Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of proposed SEND reforms on (a) adopted children and (b) children who have experienced early-life trauma.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The current system for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is failing too many children and families. Improving the life chances of children and young people with SEND is the first priority for these reforms, including for adopted children and for those who have experienced early-life trauma. Every child deserves a high-quality, inclusive education, and families should not have to battle the system for this.
During the 12-week consultation period on the proposals: ‘SEND reform, putting children and young people first’, we hosted over 200 engagement events, meetings and roundtables, including ‘deep dives’ conversation and discussions on the interaction between children’s social care reforms and recommendations from the Law Commission’s report into disabled children’s social care. The government will provide a full response to this report in the autumn.
The SEND reform consultation has now closed, and we are carefully reviewing and taking into account all responses submitted to the consultation. We will publish a response to the consultation in due course and bring forward legislation at the earliest opportunity as set out in the King’s Speech.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason maximum tuition fee levels for the 2028-29 academic year have not been published; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of publishing tuition fee levels a limited number of years in advance on families’ ability to plan financially for three-year degree courses.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The higher education (HE) sector needs a secure financial footing to face the challenges of the next decade, and to ensure that all students can be confident they will receive the world-class HE experience they deserve.
The department plans to provide long-term certainty over future funding for the sector, so that it can focus on reform. That is why we have increased tuition fee caps for all HE providers in line with forecast inflation in 2026/27 and 2027/28, and we will legislate when parliamentary time allows to increase tuition fee caps automatically for future academic years.
The government uses the Office for Budget Responsibility’s RPIX inflation forecasts to determine tuition fee cap uplifts. These inflation forecasts can change over time. Using a later forecast for 2028/29 will ensure that the uplifts are fair to both students and providers.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to help improve the training given to (a) hospital and (b) general practice doctors in (i) understanding and (ii) supporting patients who are in chronic pains.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
To support all healthcare professionals in the assessment and management of chronic pain, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published guidance, which can be found at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng193
The guidance includes recommendations for healthcare professionals on how to carry out a person-centred assessment when an individual presents with chronic pain, how to develop a care and support plan for a patient with chronic pain, and how to manage flare-ups of chronic pain. The guidance also includes recommendations on both pharmacological and non-pharmacological management options for chronic pain.
Building on the NICE guidelines, the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has produced an e-learning course on chronic pain in adults, which is available at the following link:
https://elearning.rcgp.org.uk/course/info.php?id=588
The e-learning course aims to increase understanding amongst general practitioners (GPs) about chronic pain and to educate GPs and other healthcare professionals about the physiology of pain. It gives practical advice about how the NICE guidelines can be applied to patient care. The training curriculum for postgraduate trainee doctors is set by the RCGP, and has to meet the standards set by the General Medical Council.
Doctors are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development. This activity should include taking account of new research and developments in guidance, such as that produced by NICE, to ensure that they can continue to provide high quality care to all patients.