Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help further education colleges support young people who are not in education, employment or training through (a) flexible funding arrangements and (b) supporting collaborative working with local authorities.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Through the Post-16 education and skills white paper, the department is committed to enabling local and strategic authorities, schools, and further education (FE) providers to more effectively identify, track and share data about young people. These measures aim to prevent young people falling out of education/training and becoming not in education, employment, or training, and look to ensure that those without a post-16 study plan are automatically allocated a place at a local college or FE provider.

We will provide £1.2 billion of additional investment per year in skills by 2028-2029. This investment will enable us to support 1.3 million learners each year. This significant investment will ensure there is increased funding to colleges and other 16-19 providers to maintain real terms per-student funding in the next academic year to respond to the demographic increase in 16 to 19-year-olds. This will enable the recruitment and retention of expert teachers in high value subject areas, and interventions to retain top teaching talent.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to expand access to mental health services for young people at risk of not being in education, employment or training.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department recognises that young people with poor mental health can be at risk of not being in education, employment, or training.

This is why the Government is investing in mental health support services for young people, including continuing the roll out of mental health support teams in schools, with almost one million more young people to benefit in education settings this year.

The Government's first 50 Young Futures Hubs will bring together services at a local level to support children and young people, helping to ensure that young people can access early advice and wellbeing intervention.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to help support students who are retaking (a) maths and (b) English GCSE whilst in further education.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department is committed to supporting high quality teaching and learning for students who are continuing their English and maths study during 16 to 19 under the maths and English condition of funding. The department has already introduced the requirement for providers to offer 100 hours minimum of classroom teaching per subject, supported by additional funding for providers, and set clearer expectations on which students should typically be entered into November resits, to avoid unnecessary repeated resits which we recognise are demoralising for students.

We are also introducing new level 1 stepping stone qualifications to support post-16 students to consolidate foundational skills and knowledge, preparing those with lower prior attainment for successful GCSE resits the following year. In addition, we are working with the further education Commissioner to gather and share effective practice, to help providers support their students.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the number of young people who had dropped out of further education were trying to find work or training on 20 October 2025.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The department does not hold data on the number of people who have dropped out of further education and are searching for work or training.