Written questions by Stephenson.

Pursuant to the Answer of 31 January 2025 to Question 26151 on Schools: Admissions, what estimate she has made of the (a) number of pupils and (b) school capacity for (i) Central Bedfordshire, (ii) Bedford Borough and (iii) Luton Borough for each of the next five years.

Data on state-funded school places is published at local authority level in the annual ‘School capacity’ publication. The full release can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-capacity.The latest available data for the number of pupils and school capacity, as at 1 May 2023, for Central Bedfordshire, Bedford borough and Luton borough can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/190afba3-869e-4ef0-f219-08dd5cc661f7.Local authority pupil number forecasts for Central Bedfordshire, Bedford borough and Luton borough for the five academic years from 2023/24 to 2027/28 can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/9631024d-157e-4b93-0eb3-08dd5ccbf23a.The linked table also includes numbers on roll for 2022/23 as at January 2023, which differs to the numbers on roll in the capacity table that relate to May 2023. Forecasts were submitted to the department through the School Capacity survey 2023.School capacity estimates are made for three academic years ahead, in this case 2023/24 to 2025/26, as part of the department’s estimate of future school place shortfalls and surpluses. These estimates can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-catalogue/data-set/b12c3f30-c22c-4b88-b5b2-2c1848981b4e. These estimates reflect the position reported by local authorities at May 2023 through the School Capacity survey, supplemented with the department’s internal data on central programmes.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) business rates on private schools and (b) VAT on school fees on economic growth.

Economic impacts of the policy to apply VAT to private school fees are covered in the tax information and impact note (TIIN) that the government has published on GOV.UK. The publication can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-on-private-school-fees/ac8c20ce-4824-462d-b206-26a567724643.The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has introduced the Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill to remove eligibility to business rates relief from private schools that are charities. MHCLG has published an impact note alongside the Bill, and this can be found at: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/59-01/0129/ImpactNote.pdf.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional funding to Central Bedfordshire Council to help support the transition from a three to a two-tier education system.

Every year, the department uses the schools national funding formula (NFF) to distribute core funding for 5 to 16 year-old pupils, from reception to year 11, in mainstream state-funded schools in England.In the current NFF, the vast majority of funding is distributed on the basis of pupil numbers and pupils’ characteristics. This allows funding distribution to be based on a fair and consistent assessment of need. The NFF is neutral to how schools are set up and schools are free to choose how best to spend the funding they receive.The department provides capital funding through the basic need grant to support local authorities to meet their statutory duty to provide sufficient school places. While this funding is not designed to fund transitions from a three-tier to a two-tier system, the funding is not ringfenced, subject to published conditions, and local authorities are free to use this funding to best meet their local priorities. Central Bedfordshire Council will receive just under £36.1 million for places needed between May 2022 and September 2026, paid across the five financial years from 2021/22 to 2025/26. This takes their total funding allocated between 2011 and 2026 to just under £121.3 million. Importantly, the decision to move to a two-tier system is one for the local authority to make.

What steps her Department is taking to tackle backlogs in the processing of statutory assessments for education, health and care plans.

The department wants to ensure that, where required, education, health and care (EHC) plan assessments are progressed promptly and, if needed, plans are issued as quickly as possible so that children and young people can access the support they need.Local authorities have a statutory responsibility to assess whether children and young people have special educational needs that require an EHC plan. EHC plans must be issued within 20 weeks of the needs assessment commencing so that children and young people can access the support they need. The most recent dataset shows there were 138,200 initial requests for an EHC plan and 90,500 assessments took place in 2023. 50.3% of new EHC plans in 2023 were issued within 20 weeks.The department knows that local authorities have seen an increase in the number of assessment requests and that more needs to be done to ensure that local areas deliver effective and timely services. This includes better communication with schools and families.The department continues to monitor and work closely with local authorities that have issues with EHC plan timeliness. Where there are concerns about a local authority’s capacity to make the required improvements, we help the local authority to identify the problems and put in place an effective recovery plan. This includes, where needed, securing specialist special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) adviser support to help identify the barriers to EHC plan process timeliness and put in place practical plans for recovery.Central Bedfordshire underwent an Ofsted and Care Quality Commission joint area SEND inspection in October 2019, with the report published in February 2020. The local area was required to produce a written statement of action to address six significant weaknesses. During a revisit in July 2022, Ofsted found sufficient progress in three of the six areas. Consequently, the area was required to produce an accelerated progress plan to outline the necessary improvements for the remaining three areas.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of standardising the funding models local authorities use to support pupils with special educational needs.

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 and as they move into adult life.Following the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND to £11.9 billion.Of that total, Bedford Borough Council is being allocated over £38 million through the high needs funding block, and Central Bedfordshire Council is being allocated over £49 million.We are keeping the high needs funding arrangements, including the appropriate level of flexibility and standardisation in local authorities’ funding models, under review as we progress wider SEND reforms.

If she will make an estimate of the number of SEN pupils who attend independent schools in Bedfordshire.

Information on the number of pupils in schools in Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Luton attending independent schools with both education, health and care (EHC) plans and special educational needs (SEN) support is available in the publication ‘Special Educational Needs in England’, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england.The table linked below shows the figures for pupils in schools with both EHC plans and SEN support in independent schools and independent special schools in Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Luton local authorities for the 2023/24 academic year: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/0c775324-f4bf-4a80-18a7-08dd3ba4043a.

How many and what proportion of SEN pupils attend a school in a different local authority area to the one in which they live in the East of England.

The number and proportion of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) who attend a school in a different local authority area to the one in which they live in the East of England is shown below. Pupils1,2 with SEN resident3 in local authority areas in East of England by whether they go to school within or outside their local authority areaSource: January school census 2024 PrimarySecondary Special Number of pupils with education, health and care (EHC) PlanResident pupils15,77511,50914,356School within local authority area15,38910,89813,397School outside local authority area386611959Percentage of pupils with EHC Plan School within local authority area97.6%94.7%93.3%School outside local authority area2.4%5.3%6.7%Number of pupils with SEN support (without EHC Plan)Resident pupils69,32346,86379School within local authority area67,70644,74169School outside local authority area1,6172,12210Percentage of pupils with SEN support (without EHC Plan)School within local authority area97.7%95.5%87.3%School outside local authority area2.3%4.5%12.7%Total number of pupils with SEN resident in East of EnglandResident pupils85,09858,37214,435School within local authority area83,09555,63913,466School outside local authority area2,0032,733969Total percentage of pupils with SEN resident in East of EnglandSchool within local authority area97.6%95.3%93.3%School outside local authority area2.4%4.7%6.7%Total percentage of all pupils resident in East of England attending a school outside local authority area 2.4%5.6%6.7% 1. State-funded school pupils in national curriculum years reception to 11, includes a small number of special school pupils for whom year group is not recorded.2. Excludes pupils who board and dual subsidiary enrolments.3. Resident is based on the pupil’s home postcode.

Whether she has made an estimate of the number of SEN pupils in Bedfordshire that are expected to leave the Independent school sector in 2024-25.

The department has made no estimate of the number of pupils specifically in Bedfordshire with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) who will leave the independent school system in the 2024/25 academic year.As set out in HM Treasury’s tax information and impact note on applying VAT to independent school fees, published on GOV.UK, the government estimates that approximately 3,000 pupils will move from independent schools in the UK to state schools in the 2024/25 academic year.There is no separate assessment by local authority. The impact on individual local authorities will interact with other pressures and vary.HM Treasury’s impact note considers SEND, but does not provide a separate assessment broken down by SEND. It is important to note that pupils who need a local authority-funded place in an independent school will not be impacted by the changes. To protect pupils with special educational needs (SEN) that can only be met in an independent school, local authorities and devolved governments that fund these places will be compensated for the VAT they are charged on those pupils’ fees.Most pupils who have SEN are educated in mainstream schools (whether state-maintained or independent) where their needs are met. The overwhelming majority attend state schools. The department supports local authorities to provide suitable school places for children and young people with SEND through annual high needs capital funding. This can be used to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings. At Autumn Budget 2024, the government announced a £2.3 billion increase to the core schools' budget in 2025/26, increasing per pupil funding in real terms. This included an almost £1 billion uplift to high needs funding in 2025/26, providing additional support for the more than one million children in the state sector with SEND.

How many pupils in Bedfordshire had an EHC plan in each academic year since 2019/20.

Information on the number of pupils in schools in Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Luton with education, health and care (EHC) plans is available in the publication ‘Special Educational Needs in England’, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england. The table linked below shows the figures for pupils in schools with EHC plans in Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Luton local authorities for each academic year since 2019/20: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/c81e3eb7-09ad-4267-78dd-08dd3ba46a29.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure there are sufficient school places to match trends in the level of housing growth.

Local authorities are responsible for providing enough school places for children in their area. We provide capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support local authorities to provide mainstream school places, based on their own pupil forecasts and school capacity data. Nearly £1.5 billion of allocations have been confirmed to support local authorities to create school places needed over the current and next two academic years, up to and including the 2026/27 academic year. Local authorities can use this funding to provide places in new schools or through expansions of existing schools. Financial contributions from housing developers are also an important way of helping to meet demand for new school places when housing developments are driving pupil numbers. It is for the local planning authority (LPA) to secure developer contributions through section 106 agreements or the Community Infrastructure Levy, and to decide on the local infrastructure needs that this contribution should support. The department encourages LPAs to secure significant contributions for new school places and work closely with colleagues planning school places in their area, including county councils when the local authority responsible for education is not the LPA. The department engages with local authorities on a regular basis to review their plans for creating additional places and to consider alternatives where necessary. When local authorities are experiencing difficulties, we offer support and advice.

Whether she plans to carry out kinship carers pilot trials in eight local authority areas.

Through the Autumn Budget 2024, this government announced a £40 million package to trial a new kinship allowance in up to 10 local authorities to test whether paying an allowance to cover the additional costs of supporting the child can help increase the number of children taken in by family members and friends. This trial will help the department make decisions about future national rollout. The department will share further detail on the process for selecting the local authorities taking part in the programme in due course.

Whether she plans to produce a national kinship carers strategy.

The government is determined to give every child the opportunities they deserve, and kinship carers play a crucial role in delivering this.In November 2024, the government published ‘Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive’, which is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67375fe5ed0fc07b53499a42/Keeping_Children_Safe__Helping_Families_Thrive_.pdf. This statement set out the government's intention to rebalance the children’s social care system and improve outcomes for children in care, care leavers and families. This publication includes the key principle of supporting children to live with kinship carers when it is in their best interest.The department recently announced a £40 million package to trial a new Kinship Allowance in up to ten local authorities, to test whether paying an allowance to cover the additional costs of supporting the child can help increase the number of children taken in by family members and friends.This is the single biggest investment made by government in kinship care to date. This investment could transform the lives of vulnerable children who can no longer live at home, by allowing children to grow up within their families and communities, reducing disruption to their early years and allowing them to focus on schooling and building friendships.

What estimate her Department has made of the number of pupils in Bedfordshire who will leave the independent school system as a result of VAT on school fees.

The department has made no estimate of the number of pupils in Bedfordshire who will leave the independent school system as a result of VAT on school fees. The government predicts that, in the long-run steady state, there will be 37,000 fewer pupils in the private sector in the UK as a result of the removal of the VAT exemption applied to school fees. This represents around 6% of the current private school population. This movement is expected to take place over several years. Of the 37,000 pupil reduction in the private sector, the government estimates an increase of 35,000 pupils in the state sector in the steady state following the VAT policy taking effect, with the other 2,000 consisting of international pupils who do not move into the UK state system, and domestic pupils moving into homeschooling. This state sector increase represents less than 0.5% of total UK state school pupils, of which there are over 9 million. This movement is expected to take place over several years. The impact on individual local authorities will interact with other pressures and vary. Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide full-time education for all children of statutory school age in their area, suitable for their age, aptitude, ability and any special educational needs and/or disabilities. The department works with local authorities to help them fulfil their duty to secure school places. Requirements for state-funded places for children that would have attended a private school will be addressed in each local authority through normal processes.

What plans her Department has to replace capital funding originally allocated to (a) Arnold Academy, (b) Parkfields Middle School, (c) Toddington St. George Church of England School, and (d) The Firs Lower School in Mid Bedfordshire constituency through the Condition Improvement Fund.

The department has written to the responsible bodies to encourage them to reapply to the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF), which opened for applications for the 2025/26 round on 22 October 2024. The bodies should closely review the guidance and all the documents provided in support of their application to ensure their appropriateness as evidence of project need.In cases of an urgent building condition issue that cannot wait for funding in the current CIF round, schools can apply for Urgent Capital Support funding. More details on both funding routes are available on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/condition-improvement-fund.

Whether the planned free school in Bedford Borough is under review by her Department.

The government wants to ensure children achieve and thrive in education, whatever type of school they are in, including free schools. School capacity varies from place to place, and demand for places varies from area to area and year to year, so the department will continue to ensure the opening of new schools only where they are needed. Departmental officials are working with local authorities, academy trusts and other partners to take forward work on the review of mainstream free school projects over the autumn and have written to them, setting out the next steps in relation to individual projects.

What steps she is taking to reduce class sizes in Bedfordshire.

The average class size for state-funded primary schools in Bedford is 26.8 pupils and in Central Bedfordshire it is 25.7 pupils, which is broadly in line with the national average of 26.6 pupils. The average class size for state-funded secondary schools in Bedford is 21.5 pupils and in Central Bedfordshire it is 22.6 pupils, which again is broadly in line with the national average of 22.4 pupils.Secondary schools can decide how to organise classes based on local needs and circumstances, ensuring they are consistent with raising attainment and helping pupils to achieve and thrive. Legislation limits the size of an infant class to 30 pupils per school teacher.It is local authorities who have responsibility to ensure that there are sufficient school places in their area. The department provides capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support local authorities to provide school places. Bedford Borough Council will receive £15.1 million and Central Bedfordshire Council will receive £3.3 million in 2024/25 to support the provision of new school places needed by September 2025.