Written questions by Dance.

What assessment she has made of (a) trends in the level and (b) the potential impact of school meal debt on families in Yeovil constituency.

To help break down barriers to opportunity and tackle child poverty, the government will be extending free school meals (FSM) to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026. This will lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty and put £500 back in families’ pockets, supporting parents in decisive action to improve lives ahead of the Child Poverty Strategy. Department for Work and Pensions data shows that 5,450 children in Yeovil will be eligible to receive FSM when provision is extended from September 2026.This autumn, the Child Poverty Strategy will deliver measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty. The Taskforce is considering all available levers to reduce child poverty and recognises the importance of financial resilience for low-income families. Increasing financial resilience is one of the four key themes for the strategy, and in February the Taskforce met with external experts to discuss this topic specifically.

What steps she is taking improve the experience of parents and carers when using the Special Educational Needs and Disability system in Yeovil constituency.

A local area inspection of Somerset’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services, undertaken by Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) in March 2020, identified nine areas of significant weakness. They revisited in November 2022 and confirmed that seven had made sufficient progress. To address the remaining two areas, Somerset developed an accelerated progress plan, supported by the department and NHS England (NHSE) SEND Advisors. Progress was closely monitored and, by February 2025, the plan was stepped down following sufficient improvement.The department and NHSE continue to engage with the Somerset SEND Partnership to discuss the local SEND system. Somerset Parent Carer Forum (PCF) representatives are valued strategic members at these meetings, which ensures their voices are heard, support to families continues, their issues are addressed, and true co-production takes place. We also engage with the regional and national PCF Networks to share information, escalate concerns and celebrate success.

What discussions she has had with parent-led organisations in (a) Yeovil constituency and (b) Somerset on the planned Special Educational Needs and Disabilities white paper.

The department funds the Participation and Family Support programme, which ensures we can gather lived experience and insights from children, young people, parents and carers within the special educational needs and disabilities system from across England. A key aim of the work is to strengthen the involvement of parent carers and improve communication between local authorities and families, which is why we fund annual grants to all parent carer forums (PCFs) across England.The National Network of Parent Carer Forums is the strategic voice of PCFs across England. The steering group is made up of 9 regional PCF leads, which includes the south west, working strategically in co-production with government departments.The department is 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.

What steps she is taking to support schools to better identify pupils' range of additional needs outside of the classroom.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education.Schools, further education colleges, sixth form colleges, and 16 to 19 academies are required to identify and address the special educational needs (SEN) of the pupils they support and, in the case of mainstream settings, to use their ‘best endeavours’ to make sure that a child or young person who has SEN gets the support they need.All schools should apply the ‘graduated approach’ that is outlined in the ‘SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years’, which means identifying a child’s needs, planning appropriate support, implementing and reviewing the support regularly to ensure it continues to meet the identified needs. Through this, schools should develop personalised approaches to supporting the unique needs of individual pupils. The code of practice can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25.To support settings to identify need early, we are strengthening the evidence base of what works to improve early identification in mainstream settings. For example, evidence reviews from University College London have recently been published. These will help to drive inclusive practices as they highlight what the best available evidence suggests are the most effective tools, strategies and approaches for teachers and other relevant staff in mainstream settings to identify and support children and young people with different types of needs.

What steps she is taking to support (a) schools and (b) local authorities to provide education, care and health plans for children with special educational needs in Yeovil constituency.

The duty to conduct education, health and care (EHC) needs assessments, and to issue EHC plans if required, rests with the local authority.The department monitors and works closely with local authorities that have issues with the EHC needs assessment and plan process. Where there are concerns about a local authority’s capacity to make improvements, we ensure that the cause of problems is identified and an effective recovery plan is implemented.A joint local area inspection of Somerset’s special educational needs and disabilities services, undertaken by Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) in March 2020, identified nine areas of significant weakness. Following actions taken, the CQC and Ofsted revisited in November 2022 and confirmed that sufficient progress had been made in seven areas, including the timeliness and quality of EHC plans. Somerset produced an Accelerated Progress Plan to address the two remaining areas. With specialist support from special educational needs and disabilities advisors, sufficient progress was made on these areas and the plan was stepped down in February 2025.

What discussions her Department has had with industry bodies on strengthening (a) apprenticeships and (b) training routes in the hospitality sector to support small and medium-sized businesses in Yeovil constituency.

The government offers a range of training options, including apprenticeships and BTECs, to support employers of all sizes in the hospitality sector to benefit from and develop the skilled workforces they need.Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) give small and medium businesses a stronger role in identifying local skills issues and working collaboratively with skills providers and other local stakeholders to resolve them. From October, Business West and Somerset Chamber of Commerce will begin the process of developing a new 3-year LSIP for Somerset, which includes the Yeovil constituency.The department and Skills England engage regularly with the hospitality sector, including industry bodies such as UK Hospitality, regarding training for the sector and the government’s plans for skills.To support apprenticeships in small and medium-sized enterprises the government pays full training costs for young apprentices aged 16 to 21, and for apprentices aged 22 to 24 who have an education, health and care (EHC) plan or have been, or are, in local authority care, when they undertake apprenticeships with non-levy paying employers.The government also continues to pay £1,000 to both employers and providers for apprentices aged 16 to 18, and for apprentices aged 19 to 24 who have an EHC plan or have been, or are, in local authority care.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the decision not to fully fund the (a) 4 per cent teacher pay award for September 2025 or (b) 3.2 per cent pay award for school support staff on schools' budgets in Yeovil constituency.

School funding is increasing by £3.7 billion in financial year 2025/26. In May, the department announced that it is providing schools with £615 million in additional funding to support them with overall costs, including the costs of the 4% schools teacher pay award and the 3.2% local government services pay award in respect of support staff in financial year 2025/26.Somerset local authority (which allocates funding for schools in Yeovil constituency) is receiving £418.4 million for mainstream schools in financial year 2025/26 through the Dedicated Schools Grant, an increase of 2.4% per pupil compared to financial year 2024/25. On top of that, all schools will receive additional funding through the Schools Budget Support Grant, to support them with overall costs, including the costs of teacher and support staff pay awards.Schools will be expected to find approximately the first 1 percentage point of pay awards through improved productivity and smarter spending to make every pound count. This is in line with asks to the rest of the public sector to drive better value from existing budgets to help rebuild public services. Schools are not alone in making these decisions, and the department is supporting them through a suite of existing and new productivity initiatives. Our Energy for Schools service, for example, enabled the 400 schools who participated to save on average 36% compared to their previous contracts.

What steps she plans to take to ensure the provision of high-quality library services in primary schools in Yeovil constituency by the end of this Parliament.

School libraries complement public libraries by giving pupils access to a range of books and other kinds of texts, both in and out of school.​It is for individual schools to decide how best to provide and maintain a library service for their pupils. Headteachers have autonomy to decide how best to spend the core schools funding that is allocated to them by the department. The Autumn Budget 2024 announced an additional £2.3 billion for schools for the 2025/26 financial year, compared to 2024/25, bringing the total core schools budget to almost £63.9 billion in 2025/26.The Dormant Assets strategy, published on 2 June 2025, announced that more than £130 million from the Dormant Assets scheme will be allocated to support the provision of services, facilities or opportunities to meet the needs of young people. Some of this will be used to invest in helping to foster a culture of reading for pleasure amongst disadvantaged children and young people in the spaces and places that matter to them, including schools, youth clubs and other settings like early years providers and libraries, through targeted intervention and increased access to reading material.Additionally, the English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, and they deliver the Transforming School Reading Cultures programme, as part of the English Hubs continuous professional development offer. For schools in the Yeovil constituency, the local English Hub is Cornerstone Hub.

Whether residents in Yeovil constituency will be consulted on changes to the provision of education, health and care plans.

The department is determined to restore confidence in the system of support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), so that all children and young people get the chance to achieve and thrive in their education. Our aim is to improve educational outcomes.The department is working with and listening to parents, local authorities, SEND organisations, education settings and others on how best we can strengthen the SEND system. We want to deliver better support for these vulnerable children and young people and their parents, and we are committed to getting this right. We will continue with this engagement over the summer, in preparation for consultation on a Schools White Paper in the autumn.We have made no decisions yet on the future of education, health and care plans. There will, however, always be a legal right to additional support for children and young people with SEND.

What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential impact of education, health and care plans on neurodivergent school children in rural communities.

The department is determined to restore confidence in the system of support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), so that all children and young people get the chance to achieve and thrive in their education. Our aim is to improve educational outcomes.The department is working with and listening to parents, local authorities, SEND organisations, education settings and others on how best we can strengthen the SEND system. We want to deliver better support for these vulnerable children and young people and their parents, and we are committed to getting this right. We will continue with this engagement over the summer, in preparation for consultation on a Schools White Paper in the autumn.We have made no decisions yet on the future of education, health and care plans. There will, however, always be a legal right to additional support for children and young people with SEND.

Whether she plans to reduce provision of support for children with SEND in Yeovil constituency in the next four years.

The department is determined to restore confidence in the system of support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), so that all children and young people get the chance to achieve and thrive in their education. Our aim is to improve educational outcomes.The department is working with and listening to parents, local authorities, SEND organisations, education settings and others on how best we can strengthen the SEND system. We want to deliver better support for these vulnerable children and young people and their parents, and we are committed to getting this right. We will continue with this engagement over the summer, in preparation for consultation on a Schools White Paper in the autumn.We have made no decisions yet on the future of education, health and care plans. There will, however, always be a legal right to additional support for children and young people with SEND.

What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help ensure that every student leaves school with CPR training in Yeovil constituency.

All state-funded schools, including those in Yeovil, are required to teach first aid as part of the statutory health education curriculum, as part of relationships, sex and health education (RSHE). This includes dealing with common injuries, calling the emergency services and administering CPR, including developing an understanding of the purpose of defibrillators.The department is currently reviewing the RSHE curriculum, including establishing whether any additional content is needed.

What steps she is taking to improve the (a) identification and (b) support for neurodivergent girls at school.

This government’s ambition is that all children with special educational needs receive the right support to succeed in their education.We have established a neurodivergence task and finish group, chaired by Professor Karen Guldberg from Birmingham University, to provide an expert view and make recommendations on how to best meet the needs of neurodivergent children and young people within mainstream education settings. Additionally, the Expert Advisory Group (EAG) for inclusion, led by Tom Rees, is providing sector-led advice on inclusive education practice.The department introduced the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) programme in 2024. The programme deploys health and education specialists to build teacher and staff capacity to identify and better meet the needs of neurodivergent children in mainstream primary schools and was delivered in over 1650 (around 10%) of all mainstream primary schools in its first year.Building on this success, the programme has been extended for the 2025/26 financial year to a further cohort of around 1200 additional mainstream primary schools.The programme is being evaluated, and learning from delivery of PINS approach is informing policy development around how schools support neurodivergent children.

What steps she is taking to support research into dyscalculia.

High-quality teaching is the most important in-school factor for improving outcomes for all children, particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and we are committed to ensuring that all pupils receive excellent support from their teachers, including those with dyscalculia.We have commissioned evidence reviews from University College London to identify the most effective tools, strategies and approaches for teachers and other relevant staff in mainstream settings to identify and support children and young people (age 0-25) with different types of needs, including cognition and learning needs such as dyscalculia.The ‘What Works in SEND’ programme will soon begin researching educational needs assessment tools used by schools to identify the needs of neurodivergent children.

What consideration the Curriculum and Assessment Review will give to the (a) needs of and (b) challenges faced by students with dyscalculia.

​​The Curriculum and Assessment Review, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE, is actively considering the needs and challenges faced by all pupils in accessing the national curriculum and making sure that they are all able to achieve high and rising standards.​The review is thoroughly examining the key challenges to attainment faced by children and young people in mainstream education, including those with special educational needs and disabilities, such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.The Review is committed to ensuring all pupils have access to a broad curriculum and achieve positive outcomes.​This government remains committed to enhancing inclusivity within mainstream schools and the review’s final report and recommendations will be published in autumn, at which point the government will respond.

What consideration the Curriculum and Assessment Review will give to the (a) needs of and (b) challenges faced by students with dyslexia.

​​The Curriculum and Assessment Review, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE, is actively considering the needs and challenges faced by all pupils in accessing the national curriculum and making sure that they are all able to achieve high and rising standards.​The review is thoroughly examining the key challenges to attainment faced by children and young people in mainstream education, including those with special educational needs and disabilities, such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.The Review is committed to ensuring all pupils have access to a broad curriculum and achieve positive outcomes.​This government remains committed to enhancing inclusivity within mainstream schools and the review’s final report and recommendations will be published in autumn, at which point the government will respond.

What consideration the Curriculum and Assessment Review will give to the (a) needs of and (b) challenges faced by students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

​​The Curriculum and Assessment Review, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE, is actively considering the needs and challenges faced by all pupils in accessing the national curriculum and making sure that they are all able to achieve high and rising standards.​The review is thoroughly examining the key challenges to attainment faced by children and young people in mainstream education, including those with special educational needs and disabilities, such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.The Review is committed to ensuring all pupils have access to a broad curriculum and achieve positive outcomes.​This government remains committed to enhancing inclusivity within mainstream schools and the review’s final report and recommendations will be published in autumn, at which point the government will respond.

What steps she is taking to support secondary school children with dyscalculia in (a) Yeovil constituency, (b) Somerset and (c) England.

​​This government’s ambition is to deliver an excellent, inclusive education for every child with a world class curriculum and highly trained, expert teachers. In November 2024, the department established the Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group, who will make recommendations on the best ways to support and meet the needs of neurodivergent children and young people in mainstream education settings. We have also commissioned evidence reviews from University College London, which will highlight the most effective tools, strategies and approaches for teachers and other relevant staff in mainstream settings to identify and support children and young people with different types of needs.​The Maths Hubs programme, which is funded by the department, is a school-led network aimed at improving the teaching of mathematics for all pupils in publicly-funded schools. It covers primary, secondary and special schools and uses a mastery-based teaching approach, which aims to secure understanding of key concepts. This includes training for teachers on techniques such as avoiding cognitive overload by breaking the learning down into small manageable steps, using representations to expose mathematical structure and ensuring that learning is sequenced in a coherent manner so it makes sense to pupils. Boolean Maths Hub works with schools, academies and colleges to support the continuous improvement of mathematics education across the west of England, including Somerset.​The National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics offers a Further Education Mastery Specialist Programme for post-16 GCSE mathematics resit and Functional Skills Maths teachers. This programme, delivered through Maths Hubs, aims to develop teachers' expertise in teaching for mastery approaches and enable them to support others in their institutions.

What steps she is taking to support primary school children with dyscalculia in (a) Yeovil constituency, (b) Somerset and (c) England.

​​This government’s ambition is to deliver an excellent, inclusive education for every child with a world class curriculum and highly trained, expert teachers. In November 2024, the department established the Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group, who will make recommendations on the best ways to support and meet the needs of neurodivergent children and young people in mainstream education settings. We have also commissioned evidence reviews from University College London, which will highlight the most effective tools, strategies and approaches for teachers and other relevant staff in mainstream settings to identify and support children and young people with different types of needs.​The Maths Hubs programme, which is funded by the department, is a school-led network aimed at improving the teaching of mathematics for all pupils in publicly-funded schools. It covers primary, secondary and special schools and uses a mastery-based teaching approach, which aims to secure understanding of key concepts. This includes training for teachers on techniques such as avoiding cognitive overload by breaking the learning down into small manageable steps, using representations to expose mathematical structure and ensuring that learning is sequenced in a coherent manner so it makes sense to pupils. Boolean Maths Hub works with schools, academies and colleges to support the continuous improvement of mathematics education across the west of England, including Somerset.​The National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics offers a Further Education Mastery Specialist Programme for post-16 GCSE mathematics resit and Functional Skills Maths teachers. This programme, delivered through Maths Hubs, aims to develop teachers' expertise in teaching for mastery approaches and enable them to support others in their institutions.

What steps she is taking to support students with dyscalculia in further education settings.

​​This government’s ambition is to deliver an excellent, inclusive education for every child with a world class curriculum and highly trained, expert teachers. In November 2024, the department established the Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group, who will make recommendations on the best ways to support and meet the needs of neurodivergent children and young people in mainstream education settings. We have also commissioned evidence reviews from University College London, which will highlight the most effective tools, strategies and approaches for teachers and other relevant staff in mainstream settings to identify and support children and young people with different types of needs.​The Maths Hubs programme, which is funded by the department, is a school-led network aimed at improving the teaching of mathematics for all pupils in publicly-funded schools. It covers primary, secondary and special schools and uses a mastery-based teaching approach, which aims to secure understanding of key concepts. This includes training for teachers on techniques such as avoiding cognitive overload by breaking the learning down into small manageable steps, using representations to expose mathematical structure and ensuring that learning is sequenced in a coherent manner so it makes sense to pupils. Boolean Maths Hub works with schools, academies and colleges to support the continuous improvement of mathematics education across the west of England, including Somerset.​The National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics offers a Further Education Mastery Specialist Programme for post-16 GCSE mathematics resit and Functional Skills Maths teachers. This programme, delivered through Maths Hubs, aims to develop teachers' expertise in teaching for mastery approaches and enable them to support others in their institutions.