Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish the details of the review the Department is undertaking regarding assistive technologies for disabled students provided through the Disabled Students’ Allowances grant.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department keeps all support funded through Disabled Students’ Allowance under regular review to ensure that it continues to meets the needs of disabled students. Any future proposals will be communicated publicly.
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 that children who are eligible for free school meals should be automatically enrolled for them.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. Introducing a new eligibility threshold for free school meals (FSM) so that all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit will be eligible for FSM from September 2026 will make it easier for parents to know whether they are entitled to receive free meals. This new entitlement will mean over 500,000 of the most disadvantaged children will begin to access free meals, pulling 100,000 children out of poverty.
The department is also rolling out improvements to the eligibility checking system which will make it easier for local authorities, schools and parents to check if children are eligible for free meals.
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 replacing the statutory requirement for daily Christian collective worship in schools without a religious character in England with non-confessional assemblies in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling in JR87 2025 UKSC 40.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The legislative framework for providing collective worship in England is different to that in Northern Ireland. However, the department is considering the implications of the Supreme Court judgement carefully. Schools in England already have flexibility to hold assemblies without a religious focus.
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 withdraw, revise, or replace Circular 1/94 Religious Education and Collective Worship, in the context of the Supreme Court’s ruling in JR87 2025 UKSC 40.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The legislative framework for providing collective worship in England is different to that in Northern Ireland. However, the department is considering the implications of the Supreme Court judgement carefully. Schools in England already have flexibility to hold assemblies without a religious focus.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase early identification of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department knows that effective early identification and intervention is critical in improving the outcomes of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
To support settings to identify need early, the department is strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve early identification in mainstream settings. Recently published evidence reviews from University College London will help to drive inclusive practices, as they highlight what the best available evidence suggests are the most effective tools, strategies and approaches for teachers and other relevant staff in mainstream settings to identify and support children and young people with different types of needs.
We also recently announced new government-backed research into special educational need identification, which will be delivered by UK Research Innovation in partnership with the department. This will aim to develop and test trusted and effective approaches to help the early identification of children needing targeted educational support.
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 impact of centralising SEND funding on the needs of individual children.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is not planning to centralise special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) funding.
The department is continuing to engage closely with children, parents and experts as we develop plans to ensure all children get the outcomes and life chances they deserve. We will be setting out further steps in the new year and are keeping under review the funding arrangements to help ensure that mainstream schools are inclusive for children with SEND. It is important that we establish a fair school funding system that directs funding to where it is needed.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to ensure that children with SEND have access to a GCSE curriculum irrespective of their educational setting.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Every child in our country deserves the best possible school experience; one that is academically stretching, where every child feels like they belong, and that sets them up for life and work.
As part of the department’s Plan for Change, we are determined to fix the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system and restore the trust of parents. We will do this by strengthening accountability on mainstream settings to be inclusive including through Ofsted; support the mainstream workforce to increase their SEND expertise and encourage schools to set up Resourced Provision or special educational needs units to increase capacity in mainstream schools. This will enable children to receive specialist support whilst learning alongside their friends and wider community.
On 5 November, the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review published its final report which includes recommendations for a refreshed curriculum and assessment system in England. In the government’s response to the report, the department made a clear commitment to supporting a high-quality curriculum, including for children with SEND.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) training and (b) support will be given to (i) teachers and (ii) education staff to support the delivery of stronger literacy in schools.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has committed £27.7 million this financial year to support and drive high and rising standards in reading. This includes supporting the teaching of phonics, early language and reading for pleasure via the English Hubs programme.
We will also build secondary schools' capacity to support students with reading needs by providing new training from January 2026. This training should reach 75% of secondary schools this academic year.
Following the recommendations of the Curriculum and Assessment Review published on 5 November 2025, we will also introduce new frameworks on primary oracy and combined secondary oracy, reading and writing.
Additionally, on 7 July 2025, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education announced that 2026 will be the National Year of Reading. The National Year of Reading is a UK-wide campaign to address the steep decline in reading enjoyment amongst children, young people, and adults.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the number of home educated children with SEND in Poole constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not hold information on the number of home-educated children at constituency level.
The latest statistics on elective home education (EHE) in England are available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education/2024-25-autumn-term.
For the 2024/25 autumn term,16% of EHE children were recorded as receiving special educational needs support, whilst 6% of EHE children had an education, health and care plan. This compares with 14% and 5% of the overall school population.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how she plans to support disabled students following the implementation of changes to Disabled Students' Allowance funding.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) continues to be available to help disabled students with the additional costs that they may face in higher education as a result of their disability. DSA can fund a range of support, including specialist equipment, non-medical help (human support such as specialist one-to-one study skills support or British Sign Language interpreters), and additional disability-related travel and accommodation costs.