Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will conduct an Impact Assessment of the SEND reforms on early years settings supporting children with additional needs.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Impact assessments were published alongside the consultation to aid engagement during the consultation period.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will conduct an Impact Assessment of the SEND reforms on children and young people with Education, Health and Care Plans.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Impact assessments were published alongside the consultation to aid engagement during the consultation period.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will conduct an Impact Assessment of the SEND reforms on mainstream schools’ workload and resource requirements.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Impact assessments were published alongside the consultation to aid engagement during the consultation period.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will conduct an Impact Assessment of the SEND reforms on special schools and specialist provision.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Impact assessments were published alongside the consultation to aid engagement during the consultation period.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will conduct an Impact Assessment of the SEND reforms on transport obligations for children with SEND.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government has published equalities and children’s rights impact assessments alongside SEND reform: Putting Children and Young People First.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) responsibilities and (a) powers SEND practitioners will have in Best Start Family Hubs.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department is investing over £200 million over three years to strengthen the special educational needs and disabilities offer in Best Start Family Hubs, including funding a family-facing practitioner in every hub to support children with additional needs and families from the earliest stages. The practitioners will offer practical, hands‑on advice about their child’s development and help families identify emerging needs much earlier and guide parents on what those signs mean and the next steps to take. They will also help run, or link families into, early support sessions in Hubs, such as toddler groups that promote speech and language. By joining up support across services, the practitioners will ensure families do not have to navigate services alone.
We have published the Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies guidance for local authorities, which sets out the role expectations and funding remit, ahead of April 2026 delivery. This guidance can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69c6be4acdfd19de13d0f810/best-start-family-hubs-and-healthy-babies-guidance-for-local-authorities.docx.pdf.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help prevent AI-driven plagiarism in schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The majority of GCSE and A level assessments are taken as written exams under close staff supervision, without access to the internet or artificial intelligence (AI) tools, which prevents the use of AI-generated material in most assessments.
The department is working closely with Ofqual and the wider sector to understand the risks associated with generative AI and to ensure appropriate mitigations are in place.
Strict rules, set by exam boards, are already in place to ensure that students’ work is their own, and sanctions for malpractice are severe, including the possibility of disqualification. Schools and teachers know their students best and are experienced in identifying their individual students’ work.
To support the sector, the Joint Council for Qualifications has published guidance for teachers and exam centres to help prevent and identify potential malpractice involving the misuse of AI in assessments. The guidance is available here: https://www.jcq.org.uk/knowledge-hub/ai-use-in-assessments-your-role-in-protecting-the-integrity-of-qualifications/.
Ofqual, as the independent regulator, has also published its overall approach to regulating AI use in the qualifications sector. The approach can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ofquals-approach-to-regulating-the-use-of-artificial-intelligence-in-the-qualifications-sector.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when further details relating to the Mission North East and Mission Coastal programmes will be published.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Departmental officials are currently engaging school leaders, alongside local and national stakeholders, on the approach for the Missions and we will announce further details in due course.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure adequate careers support in schools, especially for alternative pathways.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Schools are required to offer multiple opportunities for pupils to hear directly from apprenticeship, further education and training providers.
The government has adopted updated Gatsby Benchmarks into statutory guidance. They place greater emphasis on high quality information about alternative pathways. Schools are expected to provide pupils with up-to-date labour market information and information about apprenticeships, T Levels and other technical qualifications across a range of sectors.
The government’s commitment to delivering two weeks’ worth of work experience for every young person will further support awareness of alternative pathways, giving secondary pupils practical insights into a wide range of employers and progression routes.
Through the Careers and Enterprise Company, the department is continuing to invest in support for careers leaders to embed the Gatsby Benchmarks in schools and to improve pupils’ access to meaningful encounters with employers and providers, workplace experiences and personal guidance.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what enforcement mechanisms will apply to ensure full compliance with Individual Support Plan commitments.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
There will be a legal duty on education settings to produce an Individual Support Plan (ISP) for every child or young person receiving targeted or specialist support, ensuring help keeps pace with their development, prevents challenges from escalating, and reduces the risk of them disengaging from learning.
The use and quality of ISPs will be considered in Ofsted inspections, with clear routes for parents to raise concerns. Where there are concerns about provision, parents and young people will be able to resolve this directly with the setting, including making use of the improved schools complaints process if necessary. We will seek to strengthen the school complaints system with the inclusion of an appropriate, independent special educational needs and disabilities specialist (for example, a special educational needs coordinator, multi-academy trust inclusion director or senior school manager) on a panel, if the complaint cannot be resolved by the school’s senior management team or head teacher.
The ISP will be tailored in line with the layers of support, with guidance to support education settings in creating high-quality plans. ISPs will be standardised across settings to facilitate transitions. ISPs will be interactive, accessible, and available in a digital format, supporting consistency across the system.