Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) in person and (b) online meetings she had with organisations representing children with special educational needs between 14 July 2024 and 14 October 2024.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education meets with a wide range of external stakeholders who represent children’s interests as part of her ministerial work. Details of ministers’ external meetings are published in quarterly ministerial transparency returns.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of VAT on school fees on the shared provision of (a) SEND support, (b) sporting facilities and (c) SEND school transport between the independent and state school sectors.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government’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.
At the Autumn Budget 2024, the government announced a £1 billion uplift in high needs funding in the 2025/26 financial year, providing additional support and improving outcomes for the more than a million children in the state sector with SEND.
Most children with special educational needs, including most with education, health and care (EHC) plans, are already educated in mainstream state-funded schools. All state-funded schools support children with SEND. All children of compulsory age are entitled to a state-funded school place that is free for parents. Where a private school place is necessary to support a child with SEND, the local authority will fund it through an EHC plan.
Local authorities have a statutory duty for ensuring sufficient state school places in their area. Local authorities routinely support children who need a state-funded school place, including where private schools have closed or where pupils move between schools. The department does not collect data on in-year school applications or admissions, but where local authorities are experiencing difficulties in ensuring there are enough school places for children who need them, the department will offer support and advice.
The department expects all schools admitting new pupils in-year to provide them with appropriate support, including where they have SEND. Schools will need to work with their local authority where pupils have additional needs that cannot be met within the school.
Schools with charitable status are required to demonstrate public benefit to retain their charitable status and engaging in partnership activities with state-funded schools is one such way to do that. This may in some cases include the sharing of private school facilities, such as sporting facilities. The government does not expect the introduction of VAT to reduce a school's obligations to show public benefit or for partnership activity to decrease.
The department’s home-to-school travel policy aims to make sure that no child is prevented from accessing education due to a lack of transport. Local authorities must arrange free home-to-school travel for eligible children of compulsory school age, who attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of the distance, their special educational needs, disability or mobility problem, or because the nature of the route means it would be unsafe for them to do so. Schools are not required to arrange home-to-school travel for their pupils, but some choose to do so. We do not expect the removal of the VAT exemption on independent school fees to have an impact on the provision of home-to-school travel for children with SEND.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish a strategy to improve the retention of teaching staff in schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The within school factor that makes the biggest difference to a young person’s educational outcome is high-quality teaching. Recruiting and retaining more qualified, expert teachers is therefore critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child.
A successful recruitment strategy starts with a strong retention strategy. We accepted in full the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools for 2024/25. In addition to recruiting high-quality teachers, the department wants to ensure teachers stay and thrive in this profession. New teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing in the first five years of their careers will now receive a targeted retention incentive of up to £6,000, after-tax, if working in disadvantaged schools.
The department is also working closely with teachers and school leaders to improve the experience of teaching, including making key resources on reducing workload and supporting wellbeing, developed with school leaders, available to teachers.
To further improve retention, the department is actively promoting flexible working, such as allowing planning, preparation, and assessment to be undertaken from home. The department is also funding bespoke support provided by flexible working ambassador schools and multi-academy trusts, ensuring schools are capturing the benefits of flexible working, whilst protecting pupils’ face-to-face teacher time.
High-quality continuous professional development is also key to ensuring the retention of an effective teaching workforce. Through the revised Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Framework, new teachers will benefit from at least three years of evidence-based training, across Initial Teacher Training and into their induction. The department has also launched an updated suite of national professional qualifications (NPQs) for teachers and school leaders at all levels, from those who want to develop expertise in high-quality teaching practice to those leading multiple schools across trusts. Teaching School Hubs play a significant role in delivering the initial teacher training, the early career framework and NPQs. The Shropshire and Telford Education Partnership hub supports delivery across Shropshire, Telford and the Wrekin.
This government inherited a system with critical shortages of teachers, with numbers not keeping pace with demographic changes. That is why the department has set out the ambition to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this Parliament. We have made good early progress towards this target by expanding the school teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Every Lesson Shapes a Life’, and the further education teacher recruitment campaign, ‘Share your Skills’, alongside making £233 million available for teacher trainee tax-free bursaries for the 2025/26 recruitment cycle.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many minors were murdered by family members in 2022-23; and what steps she plans to take to help prevent such deaths.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In 2022/23, there were 201 notifications where a child had died and abuse or neglect was known or suspected or where a looked after child had died, whether or not abuse or neglect is known or suspected. These statistics show the number of incidents notified in the period, rather than the number of incidents that occurred in the period and are based on one notification per incident, which can relate to more than one child in some instances.
Protecting children at risk of abuse and stopping vulnerable children falling through cracks in services are at the heart of the government’s landmark Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, introduced on 17 December. Reforming children’s social care is critical to giving hundreds of thousands of children and young people the start in life they deserve. This includes ensuring that every child is safe inside and outside of their home and has access to the right help at the right time.
This government’s vision to ensure children are kept safe is reflected in the legislative changes we are making in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. This includes:
The department continues to deliver whole-system reform to help families to overcome challenges, stay together and thrive, where appropriate, and to keep children safe and in stable loving homes, including when they cannot stay with their family. This includes through the roll out of the Families First for Children Pathfinder and Family Networks Pilot, which includes multi-agency child protection reforms. The ‘Local Government Finance Settlement’ policy statement also set out an additional £250 million through the Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant which will enable investment in prevention activity, and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-government-finance-policy-statement-2025-to-2026/local-government-finance-policy-statement-2025-to-2026.
Tackling domestic violence and abuse is a priority for this government, and we are committed to using every government tool available to target perpetrators and address the root causes of such abhorrent behaviours. Cross-government delivery of the Opportunity and Safer Streets Missions is driving policy and practice improvements for child victims of domestic violence and abuse. The department is also working with other departments and the wider sector, including local authorities and schools, to ensure that children are recognised as victims in their own right in line with the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, and that the best use is made of available resources in the provision of universal, targeted and specialist support for child victims.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
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 requiring schools to have mandatory allergy and anaphylaxis policies.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
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, ‘Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school’, 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. Schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with medical conditions and have policies and processes in place to ensure these can be well managed. The guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.
The guidance is clear that policy should include how it will be implemented, what should happen in an emergency situation and the role individual healthcare plans play in supporting pupils. The policy should set out how staff will be supported in carrying out their role to support pupils, including how training needs are assessed and how training is commissioned and provided. Any member of school staff providing support to a pupil with medical needs should have received suitable training.
Regarding equipment, in 2017 the Department of Health published non-statutory guidance to accompany a legislative change to allow schools 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.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will require schools to have adrenaline auto-injectors on site to treat anaphylaxis.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
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, ‘Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school’, 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. Schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with medical conditions and have policies and processes in place to ensure these can be well managed. The guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.
The guidance is clear that policy should include how it will be implemented, what should happen in an emergency situation and the role individual healthcare plans play in supporting pupils. The policy should set out how staff will be supported in carrying out their role to support pupils, including how training needs are assessed and how training is commissioned and provided. Any member of school staff providing support to a pupil with medical needs should have received suitable training.
Regarding equipment, in 2017 the Department of Health published non-statutory guidance to accompany a legislative change to allow schools 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.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed increase in the rate of employers' National Insurance contributions on (a) nurseries and (b) pre-schools.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the right hon. Member for The Wrekin to the answer of 11 November 2024 to Question 12804.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of imposing VAT on independent school fees on access to independent schools' sports facilities for state sector pupils.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The VAT treatment of the hiring or letting out of facilities will not change as a result of the decision to impose VAT on private school fees. HM Revenue and Customs have published guidance on charging and/or reclaiming VAT on goods and services related to private school fees, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/charging-and-reclaiming-vat-on-goods-and-services-related-to-private-school-fees.
In addition, in line with their charitable objectives, private schools demonstrate public benefit through partnerships with schools in the state sector. The government expects private schools to continue to work with schools in the state sector to demonstrate public benefit in this way. The government does not expect the imposition of VAT on school fees to reduce the efforts that private schools invest in their partnership working with state-funded schools.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure schools make reasonable adjustments to support children with vision impairments.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government’s ambition is that all children and young people receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. The department is committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to children and young people with the most complex needs. This will help to restore parents’ trust that their child will get the support they need.
All schools have duties under the Equality Act 2010 towards individual disabled children and young people. They must make reasonable adjustments, including the provision of auxiliary aids and services for disabled children, to prevent them being put at a substantial disadvantage.
The department is committed to ensuring a steady supply of teachers of children with vision impairment in both specialist and mainstream settings. To teach a class of pupils with vision impairments, a teacher is required to hold the relevant Mandatory Qualification for Sensory Impairment (MQSI). There are currently seven providers of the MQSI.
Moreover, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education is developing a new occupational standard for teachers of pupils with sensory impairment, which is expected to be available from September 2025. This will improve the supply of those qualified to teach this important cohort and further help to improve their educational outcomes.
Asked by: Mark Pritchard (Conservative - The Wrekin)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish an action plan to reduce deaths of minors from drowning.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Swimming and water safety is a vital life skill and that is why pupils are taught how to swim and be safe in and around water at primary school.
Swimming and water safety are compulsory elements of the Physical Education (PE) National Curriculum at Key Stages 1 and 2. For example, it includes teaching on how to perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.
The department is focusing on a number of measures to support teaching in this area, as part of its ongoing review of the Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum. The public consultation on the revised draft RSHE statutory guidance closed on 11 July 2024. The revised guidance includes a new section called ‘Personal safety’, which outlines that pupils should know how to identify risk and manage personal safety in increasingly independent situations including around roads, railways and water.
It is vitally important that teachers have clear guidance, which is why the department will be looking carefully at the consultation responses, re-engaging with stakeholders and considering the relevant evidence before setting out next steps to take the RSHE guidance forward.
The department is also working closely with swimming and water safety stakeholders such as the Royal Life Saving Society UK and Swim England to support schools in raising attainment in primary school swimming and water safety. Support and advice from Swim England includes resources for schools and parents, which can be found at the following links: https://www.swimming.org/schools/ and https://www.swimming.org/learntoswim/learn-to-swim-information-for-parents/.
Department officials have also worked alongside the National Water Safety Forum to develop free resources for schools to provide vital water safety knowledge that can go a long way to reduce drowning deaths. These resources can be found on the Royal Life Saving Society website at: https://www.rlss.org.uk/Pages/Category/water-safety-education.