Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the contribution of independent training providers to meeting skills needs in the industrial, energy and net zero sectors; and what steps she is taking to ensure independent training providers have access to adequate and sustainable funding.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department assesses the contribution of training providers to meeting skills needs through analysis of delivery, provider capacity and employer demand, alongside Skills England’s assessment of national and local skills needs.
This includes provision supporting industrial, clean energy and net zero sectors.
Independent training providers are an important part of the skills system and can access government funding through programmes and contracts for which they are eligible, including apprenticeships. The department reviews provider capacity, delivery, and employer demand to assess how skills provision funded by the government is meeting the needs of priority sectors.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of increasing opportunities for pupils to learn British Sign Language as part of the school curriculum.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department recognises the benefits that learning British Sign Language (BSL) can bring to both students and the wider deaf community. Learning BSL can help develop communication skills, increase understanding of deaf culture and experiences, and promote inclusion and accessibility within schools and wider society.
The national curriculum does not prescribe specific languages that schools must teach and schools have discretion over which languages they offer. Schools may choose to teach BSL in primary and secondary schools to support the needs and interests of their pupils.
The department, working with the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual), has developed the content and assessment arrangements for a BSL GCSE.
Following the publication of Ofqual's final qualification rules for the BSL GCSE, awarding organisations are now able to develop detailed specifications that will form the basis of the content taught in schools and colleges.
Decisions on whether to develop qualification specifications are for exam boards. Any specifications developed by exam boards will need to be accredited by Ofqual before they are available to schools.
I have written to the exam boards to encourage them to seize the opportunity to offer this important qualification.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she has taken to Review Progress 8 measures and their effectiveness in supporting the outcomes for children with SEND.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s accountability system must promote high standards and good progress for all.
We have recently consulted on an improved version of Progress 8 that maintains a strong academic core alongside breadth and choice for every child. As part of this consultation, we sought views on a possible new progress measure to recognise the progress of children who start secondary school significantly behind their peers.
This measure would sit alongside existing measures such as Progress 8 and is intended to provide additional insight into the progress of this subset of pupils, who are more likely to have special educational needs and disabilities. This measure would also sit alongside other information designed to support inclusion.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to meet representatives of training providers affected by fee increases introduced by City & Guilds.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Departmental officials regularly meet with representatives of training providers and awarding organisations. Ofqual publishes annual qualification price statistics which are available on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has contingency plans in place to protect students and apprentices in the event of disruption to qualification delivery by private awarding bodies.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Ofqual, the independent regulator of exams and assessments in England, requires awarding organisations to establish, maintain and comply with an up-to-date detailed written contingency plan to mitigate any incident that may cause a disruption to candidates.
In addition, Ofqual has published guidance on how the sector should manage disruption to exams and assessments, including clear steps that both exam centres and awarding organisations should take to ensure qualifications are delivered.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students and apprentices are currently enrolled on qualifications accredited by City & Guilds in England.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The number of learning aims on City & Guilds qualifications in further education (FE) institutions reported so far (August 2025 to January 2026) for FE and skills is 449,500, of which 120,750 relate to apprenticeships.
Statistics on FE and skills is published in the accredited official statistics publication: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/further-education-and-skills/2025-26.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that vocational qualification standards are maintained where awarding organisations undergo significant (a) ownership and (b) management changes.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
City and Guilds of London Institute is an independent organisation. The government has no role in its governance or commercial decisions. Following the announcement of their consultation, City and Guilds Ltd have released a statement confirming the changes are not expected to disrupt learners, including those currently working through their assessments, or affect the delivery or quality of qualifications.
Departmental officials meet regularly with City and Guilds colleagues to discuss provision of qualifications and outline any issues early.
Ofqual oversees the awarding organisation in all setup and governance models. It expects strong governance, proper handling of conflicts of interest, financial resilience and transparency. Ofqual recognition rests with the recognised entity and cannot be separately transferred or merged.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has had discussions with City & Guilds, PeopleCert or sector representatives regarding recent fee increases, staffing changes and the continuity of vocational qualifications provision.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
City and Guilds of London Institute is an independent organisation. The government has no role in its governance or commercial decisions. Following the announcement of their consultation, City and Guilds Ltd have released a statement confirming the changes are not expected to disrupt learners, including those currently working through their assessments, or affect the delivery or quality of qualifications.
Departmental officials meet regularly with City and Guilds colleagues to discuss provision of qualifications and outline any issues early.
Ofqual oversees the awarding organisation in all setup and governance models. It expects strong governance, proper handling of conflicts of interest, financial resilience and transparency. Ofqual recognition rests with the recognised entity and cannot be separately transferred or merged.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of recent changes at City & Guilds on students and apprentices currently undertaking qualifications accredited by that organisation.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
City and Guilds of London Institute is an independent organisation. The government has no role in its governance or commercial decisions. Following the announcement of their consultation, City and Guilds Ltd have released a statement confirming the changes are not expected to disrupt learners, including those currently working through their assessments, or affect the delivery or quality of qualifications.
Departmental officials meet regularly with City and Guilds colleagues to discuss provision of qualifications and outline any issues early.
Ofqual oversees the awarding organisation in all setup and governance models. It expects strong governance, proper handling of conflicts of interest, financial resilience and transparency. Ofqual recognition rests with the recognised entity and cannot be separately transferred or merged.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children ceased being looked after as of 31 March 2025 because (a) they returned home to live with parents or other person with parental responsibility, (b) are subject to a special guardianship order and (c) a residence order or child arrangement order was granted, broken down by local authority.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Information on children looked after is published in the annual statistical release available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2024. The latest available data on children ceasing care and the reasons they left care for the reporting year ending 31 March 2025 can be found in table ‘CLA ceasing during the year - characteristics - by local authority’ in the latest statistical release, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/6095935f-9f20-411c-35c4-08de9a2bfa8c.