Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what capital and revenue funding allocations have been made to local authorities in Lancashire for a) primary schools, b) secondary schools and c) specialist school places over the next 2 years.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Revenue funding through the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for Lancashire in 2025/26 and 2026/27 financial years are presented in the table below. Funding for 2027/28 will be confirmed later this year.
Lancashire School Funding
Financial Year | 2025/26 | 2026/27 |
Overall DSG | £1,052,000,000 | £1,096,000,000 |
Mainstream primary Per Pupil | £5,627 | £5,939 |
Mainstream secondary Per Pupil | £7,088 | £7,440 |
High Needs Funding | £219 million | £235 million |
*Mainstream funding includes premises and excludes growth.
Local authorities meet the costs of special school places in their area through their high needs block funding in the DSG, with the total high needs funding for Lancashire set out above.
The methodology for the Inclusive Mainstream Fund was published on 25 March. This details distribution of the £400 million schools will receive in 2026/27 to prepare and deliver improved inclusion practice.
We have announced over £82 million of Basic Need capital grant funding to support Lancashire in creating mainstream school places needed due to forecasted growth in pupil numbers between May 2024 and September 2028. The £82 million will be paid across the 2023/24 to 2027/28 financial years.
In financial years 2025/26 and 2026/27, Lancashire has been allocated just under £19.7 million and just over £23.8 million respectively through High Needs Provision Capital Allocations.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much and what proportion of funding for low-income oil heating households through the Crisis and Resilience Fund will be allocated to (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In England, £27 million of funding will be delivered via the Crisis and Resilience Fund to support low-income households reliant on oil for heating. This is in addition to £842 million a year that has already been committed through the Crisis and Resilience Fund at Spending Review 2025, which all unitary and upper tier authorities in England will receive to support vulnerable and low-income households facing financial shocks, including rising essential costs such as energy.
Lincolnshire has been allocated £1,825,511 to distribute to households the local authority considers most in need. This represents 7% of the £27 million of funding available in England. Allocations have been published on gov.uk (Crisis and Resilience fund to support low-income heating oil households).
Local authorities have flexibility to apply their own discretion when determining eligibility for their Crisis Payment schemes, including how to best target support towards households in most need of help to pay for heating oil. The amount of funding that will be spent in the South Holland and the Deepings constituency is therefore at the discretion of the local authority.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the aggregate monetary level of Dedicated Schools Grant High Need deficits that will not be written off by central Government.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department has set out plans to address these deficits up to the end of 2025/26, providing grants to cover 90% of each council’s deficit once they have produced and received approval for a strong plan to drive sustained action in accordance with our new system set out today in the Schools White Paper. This will help to improve outcomes for children and bring costs under control through effective early intervention, stopping needs from escalating. Asking authorities to contribute the remaining 10% reflects the shared responsibility we all have in delivering a system that provides value for money and supports better outcomes for children and young people.
For deficits that arise in 2026/27 and 2027/28, local authorities can expect that we will continue to take an appropriate and proportionate approach though it will not be unlimited. Future support will take into account local authorities' successful delivery of their approved Local SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) reform plan.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to ensure that supply chains of products and services reaching the UK from Myanmar, including rare earth mining, garment and manufacturing, logistics and infrastructure, do not include products sourced from forced or slave labour and involving other human rights violations in Myanmar.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
I refer the Noble Baroness to the answer given on 18 June 2025 to question HL8153.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of capacity considerations in class sizes for Key Stage 1 and 2 in schools with high levels of SEND; and whether she will consider a needs‑weighted pupil cap to reflect the additional time and support required.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The School Standards and Framework Act 1998 limits the size of an infant class to 30 pupils per teacher. An infant class is one in which the majority of children will reach the age of 5, 6 or 7 during the school year, i.e. Reception, Year 1 and Year 2.
Through the reforms outlined in the Schools White Paper, we will ensure that children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) get the right support at every stage of their education.
We are also committed to supporting local areas to create high-quality places that are suitable to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND, by investing at least £3.7 billion in high needs capital funding between 2025/26 and 2029/30. This is to support local authorities to provide places for children and young people with SEND, or who require alternative provision, across early years settings, schools, and colleges.
As well as this, we are providing around £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships, including local authorities and Integrated Care Boards, to work together to develop a new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer. This is designed to strengthen the capability of mainstream education settings by providing access to professionals such as educational psychologists and speech and language or occupational therapists, providing earlier intervention and support for young people.
Asked by: Alex Burghart (Conservative - Brentwood and Ongar)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish applications made by Lord Mandelson to the Advisory Committee to Business Appointments between May 2010 and May 2012.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Information about historic Business Application Rules applications can be found on GOV.UK.
The 2010-2011 Advisory Committee to Business Appointments Annual Report can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7d965340f0b65084e76188/Twelfth_Annual_Report_2010-2011.pdf, and the 2011-2012 Annual Report can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a74e389ed915d3c7d528bcd/ACOBA_Thirteenth_Annual_Report_2011-12.pdf
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has had discussions with Stockport Council regarding the condition of Reddish Library.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has held no specific discussions with Stockport Council regarding the condition of Reddish Library.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is responsible for public library policy and the Libraries Improvement Fund. DCMS intends to publish a new English public library strategy later this year to emphasise and support their position at the heart of communities and their pivotal role in improving the lives of working people.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether special advisers provided advice to the Prime Minister on the appointment of the new Cabinet Secretary.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
As set out in the GOV.uk announcement of the Cabinet Secretary appointment. “the Prime Minister and the First Civil Service Commissioner agreed a process to appoint a new Cabinet Secretary”.
Asked by: Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what additional funding schools and colleges will receive as a result of the announced special educational needs and disabilities reforms in (1) 2026–27, (2) 2027–28, (3) 2028–29, and (4) 2029–30.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In every year of this Parliament, core funding for schools and special educational needs and disabilities is expected to increase, subject to future spending reviews. The government is committed to prioritising early intervention and is making a major increase in investment, with £4 billion over the three years of the Spending Review. This will reverse the trend of late intervention and escalation in needs.
Within this total, the Inclusive Mainstream Fund will provide over £500 million per financial year, over three years, to schools, colleges and early years settings to develop and embed improved inclusion practice. On Wednesday 25 March, the department published methodology documents explaining how funding will be allocated for the Inclusive Mainstream Fund. Details on the funding for schools and mainstream 16-19 provision are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inclusive-mainstream-fund-2026-to-2027. Details on the Inclusive Early Years Fund are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inclusive-early-years-fund-2026-to-2027. Funding from 2029 to 2030 onwards is subject to future spending reviews.
Also on 25 March, we announced further details on the allocation of £860 million of high needs capital funding as part of the landmark £3.7 billion announced to deliver 60,000 more specialist places. This funding will drive a transformative expansion of inclusion bases across the country, as well as adaptations to improve the inclusivity and accessibility of mainstream settings as well as supporting special school place creation where needed.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to prevent registered sex offenders from changing their names by deed poll.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The system for managing sex offenders and those that pose a risk of sexual harm is a crucial part of preventing sexual violence and delivering our mission to halve violence against women and girls.
The Crime and Policing Bill will introduce a range of legislative changes which will strengthen the management of registered sex offenders. Where the police consider it necessary to protect the public or children or vulnerable adults from sexual harm, it will enable them to serve a notice on offenders requiring them to seek the police’s authorisation before applying to change their name on a specified identity document (namely, a UK passport, driving licence or immigration document). The legislative changes will also require RSOs to notify the police of an intended change of name at least seven days in advance of using it, or if that is not reasonably practicable, as far in advance of their using it as it reasonably practicable.
Our name change restriction focuses on ID documents, which are required for work, overseas travel, and accessing services, because that is where name changes can be monitored and a restriction robustly enforced.