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 increase funding for (a) universal infant free school meals and (b) benefitted free school meals.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
An uplift to the per-meal rate for universal infant free school meals and further education free meals was announced on 4 December 2024. The uplifted meal rate will be increased from £2.53 to £2.58 for 2024 to 2025, backdated to the start of the academic year.
To support the provision of benefits-related free school meals (FSM), the government provides funding at £490 per eligible FSM pupil per year as a factor value within the national funding formula. This value will be increasing to £495 per eligible FSM pupil in 2025/26.
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 it her policy to fund the Partnership for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools programme beyond 2025.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. The department is committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools.
The Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) programme brings together integrated care boards, local authorities and schools, working in partnership with parents and carers to support schools to better meet the needs of neurodiverse children and their families. PINS deploys specialists from health and education workforces to build teacher and staff capacity to identify and meet the needs of neurodiverse children in around 1,600, or 10%, mainstream primary schools. The programme is being evaluated and the learning will inform future policy development around how schools support neurodiverse children.
The Spending Review for 2025/26 has been allocated and business planning is underway so that programmes can be given certainty about funding as soon as possible.
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 parent-delivered early language interventions for young children with Down Syndrome.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Parents and carers have an important role to play in the learning and development of their child. Practitioners should work jointly with parents and carers to support a child’s speech, language and communication needs in the home environment.
The department is strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve inclusive practice in mainstream settings, which will also consider the important role that parents and caregivers can play in defining and implementing these interventions. The department has also published guidance for local authorities about the expectations around the support they should make available through Family Hubs. This could include, for example, special education needs and disabilities appropriate parenting programmes, peer support for parents, respite provision and support for siblings or specialist health services. In some cases, parent-carer forums and respite provision may be located at the Family Hub, where appropriate.
This should be further supported by statutory guidance published by the NHS in May 2023 requiring that every Integrated Care Board (ICB) must identify a member of its board to lead on supporting the ICB to perform its functions effectively in the interest of people with Down syndrome.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will widen the eligibility of free school meals to all children whose parents are in receipt of Universal Credit.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has a central mission to break down barriers to opportunity for every child.
The government has inherited a trend of rising child poverty and widening attainment gaps for children eligible for free school meals and their peers. Child poverty has increased by 700,000 since 2010, with over four million children now growing up in a low-income family. The government is committed to delivering an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty, by tackling the root causes and giving every child the best start at life. To support this, a new ministerial taskforce has been set up to develop a Child Poverty Strategy, which will be published in spring 2025. The taskforce will consider a range of policies in assessing what will have the greatest impact in driving down rates of child poverty. As with all policies, the government keeps the approach to free school meals under review.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of (a) children of school age with complex SEND needs and (b) specialist educational places required for such children in the next five academic years.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This government has inherited a growing tide of unmet need amongst children and young people.
The government does not forecast the number of school-aged pupils with complex needs as a specific category, but has produced national level estimates of the number of all children and young people with education, health and care (EHC) plans. As noted in the National Audit Office report, the department’s central estimate is that, without policy interventions, the number of EHC plans will nearly double from approximately 518,000 in 2022/23 to just over 1,000,000 in 2032/33.
Starting from summer 2023, for the first time, the department has collected data from local authorities on capacity in special schools and special educational needs (SEN) units and resourced provision (attached to mainstream schools), which have been published on GOV.UK. This shows that the government has inherited a landscape of rising demand for specialist provision within mainstream and special schools which is not being met. There were 148,000 special school places reported, with an additional 9,000 places reported in SEN units and 18,000 in resourced provision. Around 63% of special schools are at or over capacity. On average schools that are over capacity have around 12% more pupils than reported capacity.
Therefore, the department understands that many children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) still struggle to find a suitable school placement that is close to their home and meets their needs.
That is why earlier this month, the department announced £740 million in high needs capital funding for 2025/26. Local authorities can use this funding to adapt classrooms to be more inclusive and accessible and create specialist facilities within mainstream schools, alongside continuing to support placements in special schools for pupils with the most complex needs. It will pave the way for the government’s wide-ranging long term plans for reform to help more pupils with SEND to have their needs met in mainstream schools.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the merits of ensuring that the Staying Close programme is accessible to all Looked After Children.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to providing support for care leavers to ensure they have the practical and emotional support they need as they move towards independence. The department intends to legislate, when parliamentary time allows, to ensure all local authorities consider whether care leavers (up to age 25) in their area require Staying Close support and, if their welfare requires it, provide that support.
Evaluation of the initial Staying Close pilots found clear improvements in outcomes for care leavers, including a 20% improvement in mental health outcomes, a 13% reduction in the number of young people who were not in education, employment or training (NEET), and a 21% reduction in anti-social behaviour. The independent evaluations also found that Staying Close supported young people to develop and build the skills needed to prepare for independent living. Feedback showed that young people’s life skills had improved after six months of participating in the project and that young people felt happier in themselves, had better stability in their accommodation and there was increased participation in activities, whether education, employment or wider activities.
The department has commissioned the Centre for Homelessness Impact to undertake a further evaluation of Staying Close’s impact. This is due to report in early 2025.
The government supports the use of supported lodgings for care leavers. When working with the young person to review their individual needs and a suitable package of support through Staying Close they will be able to decide the best form of accommodation together. Any decisions should be tailored to the needs of the young person to help develop their confidence and skills for independent living and for their emotional health and wellbeing.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of supported lodgings in supporting the aims of the Staying Close programme.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to providing support for care leavers to ensure they have the practical and emotional support they need as they move towards independence. The department intends to legislate, when parliamentary time allows, to ensure all local authorities consider whether care leavers (up to age 25) in their area require Staying Close support and, if their welfare requires it, provide that support.
Evaluation of the initial Staying Close pilots found clear improvements in outcomes for care leavers, including a 20% improvement in mental health outcomes, a 13% reduction in the number of young people who were not in education, employment or training (NEET), and a 21% reduction in anti-social behaviour. The independent evaluations also found that Staying Close supported young people to develop and build the skills needed to prepare for independent living. Feedback showed that young people’s life skills had improved after six months of participating in the project and that young people felt happier in themselves, had better stability in their accommodation and there was increased participation in activities, whether education, employment or wider activities.
The department has commissioned the Centre for Homelessness Impact to undertake a further evaluation of Staying Close’s impact. This is due to report in early 2025.
The government supports the use of supported lodgings for care leavers. When working with the young person to review their individual needs and a suitable package of support through Staying Close they will be able to decide the best form of accommodation together. Any decisions should be tailored to the needs of the young person to help develop their confidence and skills for independent living and for their emotional health and wellbeing.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of embedding (a) social and (b) emotional learning interventions into curriculums.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, which is chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE.
The review will seek to deliver a curriculum that ensures children and young people leave compulsory education ready for life and work, building the knowledge, skills and attributes young people need to thrive.
The review group ran a call for evidence, receiving over 7000 responses, and held events over the autumn term to gather the views of education professionals and other experts and stakeholders, as well as parents, children and young people. The feedback received will help the review group to consider its next steps and recommendations.
The curriculum currently provides many opportunities for schools to promote pupils’ social and emotional development. For example, through the national curriculum for citizenship at key stages 3 and 4, pupils should be taught about the diverse national, regional, religious and ethnic identities in the United Kingdom and the need for mutual respect and understanding.
Health education, which is compulsory for pupils in all state-funded schools, has a strong focus on mental wellbeing, including a recognition that mental wellbeing and physical health are linked. Health education should also support a school’s whole-school approach to fostering pupil wellbeing and developing pupils’ resilience and ability to self-regulate.
At primary school, pupils learn to recognise and talk about their emotions, the benefits of exercise and simple self-care techniques. At secondary school, pupils will learn about common types of mental ill-health and how to recognise the early signs of mental wellbeing concerns. Pupils are taught where and how to seek support, including recognising the triggers for seeking support. They receive guidance on who they should speak to in school if they are worried about their own or someone else’s mental wellbeing or ability to control their emotions.
The department is separately reviewing the relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) statutory guidance in addition to recommendations from the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that homeless children have the same rights of access to (a) education and (b) health care as looked-after children in corporate parentship.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department knows that homelessness levels are far too high, and this can have a devastating impact on those affected, especially children. Too many children are spending years in temporary accommodation, at a point in their lives when they need space to play and develop, nutritious food to thrive and access to education.
We understand the physical and mental health impacts of poor housing on children and families. The Child Poverty Unit is exploring options with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), to encourage greater integration of health, housing, education and care services at a local level which will better meet the needs of children and families in poverty.
More detail on the approach and priorities for the Child Poverty Strategy is set out in the 23 October publication ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing Our Strategy’, which is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-child-poverty-developing-our-strategy.
Through the supporting families programme and our reforms to family help from April 2025, we will ensure that more children and families can access the help and support they need at the earliest opportunity. Support will be delivered by community based, multi-disciplinary teams, made up of professionals from relevant agencies. This could include specialist homelessness advisors.
My right hon. Friend, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, is leading cross-government work to deliver the long term solutions we need to get back on track to ending all forms of homelessness. This includes chairing a dedicated Inter-Ministerial Group, bringing together ministers from across government to develop a long term strategy.
We are also tackling the root causes of homelessness, including by delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation and building 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament.
MHCLG are already taking the first steps to get back on track to ending homelessness. As announced in the Autumn Budget, funding for homelessness services is increasing next year by £233 million compared to this year (2024/25). This increased spending will help to prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and help to prevent rough sleeping. This brings total spend to nearly £1 billion in 2025/26.
This government will also abolish Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions with immediate effect, preventing private renters being exploited and discriminated against, and empowering people to challenge unreasonable rent increases.
In relation to healthcare, clearly homeless children have the same right to healthcare as children in any other situation in England. All children have equal access to use the NHS, and DHSC and the NHS are working together to ensure health inequalities in ease of access are mitigated.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase collaborative working at local authority level to improve school attendance.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The statutory ‘working together to improve school attendance’ guidance sets out that schools, trusts and local authorities should work together to tackle absence. The guidance makes clear that local authorities are expected to work with the child’s parents and school to support them to return to regular and consistent education.
Local authorities are expected to build strong and collaborative relationships across a range of services and partners that can help pupils and families with specific attendance barriers. These services and partners can include health, youth justice, the voluntary and community sector, early help, children’s social care, local safeguarding partnerships, special educational needs, educational psychologists, the police and housing support. Local authorities should encourage shared ownership of attendance improvement across these partners.
The guidance also includes the expectation that local authorities will hold regular targeting support meetings with schools as an opportunity to work collaboratively with them to discuss and agree support approaches for persistently absent pupils.
To support local authorities to implement the expectations in the guidance, including improving collaborative working, the department has offered each authority the support of an expert attendance adviser.
The guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance.