Written questions by Riddell-Carpenter.

What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on ensuring children have access to practical road safety and cycle training.

Officials in the department engaged with the Department for Transport when developing the updated Relationships Sex and Health Education guidance.The updated guidance, published in July 2025 has a new section on personal safety which includes how to recognise risk and keep safe around roads. The Department for Transport has dedicated interactive websites for schools with materials that focus on their THINK! campaign.Officials also engage on active travel for schools. Bikeability, the government owned cycle training programme, is funded by Active Travel England in schools across England. Up to £30 million was allocated to the programme for 2025/26 and funding for the forthcoming 3-year period is due to be announced shortly. Almost 6 million children have received Bikeability cycle training since 2007, with 500,000 children booking onto training in 2024/25.

What data her Department holds on (a) the number of people aged 60 and over currently enrolled in further education, (b) the number of people aged 60 and over currently undertaking postgraduate study, and (c) the number of people aged 60 and over who have completed a PhD in each of the last ten years.

Adult further education and skills learner participation by age is published in the further education and skills statistics publication which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/further-education-and-skills/2024-25. However, participation figures for the 60+ age group specifically are not published In 2024/25, there were 307,750 further education and skills learners aged 50 and above. The following table presents numbers of further education and skills learners by age for academic years between 2019/20 and 2024/25: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/dc701901-2aeb-421f-4a31-08de398c3998. The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) is responsible for collecting and publishing data on the UK higher education (HE) sector. In the academic year 2023/24, across all modes of study, there were 7,415 postgraduate student enrolments aged 60+ across all UK HE providers. The following table presents numbers of HE students by age and permanent address for academic years between 2019/20 and 2023/24: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-58. Data on the number of people aged 60 and over who have completed a PhD in each of the last ten years is not published, but has been produced using unpublished HESA data and, for qualifiers across all UK HE providers, is shown in the table below:YearPhD qualifiers aged 60+2023/245492022/234822021/224462020/214732019/204552018/194482017/184682016/174292015/164022014/15425 Note - Age taken at start of final year of study

Whether her Department is considering changes to postgraduate research funding eligibility for older learners as part of the Lifelong Learning Entitlement.

The lifelong learning entitlement (LLE) will deliver transformational change to the current student finance system by broadening access to high quality, flexible education and training.From January 2027, all undergraduate higher education courses, including integrated master’s courses, will be funded through the LLE. Tuition fee loans will be available for people up to the age of 60.The government will continue to provide a dedicated loan package for postgraduate study. The postgraduate master’s loan, administered by Student Finance England, currently provides up to £12,858 for tuition fees and living costs for eligible students.

Whether her Department plans to take steps to ensure that (a) kinship and (b) foster carers have the same employment leave rights as (i) adoptive, (ii) maternity and (iii) paternity carers.

The government has committed to conducting a review of the whole parental leave system. This review was launched on 1 July and represents a much-needed opportunity to consider our approach to the system of parental leave and pay.The department will also consider whether the support available meets the needs of other working families who do not qualify for existing leave and pay entitlements, such as kinship carers.Foster carers who combine fostering with paid employment have a range of existing workplace rights and legal entitlements to help manage their dual responsibilities, including the right to request flexible working from day one, introduced through the Employment Rights Bill, and adoption leave where applicable. The department also supports The Fostering Network’s ‘Fostering Friendly Employers’ campaign.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that social workers receive specialist training to recognise signs of child sexual abuse connected to the production of online child pornography.

It is vitally important that all professionals working with children, including social workers, can recognise and respond quickly to the signs of child sexual abuse.While local authorities and other employers are responsible for the professional development of their workforces, we are supporting them to ensure that social workers are equipped to recognise and respond to signs of child sexual abuse, including those connected to online pornography.The government recently launched a consultation on a new post-qualifying standards and training programme for child and family social workers, and we will be publishing our response shortly. This will support social workers new to the profession, including developing the knowledge and skills required to respond to cases of sexual abuse and exploitation.In the future, we will expand on these post-qualifying standards to include those for advanced practice, which will look to increase social work expertise and leadership in child protection, including in relation to sexual abuse and exploitation.The government has also committed, in the Home Office’s Progress Update on tackling child sexual abuse, to develop specialist child sexual abuse and exploitation training for all key members of the children’s services.

Whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to grant local authorities greater flexibility in setting school term dates.

Local authorities already have responsibility for setting term dates for schools where they are the employer, including community schools, community special schools, voluntary controlled schools, pupil referral units and maintained nursery schools. These will be set in line with the requirements set out in the Education (School Day and School Year) (England) Regulations 1999.

How much additional funding for special educational needs and disabilities has been allocated to Suffolk County Council since July 2024.

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.In July 2024, the government announced that an additional core schools budget grant (CSBG) would be allocated to local authorities to help special and alternative provision (AP) schools with the costs of the 2024 teacher and support staff pay increases. Suffolk County Council was allocated a 2024/25 financial year CSBG amount of over £1.5 million.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. This brings total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND to over £12 billion. Of that total, Suffolk County Council is being allocated over £124 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £10.3 million on the 2024/25 DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula (NFF). This NFF allocation is an 9% increase per head of their 2 to 18-year-old population, on their equivalent 2024/25 NFF allocation.In addition to the DSG, local authorities will also receive a separate CSBG in the 2025/26 financial year. This CSBG continues the 2024/25 CSBG and other separate grants payable in 2024/25, which were to help special and AP schools with the costs of teachers’ pay and pension increases and other staff pay increases, and now includes additional funding to help those schools with the increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions. The department plans to publish individual local authorities’ allocations of this funding for 2025/26 in May 2025.Decisions on funding for SEND for the years beyond 2025/26 will be taken following the forthcoming spending review.

What steps she is taking to improve the educational support system for post-16 students who missed GCSE examinations due to unforeseen circumstances.

If a student is unable to sit an exam or assessment for a qualification for an acceptable reason, but has completed at least one other exam or assessment in that subject, schools and colleges may be able to apply for special consideration.When in post-16 education, students can agree a study programme with their institution that meets their needs. 16 to 19 funding is flexible in supporting a wide range of study programmes, though these need to include English and mathematics if students have not yet achieved a GCSE grade 4 in these subjects.The 16 to 19 funding formula allocates additional funding to support students who need to continue with English and mathematics, and funding to help with the more general additional costs incurred for teaching and supporting students who have low prior attainment.When learning programmes are designed to enable students to re-sit or retake examinations and assessments these are not generally eligible for funding as the activity has already been funded. However, when there are exceptional circumstances outside the control of the student or institution then the retake delivery hours for individual students may be included in the funded study programme hours.In the guidance ‘16 to 19 funding: information for 2025 to 2026’, published 5 March 2025, the department announced additional 16 to 19 education funding in the 2025/26 financial year on top of the £300 million announced at the Autumn Budget 2024. This guidance can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/16-to-19-funding-information-for-2025-to-2026. This means that we will be spending over £400 million more to ensure enough funding is available given the very significant increase in student numbers and other pressures on the system.

What funding her Department has provided to local authorities for Special Educational Needs and Disability First-tier Tribunal hearings in the past 12 months.

The department does not fund local authorities to cover the costs associated with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) first-tier tribunal hearings. Local authorities fund their legal costs from their operational budgets.

What the potential cost to the public purse was of funding from her Department to Suffolk County Council to help pay for Tribunal fees for each year between 2019-2023.

The department does not fund local authorities to cover the costs associated with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) first-tier tribunal hearings. Local authorities fund their legal costs from their operational budgets.

How much additional funding her Department has allocated for special educational needs provision by Suffolk County Council following the Autumn Budget 2024.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision 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 almost £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, Suffolk County Council is being allocated over £124 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £10.3 million on this year’s DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula (NFF). This NFF allocation is a 9% increase per head of their 2 to 18-year-old population, on their equivalent 2024/25 NFF allocation. As also announced at the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is receiving compensation in recognition of the increase in National Insurance contributions paid by schools and other state-funded SEND provision. That funding is additional to the £1 billion increase in high needs funding. Due to timing constraints, it will be provided as a separate grant, alongside the 2025/26 DSG for local authorities. The department will provide further information on the allocations as soon as possible.

Whether she plans to continue the Academies Programme.

Academies are a crucial and valued part of our school system.This government is proud of the change the academies movement has delivered for children. The government's mission is to break down the barriers for all children. We’re building on the academies programme to ensure that all children and every family has a core entitlement to a high standard curriculum taught by qualified, expert teachers, with space for innovation and flexibility beyond this.The department wants high quality trusts to continue to grow where schools wish to join them and there is a strong case for them to do so.