Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information has been provided to schools about plans to phase out the Primary PE and School Sport Premium during the 2026/27 Academic Year.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government is committed to ensuring every child can access high-quality physical education (PE) and school sport by removing barriers to participation. As part of our curriculum reforms, work is underway to develop a new curriculum and assessment system that is ambitious and accessible for every child, focused rich in knowledge and in skills. Following the Curriculum and Assessment Review, we have outlined our commitment to revisit the activity list for PE GCSE, AS and A levels to ensure the list is inclusive to all children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). A revised PE national curriculum is expected in spring 2027, with first teaching from 2028.
To support these ambitions, the government has committed more than £1 billion to school sport over the next three years, including £580 million for a new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network, investment in sports facilities and transitional support for primary schools. This network will build on existing initiatives such as Inclusion 2028, working with the Youth Sport Trust to strengthen inclusive practice to ensure every child can participate, build confidence, and experience the benefits of school sport.
To ensure a smooth transition to the new approach, the government has confirmed £300,000 of funding for the Youth Sport Trust to continue delivering Inclusion 2028 until the end of the 2026/27 financial year, helping schools provide high-quality PE and physical activity opportunities for pupils with SEND.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
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 Inclusion 2028 programme.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government is committed to ensuring every child can access high-quality physical education (PE) and school sport by removing barriers to participation. As part of our curriculum reforms, work is underway to develop a new curriculum and assessment system that is ambitious and accessible for every child, focused rich in knowledge and in skills. Following the Curriculum and Assessment Review, we have outlined our commitment to revisit the activity list for PE GCSE, AS and A levels to ensure the list is inclusive to all children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). A revised PE national curriculum is expected in spring 2027, with first teaching from 2028.
To support these ambitions, the government has committed more than £1 billion to school sport over the next three years, including £580 million for a new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network, investment in sports facilities and transitional support for primary schools. This network will build on existing initiatives such as Inclusion 2028, working with the Youth Sport Trust to strengthen inclusive practice to ensure every child can participate, build confidence, and experience the benefits of school sport.
To ensure a smooth transition to the new approach, the government has confirmed £300,000 of funding for the Youth Sport Trust to continue delivering Inclusion 2028 until the end of the 2026/27 financial year, helping schools provide high-quality PE and physical activity opportunities for pupils with SEND.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what measures is she taking as part of the new curriculum to ensure that disabled children can access and participate in PE and sport at school.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government is committed to ensuring every child can access high-quality physical education (PE) and school sport by removing barriers to participation. As part of our curriculum reforms, work is underway to develop a new curriculum and assessment system that is ambitious and accessible for every child, focused rich in knowledge and in skills. Following the Curriculum and Assessment Review, we have outlined our commitment to revisit the activity list for PE GCSE, AS and A levels to ensure the list is inclusive to all children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). A revised PE national curriculum is expected in spring 2027, with first teaching from 2028.
To support these ambitions, the government has committed more than £1 billion to school sport over the next three years, including £580 million for a new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network, investment in sports facilities and transitional support for primary schools. This network will build on existing initiatives such as Inclusion 2028, working with the Youth Sport Trust to strengthen inclusive practice to ensure every child can participate, build confidence, and experience the benefits of school sport.
To ensure a smooth transition to the new approach, the government has confirmed £300,000 of funding for the Youth Sport Trust to continue delivering Inclusion 2028 until the end of the 2026/27 financial year, helping schools provide high-quality PE and physical activity opportunities for pupils with SEND.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will publish a list of a) independent primary schools and b) independent secondary schools that are owned by Chinese businesses or Chinese nationals.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
The information the department holds on the management of independent schools is available via Get Information about Schools: https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many independent primary and secondary schools have been taken over by Chinese businesses or Chinese nationals in the past five years.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
The information the department holds on the management of independent schools is available via Get Information about Schools: https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will publish information on the number of independent (a) primary and (b) secondary schools owned by Chinese (i) businesses and (ii) nationals.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
The information the department holds on the management of independent schools is available via Get Information about Schools: https://www.get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what measures is she taking to address absenteeism, particularly relating to white working-class pupils.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
Absence is a key barrier to opportunity. For children to achieve and thrive, they need to be in school.
The department’s real-time data tools and attendance toolkits help schools and local authorities to identify the drivers of absence and adopt effective practice to improve attendance. In January, we launched our new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) Attendance and Behaviour hubs, which can support over 3000 schools, including enhanced support for up to 500 schools.
We recognise that white working-class children have among the highest overall absence rates. The white paper sets out our plans to support this group, including rebuilding early family support, designing a new model for targeting disadvantage funding, and developing insights into the relationships between white working-class children and families with schools, in order to strengthen parental engagement.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the skills mix required to supply the Experts at Hand offer.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department has applied a set of principles when determining which workforce roles are eligible for funding through the Experts at Hand grant, aligning with our reform ambitions and supporting greater inclusion in mainstream settings. These include evidence of a workforce shortage, current utilisation within the statutory system, and the extent to which expertise can address unmet needs in mainstream provision.
Based on these principles, the model brings together key health and specialist education practitioners, including speech and language therapists and support workers or assistants; occupational therapists and support workers or assistants; educational psychologists and trainees; and specialist teachers, both local authority-based and those working in specialist or alternative provision settings.
This multidisciplinary approach reflects the range of needs presented by children and young people, particularly in areas such as communication, sensory processing, and learning.
By building on existing evidence and delivery experience, this model is designed to provide timely, specialist advice while making best use of available workforce capacity. The department will continue to keep this approach under review to ensure it remains responsive to demand and supports greater inclusion in mainstream settings.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the training places required to supply the proposed Experts at Hand offer.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is investing around £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships, including local authorities and integrated care boards (ICBs), to develop a new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer. This offer is designed to strengthen the capability of mainstream education settings by providing access to support across health and education, including from educational psychologists and trainees, speech and language therapists and support workers or assistants, occupational therapists and support workers or assistants; and specialist teachers, both local authority-based and those based in specialist or alternative provision settings.
To support delivery of the offer, we are investing over £40 million in the specialist workforce, including £26 million to train at least 200 educational psychologists per year from 2026 and 2027, followed by additional funding from 2028 to train more educational psychologists than we currently do, subject to future spending review. This is in addition to the £31 million already invested to train educational psychologists since 2023.
Upon graduating, trainees who have had their training funded by the department are required remain in local authority employment for a minimum period (three years, or two for earlier cohorts, dependent on when their training started). Investment in this vital workforce will therefore help to ensure that the local authority educational psychology workforce is able to support all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
The remaining £15 million will be invested to establish new speech and language therapist (SaLT) advanced practitioners in every ICB geographical area, to get more SaLTs working in educational settings.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to help tackle workforce shortages among educational psychologists.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is investing around £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships, including local authorities and integrated care boards (ICBs), to develop a new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer. This offer is designed to strengthen the capability of mainstream education settings by providing access to support across health and education, including from educational psychologists and trainees, speech and language therapists and support workers or assistants, occupational therapists and support workers or assistants; and specialist teachers, both local authority-based and those based in specialist or alternative provision settings.
To support delivery of the offer, we are investing over £40 million in the specialist workforce, including £26 million to train at least 200 educational psychologists per year from 2026 and 2027, followed by additional funding from 2028 to train more educational psychologists than we currently do, subject to future spending review. This is in addition to the £31 million already invested to train educational psychologists since 2023.
Upon graduating, trainees who have had their training funded by the department are required remain in local authority employment for a minimum period (three years, or two for earlier cohorts, dependent on when their training started). Investment in this vital workforce will therefore help to ensure that the local authority educational psychology workforce is able to support all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
The remaining £15 million will be invested to establish new speech and language therapist (SaLT) advanced practitioners in every ICB geographical area, to get more SaLTs working in educational settings.