Manuela Perteghella

The Government’s consultation on Copyright and AI, which sought views on proposals to support the development and use of AI technology while continuing to reward human creators, has just closed

The Government published an assessment of options alongside the consultation. Further information and evidence on the economic impact of the use of AI models on visual artists and the wider creative and cultural heritage sector was welcomed as part of the consultation.

Our priority now is to review the evidence from the consultation which will inform the Government response.

AI generated content will infringe copyright in the UK if it reproduces a substantial part of a protected work unless a copyright exception applies.

The Government’s consultation on Copyright and AI, which closed on 25^th February, covered a range of topics including copyright enforcement for infringing AI outputs.

Our priority now is to review the evidence from the consultation which will inform the Government response

The Government’s consultation on Copyright and AI, which sought views on proposals for a new regulatory model for text and data mining, has closed. Our priority now is to review the evidence from the consultation which will inform the Government response.

Copying material protected by copyright in the UK remains an infringement unless it is licensed or an exception to copyright applies.

The government remains committed to delivering economic growth across all regions of the UK. We are working with local leaders in the West Midlands to develop their local growth plans, through which we will seek to make research and innovation the foundation of future growth in the region.

DSIT’s Innovation Accelerator programme is empowering local businesses, universities, and civic leaders in the West Midlands to work together to catalyse innovation-led local growth, supported by around £33 million of public funding that is supporting projects in health and clean technology such as the Biochar Clean Tech Accelerator.

The department publishes statistics on the proportion of initial teacher training (ITT) trainees with course outcomes each academic year who go on to be employed in the state-funded sector in England within 16 months of the end of the academic year. However, information on the retention in the workforce of individuals completing subject knowledge enhancement courses and ITT in the specified subjects is not readily available.

The department has provided a breakdown of the proportion of ITT trainees with course outcomes in academic year 2019/20 who went on to be employed in the state-funded sector in England within 16 months of the end of the academic year.

Further information on ITT performance profiles can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/initial-teacher-training-performance-profiles/2022-23.

Supply teachers perform a valuable role and the department is grateful for their important contribution to schools across the country.

A supply teacher’s pay and working conditions will depend on who employs them. Supply teachers employed directly by a state maintained school or local authority must be paid in accordance with the statutory arrangements for teachers laid down in the ‘school teachers’ pay and conditions document’. If a supply teacher is employed by a private agency or non-maintained school, the employer can set the rate of pay and conditions of employment.

Schools and local authorities are currently responsible for the recruitment and deployment of their supply teachers. School leaders should ensure supply teachers are equipped with the necessary access and information to carry out their role effectively.

There is an established robust safeguarding framework in place in the form of ‘keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE), which is the statutory safeguarding guidance that all schools and colleges must have regard to when safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. Part 1 of this guidance should be read by all staff who work directly with children and sets out the different types of abuse and harm, and supports all staff to know what signs to look out for, including how to respond to any concerns about a child.

The statutory ‘special educational needs and disability code of practice’ states that all teachers and support staff who work with the pupils with special educational needs should be made aware of their needs, the outcomes sought, the support provided and any teaching strategies or approaches that are required. This should also be recorded on the school’s information system.

All schools are required to have a behaviour policy that outlines effective strategies to promote good behaviour and specifies the sanctions for misbehaviour. This policy must be communicated to all pupils, school staff (including supply staff) and parents to ensure everyone is aware of the high standards of behaviour expected. The behaviour policy should also reflect the school's culture and be supported by all staff and senior leaders, including the head teacher.

Supply teachers perform a valuable role and the department is grateful for their important contribution to schools across the country.

A supply teacher’s pay and working conditions will depend on who employs them. Supply teachers employed directly by a state maintained school or local authority must be paid in accordance with the statutory arrangements for teachers laid down in the ‘school teachers’ pay and conditions document’. If a supply teacher is employed by a private agency or non-maintained school, the employer can set the rate of pay and conditions of employment.

Schools and local authorities are currently responsible for the recruitment and deployment of their supply teachers. School leaders should ensure supply teachers are equipped with the necessary access and information to carry out their role effectively.

There is an established robust safeguarding framework in place in the form of ‘keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE), which is the statutory safeguarding guidance that all schools and colleges must have regard to when safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. Part 1 of this guidance should be read by all staff who work directly with children and sets out the different types of abuse and harm, and supports all staff to know what signs to look out for, including how to respond to any concerns about a child.

The statutory ‘special educational needs and disability code of practice’ states that all teachers and support staff who work with the pupils with special educational needs should be made aware of their needs, the outcomes sought, the support provided and any teaching strategies or approaches that are required. This should also be recorded on the school’s information system.

All schools are required to have a behaviour policy that outlines effective strategies to promote good behaviour and specifies the sanctions for misbehaviour. This policy must be communicated to all pupils, school staff (including supply staff) and parents to ensure everyone is aware of the high standards of behaviour expected. The behaviour policy should also reflect the school's culture and be supported by all staff and senior leaders, including the head teacher.

Supply teachers perform a valuable role and the department is grateful for their important contribution to schools across the country.

A supply teacher’s pay and working conditions will depend on who employs them. Supply teachers employed directly by a state maintained school or local authority must be paid in accordance with the statutory arrangements for teachers laid down in the ‘school teachers’ pay and conditions document’. If a supply teacher is employed by a private agency or non-maintained school, the employer can set the rate of pay and conditions of employment.

Schools and local authorities are currently responsible for the recruitment and deployment of their supply teachers. School leaders should ensure supply teachers are equipped with the necessary access and information to carry out their role effectively.

There is an established robust safeguarding framework in place in the form of ‘keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE), which is the statutory safeguarding guidance that all schools and colleges must have regard to when safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. Part 1 of this guidance should be read by all staff who work directly with children and sets out the different types of abuse and harm, and supports all staff to know what signs to look out for, including how to respond to any concerns about a child.

The statutory ‘special educational needs and disability code of practice’ states that all teachers and support staff who work with the pupils with special educational needs should be made aware of their needs, the outcomes sought, the support provided and any teaching strategies or approaches that are required. This should also be recorded on the school’s information system.

All schools are required to have a behaviour policy that outlines effective strategies to promote good behaviour and specifies the sanctions for misbehaviour. This policy must be communicated to all pupils, school staff (including supply staff) and parents to ensure everyone is aware of the high standards of behaviour expected. The behaviour policy should also reflect the school's culture and be supported by all staff and senior leaders, including the head teacher.

High quality teaching is the in school factor that has the biggest positive impact on children’s outcomes. Ensuring a high quality teaching workforce is therefore critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost life chances for every child. This is why the department will recruit 6,500 new expert teachers across secondary and special schools and colleges, get more teachers into shortage subjects, support areas that face recruitment challenges and tackle retention issues.

Supply teachers make an important contribution to the smooth running of schools by filling posts on a temporary basis and covering teacher absences.

School autonomy is vital to the health of our education system. Headteachers are ultimately responsible for employment in their schools, as they are best placed to understand the specific needs of their pupils and make staffing decisions accordingly.

The department is determined to improve the attractiveness of the teaching profession so that existing teachers want to remain in it, former teachers want to return to it, and new graduates and career changers wish to join.

We continue to incentivise teacher recruitment through increasing teacher trainee bursaries to £233 million in 2025/26, with a focus on shortage subjects, and doubling retention payments from this year. A successful recruitment strategy starts with a strong retention strategy, and we are doing more to improve wellbeing and reduce workload, including actively promoting flexible working such as allowing planning, preparation and assessment time to be taken from home.

Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. The accompanying statutory guidance makes clear to schools what is expected of them in taking reasonable steps to fulfil their legal obligations and to meet the individual needs of pupils with medical conditions, including allergies.

In 2017 the Department of Health published non-statutory guidance confirming that schools are able to purchase spare adrenaline auto injectors (AAIs) from a pharmacy, without a prescription and for use in an emergency situation. This guidance is kept under review and gives clear advice to schools on the recognition and management of an allergic reaction and anaphylaxis, and outlines when and how an AAI should be administered for pupils in schools.

The department is committed to improving support for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, including those with specific learning difficulties. As part of this, the department is considering both international evidence and best practice in its policymaking on special educational needs, with a focus on strengthening the evidence base on what works to identify and support needs in mainstream settings, including for specific learning difficulties.

The department has commissioned evidence reviews from University College London, which will highlight what the best available evidence suggests are the most effective tools, strategies and approaches for teachers and other relevant staff in mainstream settings to identify and support children and young people (age 0 to 25) with different types of needs.

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.

We are providing a £1 billion increase to high needs funding to help meet the increase in costs local authorities will face this year, as they in turn provide support to schools and colleges, and ultimately to children and young people with SEND. Schools decide how to spend their budgets to meet their legal duties and other responsibilities, including support for their pupils with SEND, including those with dyslexia.

High needs funding in England will total over £12 billion in the 2025/26 financial year. Of that total, Warwickshire County Council is being allocated over £104 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £6.9 million on their 2024/25 DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula.

End of key stage 2 tests and assessments enable teachers and parents to identify the areas in which individual pupils might require additional support so that they can succeed in secondary school. The tests also inform parents of their child’s achievements in relation to the expectations outlined in the national curriculum.

While the key stage 2 English reading test is not a diagnostic tool for dyslexia, it may highlight a pupil’s difficulty with reading when compared against the age-related expectations in the national curriculum. Secondary schools can use this information to provide any relevant support for the pupil as they transition into year 7.

The Curriculum and Assessment Review published its interim report on 18 March 2025. The Review panel have been clear that assessments in key stage 1 and 2 are an important part of assessing children's progress throughout primary school, and that the system of primary assessment is generally working well. The report can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-interim-report.

The information requested is not held centrally.

For capital funding, the department uses information from a number of sources, including the Office for National Statistics, to understand future demand so that there is sufficient capacity in the system.

For revenue funding for 16 to 19-year-olds, allocations to colleges are based on the previous year’s numbers, with growth funding available where there is exceptional growth. The most recently published 16 to 19 student numbers relate to the 2023/24 academic year and can be found in the funding allocations for the 2024/25 academic year at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/16-to-19-education-and-skills-funding#published-allocations.

My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has announced an additional £625 million of funding to support construction skills training, with the detail set out in the Spring Statement 2025. This is expected to deliver up to 60,000 additional skilled construction workers this Parliament.

The measures will support the expansion of existing skills programmes, including Skills Bootcamps and apprenticeships, as well as help to deliver new initiatives, such as establishing ten Technical Excellence Colleges specialised in construction in every region in England.

Additional information regarding allocations and bidding information at regional and provider level will be shared in due course.

Further education (FE) colleges, rather than government, are responsible for setting and negotiating pay within colleges and for the working conditions of their staff.

FE Colleges were incorporated under the terms of the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act, which gave them autonomy over the pay and contractual terms and conditions of their staff. Unlike maintained schools, colleges are not bound by the national pay and conditions framework for school teachers, but are free to implement their own pay arrangements in line with their own local circumstances.

The department will be investing over £400 million more on 16 to 19 education in the 2025/26 financial year to ensure enough funding is available to respond to the significant increase in student numbers and other pressures on the system. We are making approximately £50 million of this funding available to colleges for April to July 2025 to respond to current priorities and challenges as they see fit, including workforce recruitment and retention.

The Plan to Make Work Pay sets out an ambitious agenda to deliver our Plan for Change by ensuring employment rights are fit for a modern economy, empowering working people and contributing to economic growth. Once implemented, it will represent the biggest upgrade of workers’ rights in a generation, including for those in the FE sector.

To ensure that further education colleges can meet student demand, the department is spending approximately £87 million in the 2024/25 academic year to support in-year growth costs. This recognises the very large increase in students this year, which has led to the need for an unprecedented amount of in-year growth.

The department will be investing over £400 million more on 16 to 19 education in the 2025/26 financial year to respond to the significant increase in student numbers and other pressures on the system. We are making approximately £50 million of this funding available to colleges for April to July 2025 to respond to current priorities and challenges as they see fit, including workforce recruitment and retention. In addition, eligible early career teachers of science, technology, engineering and mathematics and priority technical subjects can receive up to £6,000 after tax annually, on top of their normal pay.

In the 2025/26 financial year, the department is providing £10 million of capital funding to Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Leeds City Council to support capacity for rising numbers of 16 to 19-year-olds, increasing opportunities in these places with the greatest pressures.

Ofsted is currently consulting on a revised education inspection framework and inspection report card. This is therefore a matter for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver. I have asked him to write to the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon directly and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Schools are expected to fund the delivery of music and arts teaching from their core budget. The government has committed to putting education back at the forefront of national life, with a further £3.2 billion going into schools’ budgets, with £1 billion for children and young people with high needs. Overall core revenue funding for schools totalled almost £61.6 billion in the 2024/25 financial year.

Over and above core school funding, the government is investing £79 million per year for the Music Hubs programme, which includes 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.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education announced last month our 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. One of the responsibilities of the National Centre will be to lead the Music Hubs programme.

Future funding for music and arts education is subject to the ongoing spending review and more details will be published in due course.

High-quality teaching is the most important in-school factor in determining a child’s educational outcomes. Recruiting and retaining additional numbers of qualified, expert teachers is therefore critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances of every child. This is why the department will recruit 6,500 new, expert teachers.

To deliver this pledge we are resetting the relationship with the sector to ensure teaching is once again a valued and attractive profession and one that existing teachers want to remain in, former teachers want to return to and new graduates wish to join.

The 2024/25 initial teacher training census reported 331 trainees had begun courses in music, up from 216 trainees in the 2023/24 academic year. We reintroduced a £10,000 music bursary for the 2024/25 academic year and are continuing to offer this for courses starting in 2025/26.

A successful recruitment strategy starts with a strong retention strategy, and the department wants to ensure teachers of all subjects and phases stay and thrive in the profession. We agreed a 5.5% pay award for teachers this academic year, 2024/25, and have taken steps to improve teachers’ workloads and wellbeing and enable greater flexible working, to support retention and help re-establish teaching as an attractive profession.

The government is committed to supporting higher education arts courses. We recognise the vital role these institutions play in nurturing talent and contributing to the UK's cultural and economic landscape.

For the 2024/25 academic year, the department has allocated around £12.9 million to creative and performing arts courses. Additionally, we have allocated £58 million in Strategic Priorities Grant funding to world-leading small and specialist providers, including 12 creative and performing arts institutions. This funding supports the provision of these courses and promotes opportunities for students.

The government is reforming the apprenticeships offer into a growth and skills offer, which will provide greater flexibility to employers and learners across England. This will create routes into skilled jobs in growing industries, such as the creative industries, for people of all ages and backgrounds.

This will include introducing new foundation apprenticeships for young people, as well as shorter-duration apprenticeships in targeted sectors. The department is reducing the minimum duration of an apprenticeship to eight months, so employers have the flexibility to train people up more quickly where that makes sense, for example, because an apprentice has high a level of prior experience, or that sector does not work in 12-month training cycles. Apprentices in Film/TV production will be some of the many who are set to benefit from this approach.

Employers in the creative sector have developed 74 apprenticeships, including the level 3 Creative Industries Production Technician, to help them develop their workforce.

To support employers to access apprenticeships the government pays £1,000 to employers when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18, and for apprentices aged 19 to 24 who have an education, health and care (EHC) plan or have been in local authority care. Non-levy paying employers can also benefit from the government paying the full training costs for young apprentices aged 16 to 21, and for apprentices aged 22 to 24 who have an EHC plan or have been in local authority care.

The department continues to promote apprenticeships to young people, adults and employers through the ‘Skills for Life’ campaign.

The department is committed to improving support for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with dyslexia and other neurodiverse conditions. As part of this, the department is considering evidence on international best practice in its policymaking on special educational needs (SEN).

The department is providing £1 billion more for high needs budgets in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding to £11.9 billion. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with complex SEND.

Early identification of need and support is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND, including those with dyslexia. There are already a number of measures to help teachers do this, including the phonics screening check and statutory assessments at the end of key stage 2.

Schools should apply a ‘graduated approach’ to identify a child’s needs, plan appropriate support, implement that support, and review it regularly to ensure it continues to meet their identified needs. Through this, schools should develop personalised approaches to supporting the unique needs of individual pupils. Schools should involve pupils and their parents in this process, taking their views into consideration.

The core content framework and early career framework, for trainee and early career teachers (ECTs) respectively, covers the first three years or more at the start of a teacher’s career. They set out the core body of knowledge skills and behaviours that define great teaching, and from September 2025 will be superseded by the combined Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF), which sets out a minimum entitlement to training and must be used by providers of initial teacher training and those delivering training to ECTs to create their curricula. The ITTECF contains significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with SEND.

Measures have also been introduced to support the effective teaching of reading, including for those at risk of falling behind. This includes the English Hubs programme, the publication of the reading framework and an updated list of high quality systematic synthetic phonics programmes for schools.

The English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on supporting children making the slowest progress in reading. As part of the continuous professional development provided by the English Hubs, the Reading Ambition for All programme has been launched to improve outcomes for children who need additional support with reading, including those with SEND.

The department is committed to improving support for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with dyslexia and other neurodiverse conditions. As part of this, the department is considering evidence on international best practice in its policymaking on special educational needs (SEN).

The department is providing £1 billion more for high needs budgets in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding to £11.9 billion. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with complex SEND.

Early identification of need and support is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND, including those with dyslexia. There are already a number of measures to help teachers do this, including the phonics screening check and statutory assessments at the end of key stage 2.

Schools should apply a ‘graduated approach’ to identify a child’s needs, plan appropriate support, implement that support, and review it regularly to ensure it continues to meet their identified needs. Through this, schools should develop personalised approaches to supporting the unique needs of individual pupils. Schools should involve pupils and their parents in this process, taking their views into consideration.

The core content framework and early career framework, for trainee and early career teachers (ECTs) respectively, covers the first three years or more at the start of a teacher’s career. They set out the core body of knowledge skills and behaviours that define great teaching, and from September 2025 will be superseded by the combined Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework (ITTECF), which sets out a minimum entitlement to training and must be used by providers of initial teacher training and those delivering training to ECTs to create their curricula. The ITTECF contains significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with SEND.

Measures have also been introduced to support the effective teaching of reading, including for those at risk of falling behind. This includes the English Hubs programme, the publication of the reading framework and an updated list of high quality systematic synthetic phonics programmes for schools.

The English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on supporting children making the slowest progress in reading. As part of the continuous professional development provided by the English Hubs, the Reading Ambition for All programme has been launched to improve outcomes for children who need additional support with reading, including those with SEND.

I refer the hon. Member for Stratford-upon-Avon to the answer of 29 January 2025 to Question 26025.

The department recognises the importance of recruiting individuals with a range of skills, knowledge and lived experiences into child protection roles. While formal qualifications and specialist training are essential for safeguarding children effectively, we acknowledge that personal experience of raising children can offer valuable insights into the challenges children and families face.

Through initiatives such as the Step Up to Social Work and Approach Social Work programmes, as well as apprenticeships, undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, the department aims to attract talented individuals from diverse backgrounds and with a range of life experience into the social work profession.

Local authorities and social work employers have flexibility in their recruitment approaches and may consider a candidate’s personal experience as a complement to their professional expertise.

The statutory guidance ‘Working together to safeguard children 2023’ sets out clear multi-agency child protection practice standards and expectations for all practitioners working to help, protect and promote the welfare of children, whatever their personal and professional backgrounds.

Provision of continuous professional development for employed social workers is a matter for their employer. The regulator for the social work profession, Social Work England, sets the professional standards which all social workers must meet. These include recognising the risk indicators of different forms of abuse and neglect and their impact on people, their families and their support networks. Social workers complete initial education and training courses which are approved by the regulator against the education and training standards. Course providers must update and design their courses as a result of developments in research, legislation, government policy and best practice.

This government is committed to strengthening the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system for all children and young people to ensure they receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.

Parents have struggled to get their children the support they need and deserve, particularly through long and difficult education, health and care (EHC) plan processes.

The department wants to ensure that EHC needs assessments are progressed promptly and plans are issued quickly in order to provide children and young people with the support they need to help them achieve positive outcomes.

The department continues to monitor and work closely with local authorities that have issues with EHC plan timeliness. Where there are concerns about a local authority’s capacity to make the required improvements, we help the local authority to identify the barriers and put in place an effective plan to improve delivery. This includes, where needed, securing specialist SEND adviser support to help identify the barriers to EHC plan process timeliness and put in place practical plans for recovery.

The department is working closely with experts on reform, including 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 next steps.

The department has also listened to parents, local authority colleagues, and partners across education, health and social care and is considering carefully how to address and improve the experience of the EHC plan process for families and reflecting on what practice could or should be made consistent nationally.