Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to introduce examinations in British Sign Language for deaf children as part of the implementation of the curriculum review.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Under Ofqual’s regulatory conditions, all students taking GCSE, AS and A level qualifications must be assessed in English, except where another language is permitted, such as in modern foreign language qualifications. Students may be assessed in British Sign Language (BSL) where an awarding organisation offers this as a reasonable adjustment. Guidance is provided by the Joint Council for Qualifications, and adjustments can include the use of BSL interpreters for spoken instructions, readers, scribes and assistive technology.
Access arrangements are also available for all national curriculum tests, and guidance is provided by the Standards and Testing Agency. This allows for adjustments such as sign language interpreters for instructions and compensatory marks for pupils with profound hearing impairments.
The government is also developing a landmark GCSE in BSL, which will be accessible for both first-time learners and existing BSL users.
I would welcome the opportunity to meet the hon. Member and her constituents to discuss this issue.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will meet with me and my constituents to discuss the introduction of examinations in British Sign Language for deaf children.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Under Ofqual’s regulatory conditions, all students taking GCSE, AS and A level qualifications must be assessed in English, except where another language is permitted, such as in modern foreign language qualifications. Students may be assessed in British Sign Language (BSL) where an awarding organisation offers this as a reasonable adjustment. Guidance is provided by the Joint Council for Qualifications, and adjustments can include the use of BSL interpreters for spoken instructions, readers, scribes and assistive technology.
Access arrangements are also available for all national curriculum tests, and guidance is provided by the Standards and Testing Agency. This allows for adjustments such as sign language interpreters for instructions and compensatory marks for pupils with profound hearing impairments.
The government is also developing a landmark GCSE in BSL, which will be accessible for both first-time learners and existing BSL users.
I would welcome the opportunity to meet the hon. Member and her constituents to discuss this issue.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing simplified guidance for (a) parents and (b) schools on how requests for (i) deferred entry and (ii) out-of-cohort progression are handled.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department keeps its guidance for schools and parents about requests for summer born children to be admitted out of their normal age group under review and updates it as required.
The guidance for schools is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-advice-for-admission-authorities(opens in a new tab).
The guidance for parents is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-school-admission(opens in a new tab).
The guidance is clear that it is rarely in a child’s best interests to miss a year of their education by being admitted to primary school in year 1 rather than reception, or to secondary school in year 8 rather than year 7. Therefore, if a parent requests their summer born child start their reception year aged 5, it should be rare for such a request to be refused.
The department conducts regular surveys of local authorities and parents to keep this issue under review. These show that only a small proportion of parents of summer born children request that they are admitted out of their normal age group, and the vast majority of such requests are agreed. The findings can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/summer-born-children-research-and-guidance(opens in a new tab).
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions she has had with (a) local authorities and (b) academy trusts on ensuring a consistent national approach to the admission of summer-born children.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department keeps its guidance for schools and parents about requests for summer born children to be admitted out of their normal age group under review and updates it as required.
The guidance for schools is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-advice-for-admission-authorities(opens in a new tab).
The guidance for parents is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-school-admission(opens in a new tab).
The guidance is clear that it is rarely in a child’s best interests to miss a year of their education by being admitted to primary school in year 1 rather than reception, or to secondary school in year 8 rather than year 7. Therefore, if a parent requests their summer born child start their reception year aged 5, it should be rare for such a request to be refused.
The department conducts regular surveys of local authorities and parents to keep this issue under review. These show that only a small proportion of parents of summer born children request that they are admitted out of their normal age group, and the vast majority of such requests are agreed. The findings can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/summer-born-children-research-and-guidance(opens in a new tab).
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that guidance on the progression of summer-born children from primary to secondary education is applied (a) clearly and (b) consistently across all schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department keeps its guidance for schools and parents about requests for summer born children to be admitted out of their normal age group under review and updates it as required.
The guidance for schools is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-advice-for-admission-authorities.
The guidance for parents is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-school-admission.
The guidance is clear that it is rarely in a child’s best interests to miss a year of their education by being admitted to primary school in year 1 rather than reception, or to secondary school in year 8 rather than year 7. Therefore, if a parent requests their summer born child start their reception year aged 5, it should be rare for such a request to be refused.
The department conducts regular surveys of local authorities and parents to keep this issue under review. These show that only a small proportion of parents of summer born children request that they are admitted out of their normal age group, and the vast majority of such requests are agreed. The findings can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/summer-born-children-research-and-guidance.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students were entered into English GCSE exams at the age of (a) 16 and under and (b) post-16 in (i) 2018, (ii) 2019, (iii) 2020, (iv) 2021, (v) 2022, (vi) 2023, (vii) 2024 and (viii) 2025.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department publishes the number of pupils at the end of key stage 4 who entered GCSE English from the 2017/18 to 2023/24 academic year.
The department also publishes the number of students at the end of 16 to 18 study who entered for GCSE English from the 2019/20 to 2023/24 academic year. This data is not published for 2017/18 or 2018/19. The data for these two years can be found in the attached document.
Data relating to 2024/25 will be published in October 2025 for pupils at the end of key stage 4, and November 2025 for students at the end of 16 to 18 study.
The data relating to pupils at the end of key stage 4 can be found here:
This data becomes available in October or November of each year.
The data relating to students at the end of 16 to 18 study can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/a-level-and-other-16-to-18-results/2023-24. GCSE English entries comprise entries to GCSE English Language, English Literature, and English Language and Literature.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Curriculum and Assessment Review will include personal financial literacy from Key Stage 1-3.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
I refer the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon to the answer of 09 April 2025 to Question 43513.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to expand the (a) teaching and (b) learning of financial education in primary schools in (i) Warwickshire and (ii) England.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
I refer the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon to the answer of 09 April 2025 to Question 43513.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to introduce a requirement for all councillors to complete corporate parenting training covering (a) safeguarding, (b) duties under the Children and Social Work Act 2017 and (c) the responsibilities of being a corporate parent as part of induction and ongoing development.
Answered by Janet Daby
Guidance on the implementation of corporate parenting duties was published in February 2018 and can be accessed at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a93eb3ae5274a5b87c2fde4/Applying_corporate_parenting_principles_to_looked-after_children_and_care_leavers.pdf.
The guidance recognises the important role that elected members play in promoting and supporting the implementation of corporate parenting within their local authority but does not mandate formal training.
There are a wide range of corporate parenting training and resources readily available for elected members on the Local Government Association website and, as such, we have no plans to introduce a mandatory requirement. These resources can be found at: https://www.local.gov.uk/childrens-improvement-support-members.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support her Department is providing to rural primary schools to provide breakfast club provision under the early adopter scheme.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
I refer the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon to the answer of 03 June 2025 to Question 53170.