Every parliamentary written question tabled by Layla Moran this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 1–12 of 12 · Department for Education
What steps she is taking to meet that the commitment set out in the Post 16 Skills White Paper to maintain 16–18 funding per student in real terms.
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
What assessment her Department has made of the pay gap between Further Education lecturers and school teachers; and whether she is taking steps support FE colleges in recruiting and retaining skilled teachers to deliver technical education.
The statutory requirements for maintained schoolteachers' pay are set nationally subject to recommendations from the School Teachers’ Review Body. In 2023/24, the median FTE salary for teachers in secondary schools was £47,666.Further education (FE) colleges have statutory autonomy over the pay of their staff. Colleges should have the freedom to meet local technical skills needs within their own local circumstances, and the government does not set college teacher pay. In 2023/24, the median FTE average salary for teachers on permanent or fixed term contracts in FE colleges was £36,316 and £47,133 in sixth form colleges.FE teachers are central to delivering high-quality technical education. Last year, we announced an additional £190 million broadly equivalent to the pay award in schools for colleges and other 16 to 19 providers to help them address the recruitment and retention of specialist FE teachers. Our targeted retention incentive offer is designed to retain eligible FE teachers in technical subjects with payments of up to £6,000 after tax. In its first year, nearly 6,000 teachers received a payment.
What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of recent 16–18 funding decisions on the Government’s stated ambition to develop a high‑skill workforce; and whether she plans to review the funding framework to ensure Further Education colleges can deliver the expected level of technical and vocational training.
The department has made significant increases to the average funding per student since the 2024/25 academic year, an expected per student increase of 10.5%. We expect that the average per student funding in 2026/27 will stand at £6,874, compared to £6,219 in the 2024/25 academic year.In the 2026/27 academic year, we are also introducing a high value courses premium (HVCP) for construction. This is additional funding to encourage and support an increase in skilled construction workers. We will continue to fund the demographic increase in 16 to 19-year-olds, providing significant investment to ensure there are valuable and high-quality post-16 places for every student that wants one, supporting our economy and enabling young people to be able to progress and thrive.
What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of local government reorganisation on educational services for children with SEND.
The department fully recognises the importance of ensuring that any structural changes to local government protect the safety, wellbeing, and life chances of children and young people. The department is already working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to put in place resource, structures and processes that support effective reorganisation, including in relation to provision of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services, to ensure that we improve outcomes for children as these changes take place.The department is reviewing all local government reorganisation (LGR) proposals and will provide feedback to MHCLG, with a particular emphasis on how proposals will ensure the effective delivery of SEND, children’s social care and education services and reforms. The department will also work with individual local authorities throughout the LGR process to ensure local, contextual knowledge is embedded into feedback provided.
Whether she has issued guidance to early years educational settings on the use of screens in nurseries.
The ‘Early years foundation stage’ (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements early years providers must meet to ensure children have the best start in life and are kept healthy and safe. Details about the framework are available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68c024cb8c6d992f23edd79c/Early_years_foundation_stage_statutory_framework_-_for_group_and_school-based_providers.pdf.pdf.The department has published guidance to inform practitioners about online safety and appropriate device usage in early years settings, including an ‘Internet safety’ page on the Help for Early Years Providers platform here: https://help-for-early-years-providers.education.gov.uk/health-and-wellbeing/internet-safety. This includes information on how device use affects development, outlining both benefits and challenges.Following the publication of new screen time guidance for parents, we will update this page to provide further emphasis on screen time and outline considerations around adult use of technology within settings. We will also incorporate updated guidance into the EYFS frameworks and review Development Matters to include information on screen time and digital literacy.
How much funding her Department has committed to implement the recommendations of the Independent review of children's social care: final report, published on 23 May 2022, in each of the next five years.
This government is driving the biggest transformation of children’s social care in a generation. Long-term investment is essential to shift the system away from high-cost crisis responses towards earlier support.In 2025/26, the department more than doubled direct investment in children’s social care prevention services through the Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant. Now we are going even further to reform children’s social care. We are continuing the £523 million available for the Families First Partnership programme in 2025/26 for each year of the Local Government Finance Settlement to 2028/29. We have invested a further £300 million over two years (2026/27 and 2027/28) from the Transformation Fund announced at the Spending Review, and £547 million of new funding announced in the Local Government Funding Policy Statement, meaning £2.4 billion over three years, all ringfenced for prevention and de-escalation. Together this will help to reduce reliance on costly acute services, strengthen earlier intervention and drive forward reforms to children’s social care.We are also investing £560 million capital funding to refurbish and expand children’s homes and provide more high-quality foster care placements.Additional funding beyond 2027/28 is subject to the next Spending Review.
With reference to the independent report entitled Independent review of children's social care: final report, published on 23 May 2022, how much of the recommended new spending of £2.6 billion has been allocated to date.
This government is driving the biggest transformation of children’s social care in a generation. Long-term investment is essential to shift the system away from high-cost crisis responses towards earlier support.In 2025/26, the department more than doubled direct investment in children’s social care prevention services through the Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant. Now we are going even further to reform children’s social care. We are continuing the £523 million available for the Families First Partnership programme in 2025/26 for each year of the Local Government Finance Settlement to 2028/29. We have invested a further £300 million over two years (2026/27 and 2027/28) from the Transformation Fund announced at the Spending Review, and £547 million of new funding announced in the Local Government Funding Policy Statement, meaning £2.4 billion over three years, all ringfenced for prevention and de-escalation. Together this will help to reduce reliance on costly acute services, strengthen earlier intervention and drive forward reforms to children’s social care.We are also investing £560 million capital funding to refurbish and expand children’s homes and provide more high-quality foster care placements.Additional funding beyond 2027/28 is subject to the next Spending Review.
Whether she has had discussions with the Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission on the potential merits of increasing democratic education in schools.
Teaching about democracy and elections already forms a central part of the national curriculum for citizenship at key stages 3 and 4 and can be taught as a non-statutory topic in primary schools. The government will consider the citizenship curriculum in the context of the Curriculum and Assessment Review, and we see potential for lowering the voting age to help boost young people's engagement with the subject. We will also work with the Electoral Commission, the devolved governments and civil society to consider what additional measures can support schools, colleges, and youth groups to roll out practical voter and civic education.
What steps she is taking to improve the provision of school transportation for children with Special Educational Needs.
The department’s home-to-school travel policy aims to make sure no child is prevented from accessing education by a lack of transport. Local authorities must arrange free home-to-school travel for eligible children. This includes children of compulsory school age who attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of their special educational needs (SEN), disability or mobility problem.We know that challenges in the wider SEN system are creating pressure on home-to-school travel. We have committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools so fewer children need to travel long distances to a school that can meet their needs. The spending review announcement on 11 June confirmed significant new funding to support special educational needs and disabilities reform and the government is bringing forward a white paper with plans to improve the SEND system. This will reduce the pressure on home-to-school travel over time leaving it better able to meet the needs of those that continue to need it.
What assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing an external delivery model to help the teaching of financial education in schools.
I refer the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon to the answer of 7 January 2025 to Question 21190.
What estimate she has made of the proportion of schools that have asbestos present; and what steps she is taking to reduce levels of asbestos in schools.
The department takes the safety of children, and those who work with them, incredibly seriously which is why we expect all local authorities, governing bodies and academy trusts as responsible bodies to have robust plans in place to manage asbestos in school buildings effectively, in line with their legal duties, drawing on appropriate professional advice.As the regulator for asbestos, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) undertook inspections of a number of schools across the UK between September 2022 and April 2023 to look at compliance under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. The inspections showed that most schools were complying with the legal duties, and effective management systems are in place to manage and monitor the condition of asbestos-contained materials onsite.The department is collecting data on the condition of school buildings in England as part of the Condition Data Collection 2 (CDC2) programme. To date, we have visited 18,029 schools and 13,592 (75.4%) have reported they have asbestos. The department follows the advice of the HSE as regulator that, as long as asbestos-containing materials are undamaged, and not in locations where they are vulnerable to damage, they should be left undisturbed, and their condition monitored.The department has been clear, however, that when asbestos does pose a risk to safety and cannot be effectively managed in place, it should be removed. The decision to remove asbestos should be considered on a case-by-case basis and, annual condition funding provided by the department can be used for this purpose.As part of the 2025/26 budget, we have increased capital allocations to improve the condition of school buildings to £2.1 billion, which represents £300 million more than this financial year. This is on top of the School Rebuilding Programme and targeted support for reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete.
If she will publish a timeframe for implementing the findings of the research by Ofsted entitled Best start in life part 3: the 4 specific areas of learning, published on 8 October 2024.
Ofsted is an independent non-ministerial government department and, as such, we are unable to comment on its processes or on specific issues. The department has responsibility for policy on inspection and registration, but how it is implemented is for Ofsted to decide and to be held to account by Parliament. The department will therefore not be publishing a timeline for implementation of findings in ‘Best Start in Life part 3: the 4 specific areas of learning’, nor were there any particular recommendations made by Ofsted for it to implement. The reviews published by Ofsted are publicly available on GOV.UK and are primarily intended to help early years practitioners to raise the quality of early years education.