Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Independent - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to distribute funds to support chess in schools during 2025-26.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The core funding schools receive is not ringfenced, and it is for headteachers to decide how best to manage their budgets.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Independent - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will consider adding bicycle training onto the national curriculum.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Schools are best placed and have the flexibility to decide on the activities they provide to deliver a rounded and enriching education to suit their pupils’ needs. This includes cycling training programmes such as Bikeability. Physical education is a foundation subject in the national curriculum and compulsory at all four key stages.
The department welcomes the opportunity for continued collaboration with Bikeability to create sustainable improvements in physical activity for young people. For example, through active travel and promoting the overall wellbeing benefits of physical activity, including through cycling.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Independent - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support her Department is providing to local authorities to meet the ongoing costs of SEND provision until the announcement of reforms in 2026.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department has allocated high needs funding of over £12 billion to help with the ongoing costs of supporting children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in the 2025/26 financial year.
The funding announced at the 2025 spending review, which provided an increase of £4.2 billion, over the next three years, will help to facilitate reform of the SEND system. We are continuing to engage with children, parents and experts as we develop plans to ensure all children get the outcomes and life chances they deserve and will be setting out more detail in the Schools White paper in the new year.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Independent - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the removal of funding for non-specialist spelling and grammar software, on university students in receipt of the Disabled Students' Allowance.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Yeovil to the answer of 9 September 2025 to Question 71715.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Independent - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she had discussions with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions prior to its decision to withdraw funding for non-specialist spelling and grammar software for university students receiving the Disabled Students' Allowance.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This change is entirely within the remit of the department. My right hon. Friends. the Secretary of State for Education and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions therefore did not meet to discuss this matter prior to the decision being made. The department has made the decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar software from Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) funding on the grounds that there are now free-to-access versions available with the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs. It is therefore not an effective use of public money to continue to fund this type of software through DSA.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Independent - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of provision of home to school transport for children with SEND.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Poole to the answer of 20 October 2025 to Question 80605.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Independent - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has been made of the potential impact of the recent increase in National Insurance on the provision of home to school transport for children with SEND.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Poole to the answer of 29 January 2025 to Question 26397.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Independent - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number contracts of home to school transport for children with SEND that have been handed back to local authorities since April 2025.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Local authorities are responsible for arranging home to school travel for eligible children. They deliver their duty through a mix of in-house services, passes for free travel on public transport and contracts with private transport operators. Such contracts are a matter for the council and the operator, but we encourage councils to have robust arrangements in place.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Independent - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make a statement on how the decision to cut funding for Assistive Technologies within the Disabled Students’ Allowance was made.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department made the decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar (SPAG) software from the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) funding on the grounds that there are now free-to-access versions available with the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs. It is therefore not an effective use of public money to continue to fund this type of software through DSA.
The department conducted a detailed review of the SPAG functionality available in computer operating systems, free software products and paid-for software products. This review concluded that the SPAG functionality available in products that students can access for free was like that available in paid-for products. While some of the paid-for products had additional features such as plagiarism checkers, these are not in scope for DSA funding, given they are of potential benefit to all students.
The department engaged with disability experts to gather their feedback. An Equality Impact Assessment was also conducted, which identified that there is a risk that this decision may have a negative impact on some disabled students who might prefer paid-for SPAG software. However, this impact will be mitigated by the availability of free versions that provide equivalent functionality for the types of support that are in scope of DSA. DSA will still fund SPAG software in exceptional circumstances where a robust disability-related justification is provided. Assistive technology training and aftercare support for any non-specialist basic SPAG software agreed in a student’s needs assessment report will continue to be funded.
While the SPAG software change took effect from March 2025 for new students, including those starting courses in September 2025, the department does not generally expect that these students will be negatively impacted by the changes as they will be able to access free versions with the required functionality to meet their disability-related needs.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Independent - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that the decision to cut funding for Assistive Technologies within the Disabled Students’ Allowance will not affect students starting university in September.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department made the decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar (SPAG) software from the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) funding on the grounds that there are now free-to-access versions available with the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs. It is therefore not an effective use of public money to continue to fund this type of software through DSA.
The department conducted a detailed review of the SPAG functionality available in computer operating systems, free software products and paid-for software products. This review concluded that the SPAG functionality available in products that students can access for free was like that available in paid-for products. While some of the paid-for products had additional features such as plagiarism checkers, these are not in scope for DSA funding, given they are of potential benefit to all students.
The department engaged with disability experts to gather their feedback. An Equality Impact Assessment was also conducted, which identified that there is a risk that this decision may have a negative impact on some disabled students who might prefer paid-for SPAG software. However, this impact will be mitigated by the availability of free versions that provide equivalent functionality for the types of support that are in scope of DSA. DSA will still fund SPAG software in exceptional circumstances where a robust disability-related justification is provided. Assistive technology training and aftercare support for any non-specialist basic SPAG software agreed in a student’s needs assessment report will continue to be funded.
While the SPAG software change took effect from March 2025 for new students, including those starting courses in September 2025, the department does not generally expect that these students will be negatively impacted by the changes as they will be able to access free versions with the required functionality to meet their disability-related needs.