Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to increase funding rates for early years provision of three and four year olds.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
As usual, the hourly funding rates will vary between local authorities reflecting the different communities that local authorities serve. However, for the 2025/26 financial year, the national average three and four year-old hourly funding rate of local authorities is increasing by 4.1%. On top of this, eligible children can also attract additional funding through the early years pupil premium.
Early education gives all children, especially disadvantaged children, the best start in life. That is why the department is delivering the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing the rate by over 45% from 68p per hour in 2024/25 to £1 per hour in 2025/26, equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year.
Future spending decisions beyond 2025/26 will be announced following the next spending review.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential benefits of creating an agency for supply teachers to standardise pay and conditions.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Supply teachers perform a valuable role and the department is grateful for their important contribution to schools across the country.
Schools and local authorities are currently responsible for the recruitment of their supply teachers and are best placed to make decisions on their approach to recruitment.
A supply teacher’s pay and working conditions will depend on who employs the supply teacher.
Supply teachers employed directly by a state maintained school or local authority must be paid in accordance with the statutory arrangements for teachers laid down in the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document.
If a supply teacher is employed by a private agency or non-maintained school, the employer can set the rate of pay and conditions of employment.
The department does not have plans at this time to assess the potential benefits of creating an agency for supply teachers to standardise pay and conditions. Instead, we are focused on our central mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost life chances for every child by recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this parliament.
The department is already making progress towards this key pledge, including by accepting a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools, announcing a £233 million Initial Teacher Training financial incentives package for the 2025/26 recruitment cycle, and confirming targeted retention incentives for shortage subjects worth up to £6,000 after tax. We will continue to work alongside the sector as we seek to re-establish teaching as an attractive profession that existing teachers want to remain in, former teachers want to return to, and new graduates wish to join.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of including grief education in the relationships and sex education curriculum.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) guidance, which sets out the specific topics pupils should be taught, makes clear that teachers should be aware of common adverse childhood experiences and understand when and how these may be affecting their pupils. This will help teachers to tailor their lessons accordingly, taking decisions on appropriate resources and support to enable them to teach the curriculum effectively. Teachers are free to draw on the support and expertise of subject associations and other providers of curriculum support. The RSHE statutory guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.
The RSHE statutory guidance is currently under review. The department is looking carefully at responses to the public consultation conducted last year, considering the relevant evidence and discussing with stakeholders before setting out next steps to make sure the guidance draws from the best available evidence. As part of this process, the department will explore whether additional content is required, including on grief education and bereavement.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of changing the funding for built environment Level 7 apprentices on the Government's commitment to build 1.5 million homes.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to 1.5 million homes being built across this Parliament while spreading opportunities and economic growth supported by a strong skills system.
The department is working closely with industry and across Whitehall on this ambition, including with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Department for Business and Trade and the Department for Work and Pensions to understand skill needs and how to address them.
The department has made early progress on expanding the skills offer with the announcement of Construction and Industry Training Board and National Housebuilding Council funding worth £140 million, to deliver up to 32 Homebuilding Skills Hubs and to make 5,000 more construction apprenticeships available, making use of existing flexibilities in our apprenticeships system to help businesses get the skilled workers they need more quickly.
There are 96 high quality apprenticeship standards in the construction and the built environment sector approved for delivery across levels 2 to 6 to support employers and apprentices to develop the skills they need, with three apprenticeship standards in the sector approved for delivery at level 7.
This government had a dire fiscal inheritance with a £22 billion blackhole in the nation’s finances. We are taking difficult decisions to fix the foundations of our economy and prioritise government spending where it can be most impactful, including in order to generate opportunities for young people that enable them to make a start in good, fulfilling careers. The department will therefore be asking more employers to step forward and fund a significant number of level 7 apprenticeships themselves outside of the levy-funded growth and skills offer.
The department is taking advice from Skills England, who have been engaging with employers and sector-representative organisations, including in construction, and expects to make a final decision on affected apprenticeships shortly. Learners who have started these apprenticeships will be funded through to completion and employers will continue to be able to offer these apprenticeships where they choose to do so.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to introduce wraparound childcare in all schools by September 2026.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government will build a modern childcare system that supports families from the end of parental leave, right through to the end of primary school.
Childcare needs do not stop when children start school. To support parents the government will deliver free, universal breakfast clubs in every primary school in England. Free breakfast clubs will be available in up to 750 early adopter schools from April 2025 as part of a ‘test and learn’ phase in advance of a national roll out.
The government is additionally delivering the national wraparound childcare programme which has provided local authorities with more than £160 million to deliver the expansion of new before and after school places for primary school-aged children. The government’s ambition is that, by 2026, all parents and carers of primary school-aged children who need it will be able to access term-time childcare in their local area from 8am to 6pm.
The programme is designed to support local authorities to deliver their statutory duty to ensure there are sufficient wraparound childcare places and remove the additional challenges faced in local areas with shortages. Where local wraparound provision is not available, parents can request that the school their child attends considers establishing wraparound or holiday childcare through the long-standing ‘right to request’ process.