Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools in Telford constituency have applied for funding to provide a) free breakfast clubs and b) funded nurseries places in all rounds of applications up to and including 6 December 2025; and how many of those applications have been successful.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department launched the free breakfast club early adopter scheme in April 2025 to test and learn what works in delivering free breakfast clubs in 750 state-funded schools across England. Early adopter schools were selected to ensure a wide range of representation across different school types, sizes and geographical areas. In Telford, one school is taking part in the scheme. National rollout will begin in April 2026, and the first cohort of applications closed on 5 December. Successful applicants will be announced in due course.
High quality early years education is central to the department’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity, give every child the best possible start in life and is essential to our Plan for Change. This government is boosting availability and access through the School-based Nursery Programme. In phase 1 of the programme, one primary school in Telford applied and was awarded funding. Phase 2 closed on 11 December, with successful schools to be announced in due course.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparative data her Department holds on the proportion of 16-24 year olds not in education, employment or training (a) who were previously eligible for free school meals and (b) overall.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department publishes statistics on those aged 16 to 24 who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) for England from the Labour Force Survey (LFS): NEET age 16 to 24, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief/2024.
At the end of 2024, the proportion of the 16 to 24 population who were NEET was estimated to be 13.6%. Data is not available for those NEET who attended state schools nor who were previously eligible for free school meals, as this is not collected in the LFS.
Official statistics for 16 to 18 destination measures show the percentage of pupils not continuing to a sustained education, apprenticeship or employment destination in the year after completing 16 to 18 study, that is 6 months of continual activity. The latest publication includes destinations in 2023/24 by characteristics breakdown, for those finishing 16 to 18 study in 2022/23. Data on those who were not recorded as continuing to a sustained education, apprenticeship or employment destination is available for state-funded mainstream schools and colleges, and by free school meals eligibility here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/9e5bf7ed-27f0-49f3-b1bd-08de39895a0e.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparative data her Department holds on the proportion of 16-24 year olds not in education, employment or training (a) who attended state schools and (b) overall.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department publishes statistics on those aged 16 to 24 who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) for England from the Labour Force Survey (LFS): NEET age 16 to 24, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief/2024.
At the end of 2024, the proportion of the 16 to 24 population who were NEET was estimated to be 13.6%. Data is not available for those NEET who attended state schools nor who were previously eligible for free school meals, as this is not collected in the LFS.
Official statistics for 16 to 18 destination measures show the percentage of pupils not continuing to a sustained education, apprenticeship or employment destination in the year after completing 16 to 18 study, that is 6 months of continual activity. The latest publication includes destinations in 2023/24 by characteristics breakdown, for those finishing 16 to 18 study in 2022/23. Data on those who were not recorded as continuing to a sustained education, apprenticeship or employment destination is available for state-funded mainstream schools and colleges, and by free school meals eligibility here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/9e5bf7ed-27f0-49f3-b1bd-08de39895a0e.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve educational outcomes for boys with free school meal eligibility.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Too many children are held back by their background. The Opportunity Mission will break the link between background and future success.
Schools receive the pupil premium grant, worth over £3 billion in the 2025/26 financial year, to support the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils. Pupil premium eligibility includes pupils who have been recorded as eligible for free school meals (FSM) within the past six years.
Our Child Poverty Strategy will lift 550,000 children out of poverty by 2030. This includes the expansion of FSM which will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of this Parliament and put £500 back in families’ pockets. Providing over half a million disadvantaged children with a free lunchtime meal will lead to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes.
Additionally, we are driving standards in every school through regional improvement for standards and excellence teams, a refreshed high-quality curriculum and assessment system, and recruiting an additional 6,500 teachers.
However, we know that there is further work to do, which is why, through our schools white paper, we will build a school system that drives educational excellence for every child, regardless of background or circumstance.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of managing and attending healthcare appointments on children's school attendance.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
In the 2024/25 academic year, over 4 million days of school were lost due to time off for a medical or dental appointment. For children to achieve and thrive, they need to be in school. The national absence codes include a code for leave of absence for the purpose of attending a medical or dental appointment, meaning, when monitoring pupils’ attendance, schools will be able to take into consideration any absences due to this.
Parents are encouraged to make appointments out of school hours, but we acknowledge that children with medical needs may need to attend medical appointments during the school day and the school attendance framework allows for such absences to be granted by the school. Parents should get the school’s agreement in advance, and the pupil should only be out of school for the minimum amount of time necessary for the appointment.
The department has also worked in conjunction with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and the Royal College of Nursing who endorsed a statement on supporting school attendance, which included suggestions for clinics to support pupils returning to school after medical appointments.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when applications will open for the second round of Best Start breakfast clubs.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The government is committed to deliver on its pledge to provide a free breakfast club in every state-funded school with primary-aged children. This will ensure every child, regardless of circumstance, has a supportive start to the school day.
So far, we have delivered 2.6 million breakfasts and offered places to almost 180,000 pupils across the country. Following the success of the early adopters, we will start the first phase of national rollout of the clubs from April 2026. We are investing a further £80 million into the programme to fund approximately 2,000 additional schools between April 2026 and March 2027. This will benefit around 500,000 more children.
Further information, including specifics on eligibility, funding and expectations for schools will be provided later in the autumn term. This will include detailed guidance as well as a wider package of support.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many lower-layer super output areas are within Telford constituency; how those areas are ranked by top (a) 1%, (b) 5% and (c) 10% in the index of multiple deprivation; and what impact that data has on the allocation of funding by her Department.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) have published the Indices of Deprivation Local Authority dashboard which displays the number and level of deprivation of each Lower-layer Super Output Area (LSOA) within every local authority. This dashboard can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/english-indices-of-deprivation-2019-mapping-resources.
Whilst the Index of Multiple Deprivation is not used to allocate funding in the schools, high needs or early years national funding formulae (NFFs), the associated Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI), is used in all three of these NFFs to target funding towards deprivation.
In the schools NFF, IDACI funding is based on the IDACI 2019 area-based index measuring the relative deprivation of LSOAs. IDACI ranks are divided into seven bands, with more funding directed to pupils in the more deprived bands.
In the high needs NFF, the IDACI factor targets funding towards more deprived local authorities, assuming high needs costs are greater in these areas.
In the early years NFF, the IDACI factor is used as a proxy for relative levels of deprivation and is used in the 2 year-old and under 2s formula.
Further information on the NFFs is available here:
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when the free breakfast club expansion will be rolled out to Telford constituency.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The government is committed to deliver on its pledge to provide a free breakfast club in every state funded school with primary-aged children. This will ensure every child, regardless of circumstance, has a supportive start to the school day.
From the start of summer term, the department has funded 750 schools to deliver a free breakfast club as early adopters. This is part of a test and learn phase in advance of national rollout.
We are currently working through the outcomes of the latest spending review and the departmental business planning processes. Further details will follow in due course, including the timing of national rollout and the details of funding and support for schools.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department has spent on programmes aimed at recruiting (a) primary and b) secondary education teachers in each of the last five years, broken down by (i) programme and (ii) region and nation.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
High quality teaching is the in-school factor that has the biggest positive impact on a child or young person’s outcome in schools and colleges. Recruiting and retaining more qualified, expert teachers is critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child.
As part of the government’s Plan for Change to deliver 6,500 additional new expert teachers across secondary and special schools and colleges, the department funds initiatives across the teacher training and recruitment pipeline in England, based on available evidence of what works best. In the 2024/25 financial year, the department spent just over £600 million to support school teacher training, recruitment and retention.
We are already seeing positive signs that our investment is starting to deliver: the workforce has grown by 2,346 full-time equivalent teachers between 2023/24 and 2024/25, in secondary and special schools, the schools where they are needed most. This includes 1,435 more secondary school teachers and 911 more special and pupil referral unit teachers compared to last year.
Our future school teacher pipeline is also growing. As of May 2025, there are 11% more trainees who have accepted offers to train as secondary subjects, including in priority subjects such as Physics, where we have seen a 43% increase in acceptances compared to last year.
The table below provides detail of the spending on programmes supporting recruitment and retention of the teacher workforce. All programmes are targeted and focused on school specific need. Data on spending by region is not available.
| 2020/21 financial year | 2021/22 financial year | 2022/23 financial year | 2023/24 financial year | 2024/25 financial year |
Initiative | Budget | Budget | Budget | Budget | Budget |
(£ million) | (£ million) | (£ million) | (£ million) | (£ million) | |
Recruitment Financial Lever | 332.1 | 249.1 | 140.2 | 193.4 | 242.3 |
Retention Financial Lever | 5.5 | 70.4 | 98.1 | 189 | 194.5 |
Recruitment Non-Financial Lever | 35.9 | 48.3 | 49.3 | 44.3 | 47.1 |
Retention Non-Financial Lever | 21 | 22.8 | 28.5 | 27.3 | 23.6 |
Continuing Professional Development | 34.8 | 19.4 | 44.9 | 61.2 | 93 |
Covid and Tutoring | 91.9 | 23.3 | 240 | 185 | 0 |
TOTAL | 521.25 | 419.9 | 601 | 700.2 | 600.5 |
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish any centrally-owned workforce planning documents for early years provision.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The early years workforce is at the heart of this government’s mission to give every child the best start in life and deliver our Plan for Change. We will continue to drive forward our progress on our 2028 Plan for Change target for a record proportion (75%) of children starting school ready to learn. To achieve this, we will work in partnership with the sector, reforming training and supporting the workforce to drive up standards and offer sustained professional development. We will test new approaches to achieve the common goal of giving every child the best start in life.