March 2025, the department announced its intention to launch a National Centre for Arts and Music Education to promote opportunities for children and young people to pursue their artistic and creative interests in school, including through the government’s network of Music Hubs. Our intention is to launch in September 2026, with a delivery lead appointed through an open procurement. Further details will be released in due course, including on engagement with music education partners.
To support the delivery of music education, the government has committed £79 million per year for the Music Hubs programme, inclusive of the 2024/25 academic year. The 43 Music Hubs partnerships across England offer a range of services, including musical instrument tuition, instrument loaning and whole-class ensemble teaching. To widen access to musical instruments, the government is investing £25 million in capital funding for musical instruments, equipment and technology from the 2024/25 academic year. This funding enables Music Hubs partnerships to better cater to the needs of the children and young people they work with.
The government is also investing £2 million to support the Music Opportunities Pilot over a four year period from the 2024/25 to 2027/28 academic years, backed by a further £3.85 million funding from Arts Council England and Youth Music. This pilot is delivered by Young Sounds UK in 12 areas of the country and aims to help disadvantaged children and young people, as well as those with special educational needs and disabilities, to learn how to play an instrument of their choice or learn to sing to a high standard.
The government believes creative subjects like music, art and drama are important elements of the rounded and enriching education every child deserves.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress she has made on producing a plan for musical education.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
On 18 March 2025, the department announced its intention to launch a National Centre for Arts and Music Education to promote opportunities for children and young people to pursue their artistic and creative interests in school, including through the government’s network of Music Hubs. Our intention is to launch in September 2026, with a delivery lead appointed through an open procurement. Further details will be released in due course, including on engagement with music education partners.
To support the delivery of music education, the government has committed £79 million per year for the Music Hubs programme, inclusive of the 2024/25 academic year. The 43 Music Hubs partnerships across England offer a range of services, including musical instrument tuition, instrument loaning and whole-class ensemble teaching. To widen access to musical instruments, the government is investing £25 million in capital funding for musical instruments, equipment and technology from the 2024/25 academic year. This funding enables Music Hubs partnerships to better cater to the needs of the children and young people they work with.
The government is also investing £2 million to support the Music Opportunities Pilot over a four year period from the 2024/25 to 2027/28 academic years, backed by a further £3.85 million funding from Arts Council England and Youth Music. This pilot is delivered by Young Sounds UK in 12 areas of the country and aims to help disadvantaged children and young people, as well as those with special educational needs and disabilities, to learn how to play an instrument of their choice or learn to sing to a high standard.
The government believes creative subjects like music, art and drama are important elements of the rounded and enriching education every child deserves.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the level of (a) importance of the Adoption and Special Guardian Support Fund to families with adopted children and (b) funding provided to families out of the Fund in the last reported financial year.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As part of spending review discussions, there are regular conversations between the department and His Majesty’s Treasury. We will shortly be finalising business planning decisions on how we will allocate the department’s budget for the next financial year. All decisions regarding the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) are being made as part of these discussions.
The ASGSF has provided valuable support to both adoptive and special guardianship families during 2024/25, helping them to thrive and enabling children and young people to make the best start in life. In 2023/24, the last full financial year, the Fund supported a total of 19,495 children and families with funding of £49,191,908.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to ensure the continuance of the funding for the Adoption and Special Guardian Support Fund after March 2025.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As part of spending review discussions, there are regular conversations between the department and His Majesty’s Treasury. We will shortly be finalising business planning decisions on how we will allocate the department’s budget for the next financial year. All decisions regarding the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) are being made as part of these discussions.
The ASGSF has provided valuable support to both adoptive and special guardianship families during 2024/25, helping them to thrive and enabling children and young people to make the best start in life. In 2023/24, the last full financial year, the Fund supported a total of 19,495 children and families with funding of £49,191,908.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she is having with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the future of the Adoption and Special Guardian Support Fund.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As part of spending review discussions, there are regular conversations between the department and His Majesty’s Treasury. We will shortly be finalising business planning decisions on how we will allocate the department’s budget for the next financial year. All decisions regarding the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) are being made as part of these discussions.
The ASGSF has provided valuable support to both adoptive and special guardianship families during 2024/25, helping them to thrive and enabling children and young people to make the best start in life. In 2023/24, the last full financial year, the Fund supported a total of 19,495 children and families with funding of £49,191,908.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the (a) level of support and (b) opportunities to access long-term education for people with cerebral palsy with no cognitive impairment.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth to the answer of 14 January 2025 to Question 22163.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 17 January 2025 to Question 22689 on Carers: Social Security Benefits, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Kinship Allowance Trial on investment in kinship care; and when she plans to announce details on the process for selecting local authorities for that trial.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As previously mentioned, the government has recently announced a £40 million package to trial a new kinship allowance. The pilot will begin in 2025, and the department will evaluate the pilot to build an evidence base on how best to deliver financial support for kinship families.
The department will share further details on the process for selecting local authorities in due course.
The department’s ambition is that all kinship carers will get the support they need to care for their children. It is important that we first build the evidence base to find out how best to deliver financial support for kinship families. Decisions about future national rollout will be informed by the findings of the evaluation.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on the kinship allowance trial; how many kinship carers will be able to join the trial; what date she plans to launch the trial; and whether the findings of the trial be published.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises the important role that kinship carers play in caring for some of the most vulnerable children, and the role of local authorities to support them.
The government has recently announced a £40 million package to trial a new Kinship Allowance to test whether paying an allowance to cover the additional costs of supporting the child can help increase the number of children taken in by family members and friends. The pilot will begin in 2025.
This government’s ambition is that all kinship carers will get the support they need to care for their children. It is important that we first build the evidence base to find out how best to deliver financial support for kinship families, therefore we will be evaluating this pilot. Decisions about future national rollout will be informed by the findings of the evaluation.
The department will share further details on the process for selecting local authorities in due course.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to (a) support foster placements and (b) develop regional recruitment hubs in the East Midlands.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to working in partnership with local authorities to recruit more foster carers. This currently includes delivering 10 regional fostering recruitment and retention hubs, covering 64% of local authorities in England. The hubs will transform the way people who are interested in fostering are supported, and rollout of a retention programme which offers peer-support to foster carers and the children in their care. An additional £15 million was announced in the Autumn Budget 2024 to move towards national roll out in the 2025/26 financial year.
Foster For East Midlands Recruitment Hub launched in March 2024 and comprises of four neighbouring local authorities, Derbyshire County Council, Nottinghamshire County Council, Nottingham City Council, and Derby City Council. The department would welcome discussions with other local authorities in the East Midlands region about national roll out plans.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the challenges of (a) recruiting and (b) retaining educational psychologists to ensure the effective processing of education, health and care plans.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This department’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.
Educational psychologists play a critical role in supporting children and young people, providing statutory input into education, health and care assessments and advising the school workforce on how to support children and young people with SEND.
As the employers of educational psychology services, it is the responsibility of local authorities to ensure that their services are adequately staffed. The department is taking measures to support local authorities by investing in building the pipeline.
The department is investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists from this year. This builds on the £10 million currently being invested in the training of over 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.
To support retention, following graduation, trainees who have had their training funded by the department are required to remain in local authority employment for a minimum period. For trainees beginning their course in September 2024, this requirement has increased to three years.