Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has considered requiring state-funded schools with defibrillators to make those devices publicly accessible where it is safe and practicable to do so.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s defibrillator programme provided over 20,000 defibrillators to state-funded schools in England, ensuring that all schools have access to a device.
Schools are best placed to make decisions on community access based on their individual circumstances. The primary concern should be locating defibrillators where they will best meet the needs of the school, and community access will not be suitable in all circumstances.
The department’s defibrillator guidance advises schools on the factors they should consider when deciding whether to allow community access. More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/automated-external-defibrillators-aeds-in-schools.
The department encourages all schools to register their defibrillators on the national defibrillator network, The Circuit. This ensures that local ambulance services know where defibrillators are kept, meaning they can be called upon in an emergency to help save a life. More information, including how to register, can be found here: https://www.thecircuit.uk/.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of levels of unemployment and underemployment among qualified teachers; and what steps she is taking to help improve increase retention and re-entry levels.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
In the government’s Plan for Change, the department committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 expert teachers across secondary and special schools, and our colleges, over the course of this Parliament.
Delivery is already underway: retaining more skilled teachers is key to delivering our pledge and our ‘Improve workload and wellbeing for school staff’ service, developed alongside school leaders, provides a range of resources for schools to review and reduce workload, and improve staff wellbeing. We are also providing targeted retention incentives worth up to £6,000 after tax for early career teachers in key subjects. These incentives are available alongside trainee bursaries worth up to £31,000 tax-free to improve recruitment, and a pay rise of nearly 10% over two years.
We are already seeing improvement. The workforce has grown by 2,346 Full Time Equivalent between 2023/24 and 2024/25 in secondary and special schools. This year has one of the lowest leaver rates since 2010, with 1,700 fewer teachers leaving the state-funded sector, and more teachers are returning to state schools than at any point in the last ten years. The latest data showed 17,274 teachers returned to the classroom.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the number of teachers in England.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The latest school workforce census reported that the workforce has grown by 2,346 FTE between 2023/24 and 2024/25 in secondary and special schools. This year has one of the lowest leaver rates since 2010, with 1,700 fewer teachers leaving the state-funded sector and more teachers returning to state schools than at any point in the last ten years. The latest data showed 17,274 teachers returned to the classroom.
This government agreed a 5.5% pay award for 2024/25 and a 4% pay award for 2025/26, meaning teachers and leaders will see an increase in their pay of almost 10% over two years. In 2024/25, we also confirmed targeted retention incentives worth up to £6,000 after tax for teachers in the first five years of teaching in maths, physics, chemistry and computing in the most disadvantaged schools.
The government manages Teaching Vacancies, a website where schools can list their teaching, leadership and support vacancies. The service helps schools save money by removing advertising costs for their recruitment activities.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the average waiting time for SEND assessments in each local authority in England.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Information on the number and percentage of education, health and care (EHC) plans issued within the statutory 20 week deadline, with and without statutory exceptions to that deadline applying, is part of the latest statistical release published on 26 June 2025 at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans/2025.
The table linked below shows the number and proportion of plans issued within, and over, the statutory 20-week deadline, excluding where statutory exceptions to that deadline apply, for each local authority in England during the 2024 calendar year: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/adbf152d-5d22-42d2-c78b-08de38576300.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester 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 proposed international students levy on economic growth in (a) Leicester, (b) the East Midlands and (c) the United Kingdom; and if she will ensure the policy is reviewed prior to implementation.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The international student levy will fund the reintroduction of targeted maintenance grants for disadvantaged students to break down barriers to opportunity through our Plan for Change.
This will help support more students from the lowest income households progress into and excel in higher education. This will also support our national Opportunity Mission, through which the government is breaking the damaging link between background and success.
The government will set out further details on the levy at Autumn Budget.
We expect the UK to remain a highly attractive study destination. Our world-class higher education sector can offer a fulfilling and enjoyable experience to international students from around the world.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester 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 proposed international students levy on the competitiveness of UK universities.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The international student levy will fund the reintroduction of targeted maintenance grants for disadvantaged students to break down barriers to opportunity through our Plan for Change.
This will help support more students from the lowest income households progress into and excel in higher education. This will also support our national Opportunity Mission, through which the government is breaking the damaging link between background and success.
The government will set out further details on the levy at Autumn Budget.
We expect the UK to remain a highly attractive study destination. Our world-class higher education sector can offer a fulfilling and enjoyable experience to international students from around the world.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of removing the subsidy for Ofsted inspections on (a) small and (b) specialist independent schools.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department launched an eight-week consultation on 25 September 2025 on the subject of reducing the subsidy for Ofsted inspection fees. The consultation document is publicly available and sets out how Ofsted-inspected private schools will be affected by the proposed fee increases.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester 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 removing the subsidy for Ofsted inspections on independent religious schools in (a) Leicester and (b) England.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department launched an eight-week consultation on 25 September 2025 on the subject of reducing the subsidy for Ofsted inspection fees. The consultation document is publicly available and sets out how Ofsted-inspected private schools will be affected by the proposed fee increases.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that children with additional needs and without an Education, Health and Care Plan receive adequate SEN support in schools; and whether she plans to increase (a) funding and (b) access to specialist support to improve inclusive mainstream education.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.
Under the Children and Families Act 2014, mainstream schools must use their best endeavours to make sure a child or young person who has special educational needs (SEN), receives the support they need. The SEND code of practice is clear that meeting the needs of a child with SEN does not require a diagnostic label or test. Instead, we expect teachers to monitor the progress of all pupils and put support in place where needed.
We are committed to improving expertise and inclusivity in mainstream schools.
This includes building a robust and credible evidence base on what works to drive inclusive education. To support this, an Expert Advisory Group for inclusion has been established, led by Tom Rees, that consists of experts across the SEND sector.
Following the 2024 Autumn Budget, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year. This brings total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND, including those in mainstream schools, to over £12 billion. Of that total, Leicester City Council is being allocated over £88 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £6.6 million on the 2024/25 DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve access to (a) adult education and (b) lifelong learning opportunities; and whether she plans to increase funding to support (i) adult learners and (ii) local education providers.
Answered by Janet Daby
This government recognises the value of lifelong learning and the department is investing in education and skills training for adults through the adult skills fund (ASF).
Currently, approximately 62% of the ASF is devolved to nine Mayoral Strategic Authorities and the Greater London Authority. These authorities are responsible for the provision of ASF-funded adult education for their residents and allocation of the ASF to learning providers. The department is responsible for the remaining ASF in non-devolved areas.
In non-devolved areas, learners in receipt of a low wage are eligible for full funding, which directly supports social mobility. The ASF also funds Learner Support, which provides assistance to learners with specific financial hardships.
The department has also committed to introducing the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE), a transformation to the existing higher education student finance system. The LLE will launch in the 2026/27 academic year for learners studying courses starting on or after 1 January 2027.
Under the LLE, new learners will be able to access a full entitlement equal to 4 years of full-time tuition. Learners will be able to use this new entitlement to fund individual modules as well as full courses at levels 4 to 6.