Asked by: Zöe Franklin (Liberal Democrat - Guildford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what factors determined the timing between the publication of the consultation on the SEND white paper on 2 December 2025 and the first engagement event on 3 December 2025; and whether that notice period aligns with her Department’s standards for effective public consultation.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department has undertaken extensive engagement over the past year, holding more than 100 events with children, young people, parents and other stakeholders to inform our work on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
The SEND national conversation, launched on 2 December, is not a formal consultation but an expansion of this ongoing engagement, designed to broaden participation and ensure parents’ voices are heard. The first events were scheduled promptly to maintain momentum and provide early opportunities for families to contribute. The Council for Disabled Children has promoted the regional engagement sessions, which are now fully subscribed, and further online events run by the department remain open for sign‑up.
A formal consultation will take place following publication of the Schools White Paper next year, in line with the department’s standards for effective public consultation, to continue the conversation on reform and gather views on specific proposals.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of expanding the National Curriculum to embed (a) critical and creative thinking, (b) problem solving, (c) communication and (d) collaboration skills to support the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review sets out our plan to ensure that all pupils develop the knowledge and skills that we know are essential for life, work and innovation.
When refreshing the national curriculum, we will identify where subject-specific disciplinary skills are not clearly described or not emphasised adequately, and then ensure that these are properly reflected in those subjects’ programmes of study. For example, creative thinking in computing, critical thinking in history or problem solving in maths.
Furthermore, we will be extending citizenship to primary schools to introduce important financial literacy to pupils from an earlier age; reforming computing education to equip more young people with the digital skills they need for the future; and creating a new oracy framework to help pupils become confident, fluent speakers, setting them up for leadership roles in the workplace.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will bring forward policy proposals to make access to PE and sport at school a right for all disabled children.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to giving every pupil the chance to participate in PE and sport while at school. This government has committed funding of up to £300,000 this financial year to the Youth Sport Trust to deliver Inclusion 2028, a programme to upskill the school workforce to deliver high quality, inclusive PE, school sport and physical activity to pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The programme also funds the Inclusive Education Hub, an online platform of resources to help schools make their PE and sport more inclusive.
Schools also receive capital funding directly through core funding. The government is investing almost £3 billion per year by 2034/35 in capital maintenance and renewal to improve the condition of the school and college estate, rising from £2.4 billion in 2025/26.
Following my right hon. friend, the Prime Minister’s announcement on 19 June 2025, we are establishing a new PE and school sport partnerships network to ensure all children and young people, including those with SEND, have access to high quality PE and school sport.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking with the devolved administrations to facilitate the sharing of best practice and models of reform of special educational needs provision throughout the UK.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
As part of our Plan for Change, we are determined to fix the special educational needs and disabilities system and restore the trust of parents by ensuring schools have the tools to better identify and support children before issues escalate. We’re continuing to engage closely with children, parents and experts as we develop plans to ensure all children get the outcomes and life chances they deserve.
The department engages the devolved governments at ministerial and official level on a range of areas, which allows a sharing of collective knowledge and experience as well as collaborative working on shared interests and challenges to deliver better outcomes for people across the UK.
Asked by: Lord Hampton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to follow the government of Scotland in providing matched funding for incentivised learning of life skills for young people in care through the Share Foundation’s Stepladder PLUS programme.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We want to ensure that children leaving care have stable homes, access to health services, support to build lifelong loving relationships and are engaged in education, employment and training.
We recognise the importance of financial skills, such as that provided through the Stepladder Plus programme, in achieving this aim. The department currently supports the use of this programme through its contract, for the provision of Junior ISA savings accounts to children in care, with The Share Foundation. We do not have any plans to provide match funding at this time.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what training and guidance is provided to civil servants on how to fulfil the requirements of section 19 of the Environment Act 2021 when drafting proposals for secondary legislation.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has been working closely with departments across Government to support them in the duty contained in section 19 of the Environment Act 2021 to have due regard to the Environmental Principles Policy Statement when making policy (which may include secondary legislation). Our ‘toolkit’ of resources was disseminated widely across government ahead of the duty coming into force. The toolkit includes advice notes and examples about the environmental principles to help understand the duty, and information about where to go for further help. We have also revised relevant cross-government guidance, including the Cabinet Office Guide to Making Legislation. The Environmental Principles Policy Statement training course on Civil Service Learning is available to all civil servants and provides an overview of the duty, the environmental principles and how to apply them. Some departments and arm’s length bodies have developed additional internal guidance and training. Defra recently published its “Environmental Principles Policy Statement (EPPS) Implementation - Early-Stage Review” (see attached) where the content of the toolkit and learning materials are discussed in more detail.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many and what proportion of civil servants in her Department are (a) on temporary contract and (b) consultants.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Information on the number of civil servants employed on temporary contracts is published quarterly by the Office for National Statistics as part of the quarterly Public Sector Employment statistics. Information can be accessed for September 2025 at the following web address:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/bulletins/publicsectoremployment/september2025.
Departmental expenditure on consultancy is published within the Annual Report and Accounts. The latest report for Financial Year 2024/25 can be found at the following web address:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fcdo-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-to-2025.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 2 December (HL12136), whether they plan to conduct a formal review of the law relating to (1) collective worship, and (2) religious education, in schools in England in response to the Supreme Court's ruling in JR87 [2025] UKSC 40; and if so, what the scope and timetable of that review will be.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are continuing to review the Supreme Court judgement to establish whether there are any implications for religious education or collective worship in England and will say more in due course.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the additional cost of special educational needs provision in England in each of the next three years.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
To support specialist provision, in December, the department announced at least £3 billion for high needs capital between 2026/27 and 2029/30. This builds on the £740 million invested in 2025/26, which is on track to create around 10,000 new specialist places.
The department will publish its plans for reform to the special educational needs system in the new year.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of whether current force levels across the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force are sufficient to meet assessed threats.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
Our Armed Forces are ready to deter, fight and win - today, tomorrow and together with our allies.
Since elected, this Government has been committed to strengthening our Armed Forces. Through the Strategic Defence Review, we have outlined plans to increase the total number of Regular personnel, when funding allows. Additionally, we have embraced a whole-of-society approach to deterrence and defence, reinforcing our collective resilience, and are committed to increasing the number of Active Reserves by 20%, bolstering surge capacity and showcasing the UK's readiness to defend itself.
We do not disclose Force levels, but they remain under constant review. However, we do routinely publish our UK Service personnel statistics on strengths, requirements, intake, applications and outflow, by Service available at the link provided below:
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/quarterly-service-personnel-statistics-2025