Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will set out how much of the teacher training proposed in the Schools White Paper will be delivered in person.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Great teaching is the most important lever schools have for improving children’s attainment.
The department provides a range of funded offers to schools to help them access high-quality professional development, which includes the new courses on Reception and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) as part of the teacher training entitlement referenced in the Schools White Paper.
When designing new training, the department is careful to consider how it will work with the schedules of teachers and schools, with many of them including a flexible, self-study element.
For example, we have confirmed that the SEND and inclusion courses for teachers and leaders in schools and colleges will include a mixture of online self-study sessions and live facilitated sessions.
We have also announced a package of materials for schools and colleges to support the development and delivery of in-house, in person training.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the prevalence of child morning hunger across early years, primary and secondary school settings in England and its impact on school readiness and attendance.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department appreciates the publication of the report and look forward to giving it our full consideration. We agree that a healthy breakfast at the start of the school day sets children up ready to learn. This is why the department is committed to delivering on the pledge to provide free breakfast clubs in every state-funded school with primary-aged children. Since April 2025, we have delivered over seven million breakfasts and offered places to almost 180,000 pupils across the country. We are investing a further £80 million to fund approximately 2,000 additional schools between April 2026 and March 2027.
Alongside the rollout of free breakfast clubs, we are going further in our mission to lift 100,000 children out of poverty by expanding free school meals to children in all households receiving Universal Credit from the 2026/27 school year.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment the Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of the findings of Magic Breakfast’s recent report entitled Root Causes of Child Morning Hunger.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department appreciates the publication of the report and look forward to giving it our full consideration. We agree that a healthy breakfast at the start of the school day sets children up ready to learn. This is why the department is committed to delivering on the pledge to provide free breakfast clubs in every state-funded school with primary-aged children. Since April 2025, we have delivered over seven million breakfasts and offered places to almost 180,000 pupils across the country. We are investing a further £80 million to fund approximately 2,000 additional schools between April 2026 and March 2027.
Alongside the rollout of free breakfast clubs, we are going further in our mission to lift 100,000 children out of poverty by expanding free school meals to children in all households receiving Universal Credit from the 2026/27 school year.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the Law Commission recommendations on reform of social care law for disabled children.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
On 16 September 2025, the Law Commission published its final report on disabled children’s social care.’ The department is now considering and assessing the 40 recommendations made in the report. In line with the protocol agreed between the Lord Chancellor and the Law Commission, the department will provide an initial response to these recommendations in March 2026, having engaged the relevant stakeholders. A full response to the recommendations as well as a proposed way forward will be provided in September 2026.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to answer Question 100240, tabled by the hon. Member for Poole on 15 December 2025.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The response to Written Parliamentary Question 100240 was published on 4 February 2026.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to provide music hubs with three year funding agreements.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department has provided funding to support a network of Music Hub partnerships across England since 2012. As of September 2024, the network comprises of 43 Music Hub partnerships.
The government has committed £76 million per year for the Music Hubs network, including the current 2025/26 academic year, to offer a range of services, including continuing professional development, musical instrument tuition, instrument loans and whole-class ensemble teaching.
Future revenue grant funding will be confirmed with Music Hubs in the coming months, and matters related to level of funding and length of grant agreements will be set out at that point.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to provide an uplift in funding to music hubs parallel to that for National Portfolio Organisations.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department has provided funding to support a network of Music Hub partnerships across England since 2012. As of September 2024, the network comprises of 43 Music Hub partnerships.
The government has committed £76 million per year for the Music Hubs network, including the current 2025/26 academic year, to offer a range of services, including continuing professional development, musical instrument tuition, instrument loans and whole-class ensemble teaching.
Future revenue grant funding will be confirmed with Music Hubs in the coming months, and matters related to level of funding and length of grant agreements will be set out at that point.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to include one or more representatives of providers of home-to-school transport for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities on the SEND Ministerial Development Group.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) ministerial development group brings together voices from across the SEND sector. This group considers a range of perspectives and tests potential solutions to the key challenges the SEND system faces to ensure that policy proposals are informed by the knowledge and experiences of children, their families and those working in the system.
Additional participants are invited on a rolling basis according to the topics under discussion. This approach allows the group to include expertise relevant to specific areas as appropriate.
Outside of the group, the department already holds bi-monthly forums to which all local authority home to school travel teams are invited to enable to them to share best practice and so that we understand the challenges they face.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
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 providing additional funding for Ofsted to (a) increase the duration of inspections in early years settings and (b) use CCTV as part of the inspection process.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Giving young children the best start in life is the foundation of the government’s opportunity mission. From April, the department is funding Ofsted to inspect all new early years providers within 18 months of opening and move towards inspecting all providers at least once every four years, compared to the current six-year window. This means standards will be reviewed more regularly and parents will have more up-to-date information to help them choose the right setting for their child. We will continue to work collaboratively with Ofsted as inspection reforms are implemented.
The Secretary of State has announced that she will be appointing an expert panel to inform guidance for the sector on the effective and safe use of digital devices and CCTV in relation to safeguarding. The panel will consider the question of whether CCTV should be mandated and will set out best practice, technical information and clear expectations on CCTV and digital device usage.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what measures will be introduced to monitor whether Special Educational Needs and Disabilities reform improves educational outcomes for children and young people.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Every child deserves an education that meets their needs, one that is academically stretching, where every child feels like they belong, and that sets them up for life and work.
We will set out the full Schools White Paper soon, building on the work we have already done to create a system that is rooted in inclusion, where children receive high quality support early on and can thrive at their local school.
The department regularly publishes statistics on pupils with special educational needs, including information on educational attainment, destinations, absence and exclusions.