Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to include key life skills such as cooking, fixing and mending, upcycling and budgeting into the national curriculum.

The government is taking forward changes to the national curriculum that will strengthen pupils’ understanding of key life skills, including financial education, food and nutrition, sustainability and wider skills that help prepare them for life and work. These reforms will ensure that relevant knowledge and practical understanding are embedded across the curriculum and are supported by wider activity to help children and young people develop the skills they need to thrive.

Following the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, we will strengthen financial education in mathematics and citizenship, including budgeting and understanding credit. We will revise design and technology to develop design capability and sustainability, while making food education a clearer and more specific strand to prepare pupils for life and future careers.

We have also introduced a new enrichment framework for school with five key strands including life and future skills.

Through relationships, sex and health education and our wider enrichment offer, pupils will also develop broader life skills, including self-care, first aid and practical experiences beyond the classroom.