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.
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 looked-after children who were cared for in a family and friends foster placement as of 31 March 2025 had also previously been in (a) an unrelated foster placement, (b) another family and friends care placement, (c) a children's home and (d) other provision for looked-after children; and if she will provide this data at (i) national, (ii) regional and (iii) local authority area level.
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.
Full information on the former placement arrangements of children looked after who are in a relative or friend foster placement is not held in the form requested. Due to the way in which the data is held, analysts in the department would not be able to provide this information you have requested without exceeding the cost threshold applicable to central government.
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 looked after children were cared for in a family and friends foster placement as of 31 March 2020, in each local authority; and in each year prior as far back as comparable statistical information is available.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Information on the number of children looked after who were cared for in a family and friends foster placement by local authority between 2004 and 2020 and for 2025 is in the attached table.
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 looked after children were cared for in a family and friends foster placement as of 31 March 2025, in each local authority.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Information on the number of children looked after who were cared for in a family and friends foster placement by local authority between 2004 and 2020 and for 2025 is in the attached table.