Written questions by McMurdock.

What estimate she has made of the proportion of schools in (a) Essex and (b) England that have adequate systems for preventing unauthorised access.

Responsibility for the school estate lies with responsible bodies such as local authorities, academy trusts, or charitable trustees.The department’s 'Good estate management for schools' guidance, alongside more detailed 'Site security' guidance, outlines best practice for perimeter security and access control.Capital funding for school buildings will rise to £2.1 billion in 2025/26, increasing to around £2.3 billion by 2029/30. Essex County Council received £9.3 million for its maintained schools, with other responsible bodies also allocated funding. Smaller trusts and colleges may bid into the Condition Improvement Fund.The department’s ‘Protective security and preparedness for education settings’ and ‘School and college security’ guidance supports settings to assess vulnerabilities and ensure safe environments.Ofsted expects compliance with safeguarding but does not inspect site security specifically.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that all schools have effective (a) fencing, (b) access control systems, (c) CCTV and (d) other perimeter security measures to prevent unauthorised access to school premises in (i) Essex and (ii) nationally.

Responsibility for the school estate lies with responsible bodies such as local authorities, academy trusts, or charitable trustees.The department’s 'Good estate management for schools' guidance, alongside more detailed 'Site security' guidance, outlines best practice for perimeter security and access control.Capital funding for school buildings will rise to £2.1 billion in 2025/26, increasing to around £2.3 billion by 2029/30. Essex County Council received £9.3 million for its maintained schools, with other responsible bodies also allocated funding. Smaller trusts and colleges may bid into the Condition Improvement Fund.The department’s ‘Protective security and preparedness for education settings’ and ‘School and college security’ guidance supports settings to assess vulnerabilities and ensure safe environments.Ofsted expects compliance with safeguarding but does not inspect site security specifically.

Whether she plans to publish an analysis of (a) Higher Education Statistics Agency and (b) Office for National Statistics data on graduate employment to inform higher education (i) curriculum and (ii) skills policy.

The department publishes employment and earnings outcomes of graduates and postgraduates each year, based on data collected by the Higher Education Statistics Authority, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, and the Department for Work and Pensions. The publication includes breakdowns by subject studied, as well as graduate characteristics, and detailed information about which industries graduates worked in after studying a particular subject and their movements between industries after graduation. The publication can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/leo-graduate-and-postgraduate-outcomes/2022-23#dataBlock-d7be0f33-0ec5-4b78-98ed-ba6f25dfb414-charts. This data has been available since 26 June 2025.The department also publishes graduate labour market statistics. This publication uses data from the Office for National Statistics’ Labour Force Survey to compare employment and earnings outcomes between graduates, postgraduates and non-graduates. The publication can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/graduate-labour-markets/2024. This data has been available since 5 June 2025.The department uses these publications as part of the evidence base to inform higher education and skills policy.

What plans she has to ensure that SEND reforms improve consistency of outcomes across local authorities.

To improve the consistency of outcomes, the department is funding regional improvement and innovation alliances which promote collaboration and mutual learning between local authorities, driving consistent improvements in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision across regions.Launched in January 2023, the Ofsted/Care Quality Commission area SEND inspection framework will also inspect all local areas by 2027 to drive better outcomes and consistency. All inspection reports include recommendations for improvement, with departmental intervention to prioritise children’s needs where necessary.The department is working with 32 local authorities as part of the SEND and alternative provision Change Programme to test reform proposals to improve inclusive mainstream practice, create a sustainable system and deliver national consistency through local delivery.Regarding financial support, in the 2025/26 financial year, the department is allocating high needs revenue funding of over £12 billion and capital funding of £740 million for places and provision for children and young people with complex SEND in England.

What steps she is taking to support local authorities with SEND provision.

To improve the consistency of outcomes, the department is funding regional improvement and innovation alliances which promote collaboration and mutual learning between local authorities, driving consistent improvements in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision across regions.Launched in January 2023, the Ofsted/Care Quality Commission area SEND inspection framework will also inspect all local areas by 2027 to drive better outcomes and consistency. All inspection reports include recommendations for improvement, with departmental intervention to prioritise children’s needs where necessary.The department is working with 32 local authorities as part of the SEND and alternative provision Change Programme to test reform proposals to improve inclusive mainstream practice, create a sustainable system and deliver national consistency through local delivery.Regarding financial support, in the 2025/26 financial year, the department is allocating high needs revenue funding of over £12 billion and capital funding of £740 million for places and provision for children and young people with complex SEND in England.

What recent assessment she has made of the potential reasons for the attainment gap between boys and girls at the end of Key Stage 2.

All children and young people should have every opportunity to succeed. However, the department knows that, on average, attainment for boys is lower than girls and we continue to monitor this at all key stages.Although the gap has narrowed slightly from 2024, provisional 2025 key stage 2 data shows girls continue to outperform boys at the expected standard in all subjects, except for mathematics.High and rising standards are key to strengthening outcomes and closing gaps for every child and young person. The department is driving improvements through new regional improvement in standards and excellence teams, the Curriculum and Assessment Review and support to boost primary literacy, including the publication of the Writing Framework and with additional phonics to fluency reading support.Building on this, our upcoming Schools White Paper will set out our vision for a system that drives educational excellence for every child no matter who they are.

What steps she is taking to increase higher education participation among young men.

The Office for Students (OfS), as regulator for higher education (HE), has a statutory duty to have regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity in relation to the whole of the student lifecycle, not just access, but also continuation and success.HE providers registered with the OfS that intend to charge higher level tuition fees must have an access and participation plan (APP) approved by the OfS.APPs articulate key risks to equality of opportunity in HE, how these will be addressed and the student groups that will be supported through them. The OfS advises HE providers to consider intersections of disadvantage, such as those faced by white working-class men, when creating their APPs, based on credible assessment of risk.Supporting disadvantaged and underrepresented students in HE remains a priority. The government has allocated £265 million this financial year in student premium funding to support successful student outcomes.

What steps she is taking to help improve the retention of male students in higher education.

The Office for Students (OfS), as regulator for higher education (HE), has a statutory duty to have regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity in relation to the whole of the student lifecycle, not just access, but also continuation and success.HE providers registered with the OfS that intend to charge higher level tuition fees must have an access and participation plan (APP) approved by the OfS.APPs articulate key risks to equality of opportunity in HE, how these will be addressed and the student groups that will be supported through them. The OfS advises HE providers to consider intersections of disadvantage, such as those faced by white working-class men, when creating their APPs, based on credible assessment of risk.Supporting disadvantaged and underrepresented students in HE remains a priority. The government has allocated £265 million this financial year in student premium funding to support successful student outcomes.

What estimate she has made of male drop-out rates in higher education for the most recent year for which figures are available.

The department does not publish statistics on drop-out rates.Figures on continuation rates, which are the proportion of entrants continuing in their studies one year after entry, are published by the Office for Students. The latest year of data for UK domiciled male entrants studying a full-time first degree, covering those who entered in the 2021/22 academic year, shows that the continuation rate was 84.9%, compared with 89.0% for females.The requested data on continuation rates is available in more detail here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/data-and-analysis/student-characteristics-data/outcomes-data-dashboard/. This data has been available since 3 September 2024.

What recent comparative assessment she has made of trends in the identification of special educational needs and disabilities among (a) boys and (b) girls.

Information on the characteristics of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) are recorded in the school census. Data is not available for independent schools or general hospital schools. As of January 2025, 24.1% of male pupils were identified with SEN, compared to 14.2% of female pupils. 16.8% of male pupils were identified as receiving SEN support, compared to 11.1% of female pupils. 7.4% of male pupils had an education, health and care plan compared to 3.1% of female pupils. Whilst the number of both male and female pupils with SEN has grown since January 2016, the rate of growth has been higher among female pupils compared to male pupils.

What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of SEND support for children without education, health and care plans.

This government’s ambition is that every child or young person receives the best possible educational experience, one that is academically stretching, where every child or young person feels like they belong, and that sets them up for life and work.As part of our Plan for Change, we are determined to fix the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system and restore parents’ trust by ensuring schools have the tools to better identify and support children before issues escalate.We will build a better system which is grounded in evidence, identifies and supports need at the earliest opportunity, and ensures families can secure support swiftly without a fight. There will always be a legal right to the additional support that children with SEND need.Our new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams will work with mainstream schools to help them become more inclusive places as one of four priority areas for improvement.The newly published RISE Inclusive Mainstream webpage provides schools with programmes and resources to help mainstream schools improve inclusivity and support for those with SEND, and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rise-support-for-inclusive-mainstream-education/rise-support-for-inclusive-mainstream-education.

What steps she is taking to assist local authorities in reducing wait times for children with complex disabilities to access specialist respite services.

Under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, local authorities are required to assess the needs of disabled children. Where the assessment identifies that a child is eligible for support, the local authority must provide suitable services.In addition to this, between 2022 and 2025, the government funded the Short Breaks Innovation Programme, where local authorities were invited to bid for a share of £30 million to fund innovative approaches to short breaks delivery, and to the commissioning of such interventions. Some successful local authorities within the programme focused on reducing wait times. A lesson learned report from the programme is due to be published in autumn 2025.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of school initiatives in preventing (a) knife crime and (b) youth violence.

Keeping children safe is a top priority for this government. The department works closely with the Home Office to deliver better and safer outcomes for children and young people through the Opportunity and Safer Streets Missions.Education plays a vital role in helping children lead safe, fulfilling lives and can act as a protective factor for those who are vulnerable. Statutory guidance, including ‘Working together to safeguard children’ and ‘Keeping children safe in education’ sets out the safeguarding duties and responsibilities of education settings. This spans action taken within schools, such as through effective whole-school behaviour policies and pastoral support provision, through to the role of schools within multi-agency safeguarding arrangements, and action taken by schools to escalate concerns about children to local authority services.The department encourages and supports all schools to adopt effective, evidence-based approaches to preventing violence, working in close partnership with the Youth Endowment Fund to promote and embed best practice in violence prevention across the education sector.Updated relationships, sex and health education guidance was published in July 2025, including new content focused on staying safe from all forms of violence, and skills to help children avoid involvement in conflict and violence, such as knife crime. For those children who need more focused prevention support, the department is building on the insights from its evaluated school-based support, attend, fulfil, exceed taskforces and Alternative Provision Specialist Taskforces programmes, working to ensure all schools can benefit from these insights.

What steps she is taking to support schools to help prevent (a) knife crime and (b) youth violence.

Keeping children safe is a top priority for this government. The department works closely with the Home Office to deliver better and safer outcomes for children and young people through the Opportunity and Safer Streets Missions.Education plays a vital role in helping children lead safe, fulfilling lives and can act as a protective factor for those who are vulnerable. Statutory guidance, including ‘Working together to safeguard children’ and ‘Keeping children safe in education’ sets out the safeguarding duties and responsibilities of education settings. This spans action taken within schools, such as through effective whole-school behaviour policies and pastoral support provision, through to the role of schools within multi-agency safeguarding arrangements, and action taken by schools to escalate concerns about children to local authority services.The department encourages and supports all schools to adopt effective, evidence-based approaches to preventing violence, working in close partnership with the Youth Endowment Fund to promote and embed best practice in violence prevention across the education sector.Updated relationships, sex and health education guidance was published in July 2025, including new content focused on staying safe from all forms of violence, and skills to help children avoid involvement in conflict and violence, such as knife crime. For those children who need more focused prevention support, the department is building on the insights from its evaluated school-based support, attend, fulfil, exceed taskforces and Alternative Provision Specialist Taskforces programmes, working to ensure all schools can benefit from these insights.

What steps she is taking to help ensure that universities provide students with the skills most in demand by employers.

Higher education (HE) providers have duties to co-operate in the development and review of Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) developed by Employer Representative Bodies and have regard to the plan when making decisions in relation to their technical education or training provision.LSIPs form a key part of the overall strategic planning system in an area. The plans set out the critical skill needs of employers in an area, up to and including HE, and the actions needed to address them. HE providers are a key partner in both the development and delivery of LSIPs.The department will soon publish our plans for HE reform as part of the post-16 Skills White Paper.

What recent estimate she has made of how many and what proportion of recent university graduates are employed in roles that make use of their degree-level skills.

The department does not produce these estimates.Graduate Outcome survey data published by HESA shows that around 70% of UK domiciled students who graduated with an undergraduate degree from a UK higher education provider during the 2022/23 academic year were in high-skilled employment fifteen months after graduation. This data was published in July 2025 and can be found in Table 12 here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/sb272/figure-12.The Office for National Statistics have also published ad hoc statistics on employment in graduate roles. Available data for 2023 can be found here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/adhocs/2492onslocalemploymentingraduateandnongraduaterolesbyqualificationandsectorbyukregion2023.

What recent estimate she has made of how many and what proportion of university graduates are in full-time employment within six months of graduation.

Administrative Longitudinal Educational Outcome data of 292,945 UK domiciled first-degree students who graduated with a first degree from UK Higher Education Institutions only in 2022/23 academic year shows that an estimated 82.8% were in sustained employment (with or without study) one year after graduation. The full dataset was published in June 2025 and can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/leo-graduate-and-postgraduate-outcomes/2022-23#dataBlock-d7be0f33-0ec5-4b78-98ed-ba6f25dfb414-charts.

With reference to the Education Policy Institute's Annual Report 2025, what plans she has to review the (a) adequacy and (b) targeting of disadvantage funding across all education phases in South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency.

In the 2025/26 financial year, 10.6%, representing £5.1 billion of the schools national funding formula (NFF), has been allocated through deprivation factors, as part of the 17.8%, representing £8.6 billion, allocated for additional needs overall. Schools with more pupils with additional needs therefore receive extra funding to help them to close attainment gaps. In 2025/26, the most deprived schools have, on average, attracted the largest per pupil funding amounts. The per pupil funding rates provided in respect of all NFF additional needs factors can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674f2609d7e2693e0e47d02a/NFF_Policy_document.pdf.Alongside the NFF, the department is providing over £3 billion in pupil premium funding in 2025/26 to improve the attainment and wider outcomes of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. Pupil premium funding allocations can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2025-to-2026.

If she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the pupil premium at reducing attainment gaps in (a) England and (b) in South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency.

Schools receive pupil premium, worth over £3 billion in 2025/26, to support disadvantaged pupils’ educational outcomes. South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency’s pupil premium allocation this financial year is £5.59 million.The department published an evaluation of pupil and recovery premia in March 2025: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67dd5b7f0114b0b86e59f42b/Pupil_premium_and_recovery_premium_evaluation.pdf.This contained positive findings, for example 85% of schools and 91% of trusts agreed that having pupil premium meant they had a better strategy for meeting disadvantaged pupils’ needs.

What recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of banning smartphones in secondary schools.

Mobile phones have no place in our schools. Schools should prohibit the use of mobile phones and other smart technology with similar functionality to mobile phones throughout the school day, including during lessons, the time between lessons, breaktimes and lunchtime, as set out in the ‘Mobile phones in schools’ guidance, published in 2024. The department expects all schools to take steps in line with this guidance to ensure mobile phones do not disrupt pupils’ learning. New research from the Children’s Commissioner, with responses from nearly all schools and colleges in England, shows that the overwhelming majority of schools, 99.8% of primary schools and 90% of secondary schools, already have policies in place that limit or restrict the use of mobile phones during the school day.