Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to respond to Question 87070 from the hon. Member for South Shropshire.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The response to Written Parliamentary Question 87070 was published on 22 April 2026.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure that veterans have access to childcare options.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
It is the department’s ambition that all families, including those from Armed Forces and Veteran communities, have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change.
In April 2026, over 200 new Best Start Family Hubs in areas not previously funded are now open to families, backed by over £900 million of investment. These hubs act as welcoming, one-stop shops rooted in local communities, supporting families from pregnancy through to early childhood with everything from infant feeding support and parenting advice to help with the cost of living and early identification of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Support will also extend beyond dedicated hubs into up to 2,000 community venues, known as Best Start Network Sites, by 2028, ensuring families can access help.
The department's guidance for Best Start Family Hubs sets out minimum expectations for supporting Armed Forces and Veteran families. Hub staff are expected to be aware of the unique challenges these families can face, including the cumulative impact of mobility, separation, deployment, life after service and bereavement, and to signpost families to relevant support services including the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Education Advisory Team and the dedicated Armed Forces Families Federations.
Best Start Family Hub staff are also expected to be familiar with the joint non-statutory guidance 'Service Pupils in Schools' (April 2025) and the MOD Local Authority Partnership (MODLAP) principles for supporting Service children with SEND through school transitions. The guidance also encourages the establishment of a dedicated military champion in every hub, linked to existing Armed Forces Covenant commitments.
Veteran families who are based in England can apply for government funded childcare through the Childcare Service or through their local authorities. Families may also be eligible for support if they receive Universal Credit.
Current service families may be eligible for 30 hours (over 38 weeks of the year) funded childcare support, which is available to eligible working parents from the term after their child turns nine months old until they start school. Parents must earn at least the equivalent of 16 hours a week at the national minimum wage and under £100,000 adjusted net income per year to be eligible. In a two-parent household, both parents must meet the eligibility criteria.
All three- and four-year-olds are eligible for 15 hours free early education per week (over 38 weeks of the year), regardless of family circumstances. This is available the term after the child’s third birthday. Tax-Free Childcare and Universal Credit Childcare are also available to families to help with childcare costs.
The department wants to ensure that parents are aware of and are accessing all the government funded childcare support they are eligible for. The department is raising awareness of the government funded childcare support available via the Best Start in Life Parent Hub website to stimulate increased take up by eligible families, because we know this could make a significant financial difference to families. The website can be accessed here: https://www.beststartinlife.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase reading for fun in South Shropshire constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The National Year of Reading is a UK-wide campaign to address long-term declines in reading enjoyment through engaging new audiences, reshaping public attitudes and building the systems needed to embed lasting, meaningful change, during 2026 and beyond. It includes a major physical and online marketing campaign, as well as exciting events, webinars, resources, and activities in communities, libraries, schools and early years settings throughout the year.
We are raising awareness of the National Year of Reading through a range of methods, such as via departmental communication channels, the National Year of Reading mailing list and social media, communications from the National Literacy Trust, and promotion via the English Hubs network.
The Reading Agency are also providing public libraries with resources, toolkits and print and digital materials to activate the National Year of Reading. Schools and Early Years settings in South Shropshire and across the UK can access a range of engaging online webinars, resources and activities throughout the year. More information can be found at: https://goallin.org.uk/get-involved/schools/.
This government is also providing £5 million of funding for secondary schools to purchase books to encourage reading for pleasure, as well as committing over £10 million in funding to guarantee a library for every primary school by the end of this Parliament.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many family hubs there are in a) urban and b) rural areas.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
At present, there are 675 Family Hubs in 88 local authorities funded by the department. Of these, based on the Office of National Statistics classification of Rural and Urban, 627 are based in urban areas and 48 are based in rural areas.
The department has set a clear ambition for 70% of hubs to be in the 30% most disadvantaged areas. From April we will be rolling out hubs nationally, meaning they will be in every local authority.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to restore the academy conversion support grant.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department has no plans to restore the academy conversion support grant. Voluntary conversion is a choice for schools and trusts to make.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what action is being taken to support SEND transport costs in South Shropshire constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Central government funding for home-to-school travel is provided through the Local Government Finance Settlement which is administered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The Settlement for the 2025/26 financial year makes available over £69 billion for local government, a 6.8% cash terms increase in Core Spending Power on 2024/25.
To put local government on the road to financial sustainability, the government recently consulted on funding reforms, including a bespoke relative needs formula for home-to-school transport. The consultation response was published here on 20 November:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/the-fair-funding-review-20.
Challenges in the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system are creating pressure on home-to-school travel. We have committed to reform the SEND system to enable more children to thrive in local mainstream settings. These reforms will be set out in a Schools White Paper early in the new year.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to support independent specialist education colleges.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department recognises the role special post-16 institutions play in providing specialist education in the further education (FE) sector, catering for young people whose needs cannot be met in general FE colleges.
We have been clear that a more inclusive education system is needed to give children and young people the opportunities they need to achieve and thrive. There remains a crucial role for specialist providers, not only in supporting children and young people with particularly complex needs, but also in building capability across the system.
The department supports independent specialist education colleges through regulatory approval, funding and guidance. Colleges can apply to join the Section 41 approved list, giving families the right to request them in an education, health and care plan and ensuring compliance with the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Code of Practice.
The department also provides high-needs funding for eligible institutions, alongside local authority contributions, and issues guidance on safeguarding, governance and curriculum standards.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure the provision of childcare in all rural areas.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
In our Plan for Change we have set a milestone of a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn. We will measure our progress through 75% of children at the end of reception reaching a good level of development in the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile assessment by 2028.
The government has committed to working with the sector to better support parents in poorer and rural areas. We have announced over £400 million of funding to create tens of thousands of places in new and expanded school-based nurseries to help ensure more children can access the quality early education where it is needed and get the best start in life. The first phase of the programme is creating up to 6,000 new nursery places, with schools reporting over 5,000 have been made available in September 2025.
The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action they are taking to address those issues and, where needed, support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve the recruitment and retention of further education staff in rural areas.
Answered by Janet Daby
The department has announced an additional £190 million for 16 to 19 education in 2025/26 to help colleges, schools, and other providers recruit and retain expert teachers. This is in addition to over £400 million already planned for 16 to 19 education, and £155 million to support increased National Insurance costs. It is separate from my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s £600 million investment to address construction sector skills shortages. This funding will be delivered nationally and support colleges across the country, including land-based colleges that play a vital role in rural areas.
To support early-career further education (FE) teachers in technical subjects, the department is offering retention payments of up to £6,000 after tax in 2024/25 and 2025/26, including in rural and coastal areas.
Our national 'Teach in FE' campaign raises awareness and directs prospective teachers, including industry professionals to job listings and support services.
We also run ‘Taking Teaching Further’, a two-year programme helping industry experts retrain as FE teachers.
Together, these initiatives support our pledge to recruit 6,500 new teachers across FE, secondary, and specialist schools during this Parliament, as part of our Plan for Change.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress she has made on the expansion of mental health support teams in rural schools.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The government will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school by expanding Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs), so every child and young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate.
As of March 2025, 41% of schools and colleges worked with an MHST, representing 52% of pupils and learners across the country, and we estimate this will increase to 50% of schools and colleges by March 2026, representing 60% of pupils and learners.
Data by degree of rurality shows that as of March 2025, the MHST coverage is 24% of schools in rural hamlets, 21% of schools in rural villages and 36% of schools in rural towns and fringes.
The expansion of MHSTs to all schools and colleges by 2029/30 will prioritise rollout based on NHS identification of local need and reaching the most vulnerable children first.