Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of funding for councils in the East Midlands to provide (a) accessible and (b) integrated family support services for children in the first 1,001 days of life.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government’s Plan for Change sets out a commitment to give children the best start in life, measured by a record 75% of children starting school ready to learn and measured by the number hitting the early learning goals at the end of reception. Delivering this will require strengthening and joining up family services to improve support through pregnancy and early childhood. This includes continuing to invest in and build up Family Hubs and Start for Life programmes. In the 2025/26 financial year, the government is providing a £126 million boost for Family Hubs and Start for Life services to give every child the best start in life and to deliver on the Plan for Change. More information on this funding can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/families-to-receive-126-million-in-early-years-support.
Five local authorities in the East Midlands currently receive funding for Family Hubs and Start for Life services: Derby, Lincolnshire, Nottingham, North Northamptonshire and Leicester. Leicestershire, the upper-tier authority for the council, separately receives funding for Family Hubs only, as part of the Family Hubs Transformation Fund. On 3 April, participating local authorities received confirmation of their funding allocations for the 2025/26 financial year.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support apprenticeships in the hairdressing industry.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Apprenticeships are a great way for individuals to begin or progress a successful career in the hair and beauty industry. Employers in the sector have developed several apprenticeships, including the level 2 hairdressing professional standard, to help them develop their workforce.
The department continues to promote apprenticeships to young people, adults and employers through the Skills for Life campaign.
Employers can benefit from £1,000 payments when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18, or apprentices aged 19 to 24 who have an education, health and care (EHC) plan or have been in local authority care. To support smaller employers access apprenticeships, the government pays full training costs for young apprentices aged 16 to 21, and for apprentices aged 22 to 24 who have an EHC plan, or have been in local authority care.
Employers also benefit from not being required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25 where they earn less than £967 a week, or £50,270 a year.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many council-run children’s centres have closed in the East Midlands since 2010.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Data on Sure Start children’s centres is supplied by local authorities via the department’s Get Information about Schools database portal at: https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/.
Based on information supplied by local authorities in the East Midlands, 41 children’s centres have closed since 2010. Local authorities in the East Midlands have converted a further 44 children’s centres into children’s centre linked sites. ‘Children’s centre linked sites’ are formerly children's centres in their own right, but they no longer meet the statutory definition of a children’s centre. They offer some early childhood services on behalf of another children's centre.
The information on children’s centres closed since 2010 is based on data supplied by the local authorities in the East Midlands as of 8 April 2025. These figures could change again in future, since local authorities may update the database at any time.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
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 including absences for religious observances within the category of absences entitled unable to attend school because of unavoidable cause.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not currently have plans to reclassify absences for religious observance.
The law recognises that absences for a small number of circumstances, including for religious observance, are allowable. Where parents choose not to send their child to school on a day that is exclusively set apart for religious observance by the religious body that they belong to, they will not be taken to have failed to secure their child’s regular attendance, and enforcement action cannot be taken. Schools must record such absences in the attendance register using code R, which is classified for statistical purposes as authorised absence. Other forms of authorised absence include illness or suspension from school.
Sessions recorded as ‘unable to attend because of unavoidable cause’ relate to issues that make attendance genuinely impossible, such as unexpected school closure, widespread travel disruption caused by emergencies, or a pupil being in youth detention. It would not be appropriate to classify absence for religious observance, or other types of authorised absence, under the ‘unavoidable cause’ category.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the number of incidents of anti-Palestinian racism (a) on university campuses, (b) in further education colleges and (c) in schools in each of the last 18 months.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not hold data on the number of incidents of anti-Palestinian racism in education.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March to Question 38689 on Racial Discrimination: Palestinians, if she will hold discussions with Educate against Hate on developing resources to tackle anti-Palestinian racism.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This government is committed to ensuring that teachers, parents, and young people are equipped with the guidance and resources designed to develop critical thinking, logical reasoning, and empathy, to build resilience to, and reject hateful narratives.
The department’s Educate Against Hate website hosts quality-assured resources to help teachers and school leaders teach students about extremism, conflict, spotting misinformation and disinformation, online safety, and our shared fundamental British values.
Following the events of 7 October 2023, a blog containing practical advice for discussing ongoing conflicts was published on the Educate Against Hate website. The blog signposts relevant resources from reputable organisations that can support schools to teach about this sensitive topic in a balanced way, avoiding antisemitic, anti-Muslim and/or other discriminatory narratives.
Educate Against Hate provides a range of resources and guides to support teachers and education practitioners in confidently facilitating conversations around the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. The resources are wide ranging and address why it is important to discuss this topic, how to navigate the news and social media, and how to support young people who may be directly affected by the conflict. All guidance and teaching resources hosted on Educate Against Hate are drawn from reputable organisations.
There are also practical resources designed to be used in classrooms, that focus on Palestine and Israel and cover the history of the conflict. They challenge students and learners to examine a range of sources such as images, maps and documentation to debate and discuss different perspectives in a polite and respectful way, and in the controlled environment of a classroom, before they reach their own views on the topic.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent progress she has made on reducing school class sizes in (a) the East Midlands and (b) Nottingham East constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The average class size for state-funded primary schools in the East Midlands is 26.3 pupils, which is below the national average of 26.6 pupils, and 26.7 for Nottingham East, which is a fraction higher than the national average. The average class size for state-funded secondary schools in the East Midlands is 22.4 pupils, which is equal to the national average, and 23 for Nottingham East, which is just above the national average of 22.4.
Legislation limits the size of an infant class to 30 pupils per school teacher. An infant class is one in which the majority of children will reach the age of five, six, or seven during the school year, which includes reception, year 1 and year 2.
There is no statutory limit on the size of classes for older children (pupils aged eight and over), and it is up to schools to decide how to organise classes based on local needs and circumstances to ensure all children can be supported to achieve and thrive.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to expand the availability of evening school classes for (a) plumbing, (b) bricklaying, (c) electrical work and (d) other building trades in Nottinghamshire.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Skills are crucial to this government’s mission to grow the economy under our Plan for Change and deliver our commitment to build 1.5 million homes across this Parliament.
On 23 March, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced measures to address skills shortages in the construction sector. This package commits over £600 million over the Parliament to deliver up to 60,000 skilled construction workers. This includes additional funding to deliver more construction courses, skills bootcamps, foundation apprenticeships, to support industry placements and to deliver 10 new Technical Excellence Colleges. The department will continue to work with post-16 skills providers on their plans to meet local, regional and national skills priorities in construction.
Furthermore, as part of the government’s devolution agenda, from August 2025 the East Midlands Combined Authority will be responsible for administering and delivering their Adult Skills Fund (ASF), allowing them to make best use of the ASF to meet their local needs, including in construction.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of creating a new funding stream for students who have been educated in registered alternative provision to continue in that setting after the age of 16.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The statutory duty on local authorities to provide alternative provision applies to children of compulsory school age. If any alternative provision schools would like to offer post-16 placements, they should approach the department to discuss this. Funded post-16 education has a variety of different provider types which deliver different provision, relevant to the different aspirations and needs of post-16 students. In addition, 16-19 study programmes should be tailored to meet the individual needs of the young person.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help tackle anti-Palestinian racism in (a) schools and (b) universities.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
There is no place for racism in our education system or anywhere else in society. Students, regardless of their background, should be able to study in a safe and supportive environment that allows them to thrive.
The Equality Act 2010 enshrines in law that all public sector bodies, including schools and higher education institutions, must not discriminate against a student because of their protected characteristics. All educational institutions have a responsibility to take a zero-tolerance approach to any racism towards students and staff. They have clear responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to adopt robust policies and procedures that enable them to investigate and address reports of racism swiftly. The department has published guidance for schools on how to comply with their duties. This guidance is accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/equality-act-2010-advice-for-schools.
Schools should actively promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance for those of different faiths and beliefs. Actively promoting these values means challenging opinions or behaviours in school that are contrary to fundamental British values. Schools should further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling students to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures. Promotion of these values plays an important role in preparing our children and young people for life in a modern and diverse Britain. Ofsted inspects how schools and colleges develop their pupils' understanding of these values. The Educate Against Hate website features more than 150 free resources to help pupils, teachers and parents tackle sensitive topics with students, including in relation to discrimination and hatred.
In universities, the Office for Students (OfS) is introducing a new condition of registration for preventing, addressing and investigating incidents of harassment with effect from 1 August 2025. The government is working with the OfS and sector bodies to help providers prepare to implement the new measures. The condition will enable the OfS to do more to ensure that universities are taking appropriate and timely action to prevent and tackle harassment of all kinds, including anti-Palestinian racism.