Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of early years SEND support capacity in North East Lincolnshire; and what support her Department is providing to ensure early identification and intervention for children aged under five.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
We aim to set up every child, in every local authority, to have the best start in life and this includes delivering access to high quality early education and childcare for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
On 7 July, we published our commitment to Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life. This means a stronger focus on early identification, inclusive access to early years education, and tailored family support. We also will increase the funding available to early years providers to support children with SEND.
On 4 December, we announced access to early SEND support across the country through Best Start Family Hubs. In every local authority next year, councils are being tasked with recruiting a dedicated SEND practitioner for every Hub to provide direct, family-facing support. The new offer will help parents understand their child’s development, identify emerging needs sooner, and support vital join-up between early years settings, health visitors and SEND teams.
We have also invested in the Early Language Support for Every Child (ELSEC) programme, and the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) supporting children in the early years with their speech and language.
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 (a) financial sustainability of early years providers and (b) capacity of schools to deliver wraparound care in areas experiencing long waiting lists.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
In 2025/26, this government plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements, increasing to over £9 billion in 2026/27, and we have increased the early years pupil premium by over 45%. On top of this we have provided further supplementary funding of £75 million for the Early Years Expansion Grant.
At Spending Review 2025, the government announced it will provide an additional £1.6 billion per year by 2028/29. We will also spend over £400 million over the next four years to deliver school-based nurseries across England.
The free breakfast clubs programme has delivered more than 5 million breakfasts and offered places to almost 180,000 pupils across the country. We are investing a further £80 million into the programme to fund an additional 2,000 schools between April 2026 and March 2027. Since September 2024, the National Wraparound Programme has also provided over 50,000 additional full childcare places. In 2026/27, we are providing local authorities with £12.9 million to sustain these places, ensuring sufficiency of school-age childcare and supporting national rollout of free breakfast clubs.
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 establishing a Technical Excellence College in Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is introducing Technical Excellence Colleges (TECs) to specialise in training skilled workforces which industry needs in growth-driving priority sectors.
The Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper confirmed that the government is expanding the TEC programme to a further four sectors: clean energy, advanced manufacturing, digital and technologies, and defence. These new TECs, backed by £175 million, will secure the pipeline of skilled workers into these areas.
The selection process for these TECs will start by the end of 2025, with delivery planned to begin from April 2026. Exact locations are yet to be determined, and colleges will be appointed through a fair and transparent application process. Further details will be published in due course.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department had with teachers on the removal of the application window for the 2024–25 Student Finance England teacher student loan reimbursement scheme to March 2026, and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of this change on teachers’ (a) cash flow and (b) financial wellbeing.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In September 2025, the department communicated to eligible teachers that the application window for the Teacher Student Loan Reimbursement (TSLR) scheme was being rescheduled from autumn 2025 to March 2026, so that eligible teachers commit to teaching for the full academic year before they can claim this incentive.
Eligible teachers have always claimed TSLR payments retrospectively, as the policy allows teachers to claim back the student loan repayments they made in the previous financial year if they remain teaching in eligible schools. The rescheduling of the application window to 2 March 2026 is consistent with the policy intent of incentivising teacher retention.
TSLR provides a one-off annual incentive payment on top of the teacher’s salary, which eligible teachers will continue to receive.
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 establishing one of the five proposed Clean Energy Technical Excellence Colleges in Northern Lincolnshire.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is introducing Technical Excellence Colleges (TECs) to specialise in training skilled workforces which industry needs in growth-driving priority sectors.
The Post-16 education and skills white paper, confirmed that the government is expanding the TEC programme to a further four sectors: clean energy, advanced manufacturing, digital and technologies, and defence. These new TECs, backed by £175 million, will secure the pipeline of skilled workers into these areas. Provider specialisms will be aligned with the priority sectors in the Industrial Strategy and Plan for Change, and in direct response to employer demand for specialist technical skills.
Exact locations are yet to be determined, and colleges will be appointed through a fair and transparent application process. The selection process for these TECs will start by the end of 2025, with delivery planned to begin from April 2026. Further details will be published in due course.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 19 May 2025 to Question 47692 on Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund, if she will to publish the data on therapy service costs by region.
Answered by Janet Daby
The data requested is in the table below.
Number of applications* approved in the 2024/25 financial year with therapy service costs totalled by region*:
Region | Total application value less than £3,000 | Total application value between £3,000 and £5,000 |
East Midlands | 1,217 | 934 |
East of England | 1,265 | 731 |
Inner London | 421 | 404 |
North East | 621 | 603 |
North West | 1,073 | 1,092 |
Outer London | 651 | 563 |
South East | 1,847 | 1,300 |
South West | 1,834 | 1,438 |
West Midlands | 876 | 875 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 798 | 1,075 |
*The data presented is the number of approved applications with therapy service costs. Please note that an individual application could have multiple recipients with multiple placement types and access the Fair Access Limit from multiple years.
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 applications to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund were awarded where (a) local authorities and (b) regional adoption agencies were required to match-fund the application due to an exceptional case involving urgent need for higher-cost support exceeding the fair access limit in the financial year 2024–25 by (i) whether the child has been adopted, (ii) whether the child is subject to a (A) special guardianship and (B) child arrangements order and (iii) region.
Answered by Janet Daby
The available information is detailed in the tables below.
Number of applications* approved in the 2024/25 financial year with therapy service costs totalled by placement type:
Placement type | Less than £3,000 | Between £3,000 and £5,000 |
i. Adoption (Domestic and Inter Country) | 8,369 | 7,091 |
iii. Special Guardianship Order | 2,179 | 1,895 |
iv. Child Arrangements Order/ Residency Order | 34 | 27 |
*The data presented is the number of approved applications with therapy service costs. Please note that an individual application could have multiple recipients with multiple placement types and access the Fair Access Limit from multiple years.
** No data for ‘(ii) children waiting to be adopted’ as adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) doesn’t include this as a placement type.
There were 3069 approved applications and 3319 funded recipients for Specialist Assessments in the 2024/25 financial year.
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 applications to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund were awarded for therapy support costing (a) less than £3,000 per year per child and (b) between £3,000 and £5,000 per year per child to (i) adopted children, (ii) children waiting to be adopted, (iii) children subject to a special guardianship and (iv) children subject to other arrangement orders in the financial year 2024–25.
Answered by Janet Daby
The available information is detailed in the tables below.
Number of applications* approved in the 2024/25 financial year with therapy service costs totalled by placement type:
Placement type | Less than £3,000 | Between £3,000 and £5,000 |
i. Adoption (Domestic and Inter Country) | 8,369 | 7,091 |
iii. Special Guardianship Order | 2,179 | 1,895 |
iv. Child Arrangements Order/ Residency Order | 34 | 27 |
*The data presented is the number of approved applications with therapy service costs. Please note that an individual application could have multiple recipients with multiple placement types and access the Fair Access Limit from multiple years.
** No data for ‘(ii) children waiting to be adopted’ as adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) doesn’t include this as a placement type.
There were 3069 approved applications and 3319 funded recipients for Specialist Assessments in the 2024/25 financial year.
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 applications to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund were awarded for specialist assessments of children in the financial year 2024–25.
Answered by Janet Daby
The available information is detailed in the tables below.
Number of applications* approved in the 2024/25 financial year with therapy service costs totalled by placement type:
Placement type | Less than £3,000 | Between £3,000 and £5,000 |
i. Adoption (Domestic and Inter Country) | 8,369 | 7,091 |
iii. Special Guardianship Order | 2,179 | 1,895 |
iv. Child Arrangements Order/ Residency Order | 34 | 27 |
*The data presented is the number of approved applications with therapy service costs. Please note that an individual application could have multiple recipients with multiple placement types and access the Fair Access Limit from multiple years.
** No data for ‘(ii) children waiting to be adopted’ as adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) doesn’t include this as a placement type.
There were 3069 approved applications and 3319 funded recipients for Specialist Assessments in the 2024/25 financial year.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department has issued on the (a) criteria and (b) number of students needed for a school to have a dedicated Special Educational Needs Coordinator position.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
All mainstream schools, including academies and free schools, must have a special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO). The SENCO must be a qualified teacher, or the head teacher, working at the school.
SENCOs play a vital role in setting the direction for their school and leading on the day-to-day special educational needs and disabilities provision. SENCOs will be most effective in this role if they are part of the school’s leadership team.
On 1 September 2024, the government introduced a new mandatory leadership level National Professional Qualification (NPQ) for SENCOs. The NPQ must be completed within three years of taking up a SENCO post. The NPQ ensures SENCOs receive high-quality, evidence-based training and equips them with the knowledge and skills to work with other leaders to create an inclusive environment where everyone feels welcome, safe and they belong.
Schools should ensure that the SENCO has sufficient time and resources to carry out these functions. This should include providing SENCOs with sufficient administrative support and time away from teaching to enable them to fulfil their responsibilities in a similar way to other important strategic roles within a school.