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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
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.
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 support (a) schools and (b) parents with school transport in rural areas.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s home-to-school travel policy aims to make sure that no child is prevented from accessing education by a lack of transport. Local authorities are responsible for arranging free home-to-school travel for eligible children. A child is eligible if they are of compulsory school age, 5 to 16, attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of the distance, their special educational needs, a disability or mobility problem, or because the nature of the route means it would be unsafe for them to do so. There are extended rights to free travel for children from low-income families.
In addition, the Bus Services Bill will put the power over local bus services in the hands of local leaders to ensure networks can meet the needs of communities who rely on them.
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 rural schools are able to access the Breakfast Clubs Early Adopters scheme.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In order to test and learn about how best to support schools in implementing new free universal breakfast clubs, the department has selected over 750 early adopter schools who began delivering from the start of the 2025 summer term, ahead of national roll out to all schools with primary-aged children.
Schools have been selected to ensure a representative sample of all primary schools across a range of locations, including rural schools.
By taking this approach, we will be able to gain insights into any challenges and barriers schools may face, in order to develop solutions ahead of national roll out.
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 launching a new National Music Education Network.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
On 18 March, the department announced its intention to launch a new National Centre for Arts and Music Education.
We intend to appoint the delivery partner for the Centre through an open, competitive procurement. We will engage with sector stakeholders to refine the details of the Centre ahead of the commercial process later this year. We will set out further detail shortly.
The National Centre will deliver on the manifesto commitment to deliver a Music Education Network. The department’s intention is to launch the National Centre in September 2026.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many breakfast club early adopters there are in (a) rural and (b) urban areas.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In order to test and learn about how best to support schools in implementing new free universal breakfast clubs, the department has selected over 750 early adopter schools to deliver from summer term 2025, ahead of national roll out to all schools with primary aged children.
Just under a third of the breakfast club early adopter schools are in rural areas, meaning over two thirds are in urban areas. This is a representative of the split of the overall make-up of state-funded schools with primary aged pupils across England. Schools have been selected to ensure a representative sample, to ensure the early adopter scheme learns from a variety of schools, including schools that are large and small, with high and low levels of deprivation, and in a range of locations.
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 schools support pupils experiencing childhood bereavement.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It is vital that when a child suffers a bereavement, they are aware of and able to access the support they need. Schools know their pupils best and do an excellent job in supporting them through a range of adverse life experiences, including bereavement. The department is always looking for ways to better support schools in this role.
The relationships, sex and health (RSHE) statutory guidance states that teachers should be aware of common ‘adverse childhood experiences’, including bereavement. The full guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.
The department is reviewing the RSHE curriculum and following analysis of consultation responses and further discussion with stakeholders, we will decide on any new content on bereavement.
The government is also committed to improving mental health support for all children and young people, including those who have experienced a bereavement. To achieve this, we have committed to providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school. The department also provides a resource hub for school and college mental health leads, signposting practical tools to embed effective mental health and wellbeing practice. The hub includes resources for schools to support bereaved children.
The department has also published guidance to support pupils whose ability to attend exams has been affected by bereavement, including examples of effective practice. In addition, we have recently made updates to GOV.UK adding links to bereavement support specifically for children and their families. This support is available at: https://www.gov.uk/after-a-death/bereavement-help-and-support?step-by-step-nav=4f1fe77d-f43b-4581-baf9-e2600e2a2b7a.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to deliver at least one Family Hub in every local authority area.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government’s Plan for Change sets out a commitment to give children the best start in life, measured by a record 75% of children starting school ready to learn, measured by the number hitting the early learning goals at the end of reception.
Delivering this will require strengthening and joining up family services to improve support through pregnancy and early childhood. This includes continuing to invest in and build up Family Hubs and Start for Life programmes.
75 local authorities with some of the highest levels of deprivation have received funding and there are now more than 400 Family Hubs open across the 75 local authorities. The department is investing a further £126 million in 2025/26 to give every child the best start in life and deliver on the Plan for Change. Future funding decisions are subject to the multi-year spending review.
The evidence and learning from this investment will help to improve services across England where they are most needed and those local authorities not receiving funding will be able to access expert advice, guidance and resources from the National Centre for Family Hubs.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of increases to employer's National Insurance Contributions on independent specialist schools.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has taken the decision to increase the rate of employer National Insurance contributions (NIC) from 6 April 2025 by 1.2 percentage points, from 13.8% to 15%, to ensure it can deliver the investment that public services need.
From April 2025, the government is also increasing the Employment Allowance to £10,500 and expanding this to all eligible employers by removing the £100,000 eligibility threshold. Over half of employers with NIC liabilities will see no change or gain overall from this measure.
The department is allocating an additional £125 million to local authorities for them to pass on to special schools for the extra costs they will incur as a result of the NIC increase. Non-maintained special schools will get this funding directly from the department. These NIC funding allocations will be published in May 2025, for payment later in the year.
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 tackle childcare deserts in rural areas.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
It is the department’s ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, improving the life chances for every child and the work choices for every parent.
In the 2025/26 financial year alone, the department plans to provide over £8 billion for early years entitlements, a more than 30% increase compared to the 2024/25 financial year, so eligible working parents of children aged from nine months can access 30 hours of funded childcare from September this year. To support the sector during this period of expansion, the government is providing further supplementary funding of £75 million for the early years expansion grant. We also announced the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing the rate by over 45% compared to the 2024/25 financial year, equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year. On top of this, providers will receive £25 million through the forthcoming National Insurance Contributions grant for public sector employers in the early years.
The government’s plan to deliver 3,000 school-based nurseries and will help deliver on our commitment to ensure families right across the country have access to high quality childcare and early education. Funding will be allocated to the first wave of nursery projects in spring 2025 to support delivery for the first cohort of places from September. We know that families in some areas are struggling to find childcare places which meet their needs, so we will be working with schools and local childcare providers to deliver much-needed places across all our communities.
Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Part B of the ’Early education and childcare’ statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents. The department has regular contact with local authorities in England about the sufficiency of childcare and any issues being faced. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and, where needed, support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract. We do not currently have any reports of sufficiency issues in any local authority.