Written questions by Anderson.

What steps her department is taking to increase the number of approved foster carers in Nottinghamshire.

The department is committed to ensuring that children can access suitable foster placements close to home. Our fostering reforms will expand national capacity and strengthen regional collaboration, improve recruitment and matching processes, and assist local authorities to maintain stable local options.In the East Midlands specifically, the Foster for East Midlands regional fostering hub is helping increase recruitment by providing a single, streamlined point of entry for enquiries across Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. The hub offers clear information, specialist advice and consistent, high quality support to prospective carers, and has already generated strong interest since launch. It also incorporates initiatives such as Mockingbird constellations, which demonstrate the supportive networks available to carers and help increase the appeal of fostering by reducing isolation and enabling a strong community ethos.

What steps she is taking to ensure children in foster care are sufficiently supported in the mainstream education system.

Every local authority in England must appoint a Virtual School Head to promote the educational attainment of the children they look after, including children in foster care, wherever they live or are educated. All schools must also appoint a designated teacher with expertise in the needs of looked-after children. These children attract pupil premium plus funding of £2,630 per child up to the age of 16, managed by the Virtual School Head, to support meeting objectives in each child’s individual Personal Education Plan. We also provide post‑16 funding to help young people progress into further and higher education, training or employment. The full offer for children in care is set out in in the ‘Promoting the education of looked-after and previously looked-after children’ statutory guidance, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/promoting-the-education-of-looked-after-children.Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we are extending the Virtual School Head’s duties to include promoting the educational achievement of all children with a social worker and children in kinship care.

What steps her department is taking to ensure children in foster care receive adequate mental support.

The government is committed to ensuring children in foster care receive appropriate emotional and mental health support. Regulations require every looked-after child to have their emotional and mental health assessed by a medical practitioner. Local authorities must ensure this happens. Integrated care boards and NHS England must cooperate with requests for services. Joint statutory guidance sets clear expectations that local authorities and health partners should promote wellbeing, act early on signs of difficulty, and ensure assessors have the right skills. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/promoting-the-health-and-wellbeing-of-looked-after-children--2.We are working with the Department of Health and Social Care to strengthen mental health support for care‑experienced children. Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, new corporate parenting responsibilities will be placed on government departments and relevant public bodies, ensuring they consider the needs of looked-after children and care leavers when designing and delivering health services. In December 2025, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and I announced a three year pilot to ensure children in care have access to the support they need sooner. This will build on existing work across the country, bringing social workers and NHS professionals together to provide direct mental health support to children and families when they need it most.

What steps her Department is taking to improve standards in schools.

The ‘Every Child Achieving and Thriving’ White Paper sets a clear path to ensuring every child can achieve and thrive, from tackling the scourge of child poverty to securing the highest school standards for all young people.When children born under this government finish secondary school, it is our ambition that all children achieve higher standards and the disadvantage gap will be halved. We will take children’s education experience from narrow to broad. This includes a renewed curriculum, setting children up to thrive in the modern world. Our reformed curriculum will deliver high standards for all, delivering strong foundations in oracy, reading, writing and maths, and offering a triple science entitlement for all pupils. This is alongside improving transitions and providing an enrichment entitlement for every child.We will ensure children who for too long have been sidelined are included, raising standards and providing stretch and challenge for all no matter their starting point, targeting deprivation funding to boost outcomes for the most disadvantaged children and launching two place-focused missions to provide a blueprint for national change. Our ambitious special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms will ensure children and young people with SEND get the support they need. The government consultation on SEND is ongoing until 18 May 2026.We will move children and communities from withdrawn to engaging with education. We will introduce a new pupil engagement framework, support schools to improve behaviour, attendance and parental engagement, and give parents a clearer view of their child’s education.To deliver this change, we will strengthen the foundations of our education system. We will invest in high quality staff, promote school collaboration, drive standards through new Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence teams and realise opportunities from data, artificial intelligence and technology.

What discussions her Department has had with relevant stakeholders in education to discuss antisocial behaviour amongst school children.

The department engages regularly with teachers and headteachers and their representative bodies on a range of issues, including pupil behaviour.All schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy which outlines effective strategies that encourage good behaviour.The department’s existing ‘Behaviour in schools’ guidance states that schools should make clear to pupils that good behaviour does not end at the school gate. Schools have the power to sanction pupils for misbehaviour outside of the school premises to a reasonable extent.To support schools, the department is establishing 93 new regional improvements for standards and excellence Attendance and Behaviour Hubs. These hubs will be led by schools with excellent attendance and behaviour practice which will work closely with other schools to help improve their approach.

What recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of AI use on academic integrity.

The department monitors the emerging impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) on education, including risks to academic integrity. Our published policy position on generative AI is evidence-based and sets out clear expectations for schools and colleges on safe, responsible and ethical use.We work closely with regulators to ensure that academic integrity is protected and that providers have the support they need to prevent and respond to misuse of AI. In 2025 the Joint Council for Qualifications supported by Ofqual updated their guidance for schools on AI use in assessments. This provides clarity for teachers and assessors in identifying and managing potential malpractice and maintaining integrity of assessment. We have also made wider support materials publicly available that help education staff manage risks, promote ethical use, and reinforce robust approaches to detecting and addressing issues.

What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of guidelines on support for SEND children in the mainstream education system.

To support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), we will help mainstream settings to make the necessary changes to embed inclusive practice. We will develop new National Inclusion Standards to bring greater clarity and evidence to this space. These will set out, for the first time, support that should be available in every mainstream setting, and we will appoint an expert panel to develop and make recommendations regarding the content of the National Inclusion Standards. The SEND Code of Practice provides statutory guidance for organisations supporting children with SEND. We have committed to updating the Code to reflect changes in the SEND system and findings of recent independent scrutiny, including from the Education Select Committee. The updated Code will clarify responsibilities for mainstream settings and establish a consistent approach to supporting children with SEND. We are consulting on proposals to reform the SEND system, and the consultation is accessible at: https://consult.education.gov.uk/send-strategy-division/send-reform-putting-children-and-young-people-firs/. We will undertake a separate, full public consultation on the proposed changes to the Code of Practice to reflect best practice and the views of children and young people, families and professionals.

What steps her Department is taking to help tackle persistent absence at (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.

The department is taking a range of measures to tackle persistent absence in both primary and secondary schools. The statutory guidance ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ requires schools to take a support-first approach, including appointing a Senior Attendance champion, publishing a clear and easily-accessible attendance policy and to work in partnership with local authorities to reduce levels of absence. The full guidance is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66bf300da44f1c4c23e5bd1b/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance_-_August_2024.pdf.Schools, trusts and local authorities also benefit from the department’s real-time attendance data tools and attendance toolkits, which enable early identification of emerging issues and support adoption of effective practice. Bespoke minimum attendance targets further assist schools in returning to pre-pandemic levels.To support schools requiring additional intervention, the department launched new regional improvements for standards and excellence (RISE) attendance and behaviour hubs in January, with the capacity to support over 3,000 schools and deliver targeted assistance to up to 500. The national attendance mentoring programme is providing one-to-one support for 10,000 persistently absent pupils.We are also addressing wider barriers through expanded primary breakfast clubs and increased access to specialist mental health professionals in every school.

What steps she is taking to help improve GCSE pass rates among pupils eligible for free school meals in the Ashfield constituency.

The ‘Every Child Achieving and Thriving’ White Paper sets out our plans to build a system that supports every child to achieve and thrive.It sets a clear path to raising standards and broadens children’s education. This includes a refreshed curriculum, improved transitions and an enrichment entitlement for every child.To help improve GCSE outcomes for disadvantaged pupils, we are driving standards through new RISE teams, a refreshed high-quality curriculum and assessment system, recruiting 6,500 additional teachers and piloting a new place‑based Headteacher Retention Incentive to attract and support headteachers in the areas that need them most.Additionally, in the 2026/27 financial year, £3.2 billion of pupil premium funding will support improved outcomes for disadvantaged pupils, and the National Funding Formula will allocate £5.6 billion according to deprivation. We are also developing a new model to better target disadvantage funding at the most entrenched need.When this generation finishes secondary school, our ambition is for all pupils to reach at least a grade 5 across their GCSEs and for the disadvantage gap to be halved, with 30,000 more disadvantaged pupils passing English and maths GCSEs.

What steps she is taking to help ensure free speech is maintained on university campuses.

This government is absolutely committed to freedom of speech and academic freedom. We commenced provisions from the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 on 1 August 2025 that strengthen provider duties on free speech, including a requirement to put in place free speech codes of practice, and require the Office for Students (OfS) to promote free speech, while banning non-disclosure agreements on complaints about bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct.The OfS has also issued extensive guidance to higher education (HE) providers on commencement of their duties. The OfS’ Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom continues to work with the HE sector to offer advice and share best practice, so HE providers themselves are more effectively protecting free speech and academic freedom.The department is seeking a suitable legislative vehicle to amend and repeal elements of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 at the earliest opportunity.

What steps she is taking to help improve educational opportunities in former coalfield areas.

All children and young people should have every opportunity to succeed. Our mission is to make this a reality across the country, including in former coalfield areas.We’re investing £9.5 billion into early years next year to help families access affordable high-quality childcare places all over the country including those in former coalfield areas. We are also taking bold action to lift 550,000 children out of poverty, tackling the high levels of deprivation seen in many former coalfield areas.Our “Every Child Achieving and Thriving” white paper sets out our plan to provide a stretching, enriching and inclusive school experience for every child. We are consulting on funding reforms to reflect different lengths and depths of disadvantage that children may be experiencing including the persistent challenges faced in former coalfield areas.The department is also strengthening routes into post-16 education, employment and training so every young person can progress into secure, well-paid work. We recognise that former coalfield areas face some of the biggest barriers to opportunity and this government will ensure those Children and Young People benefit from the landmark reforms we are making to education and beyond.

What steps her Department is taking to help ensure all secondary schools offer a wide range of GCSE subject options.

As part of their duty to teach a broad and balanced curriculum, schools are expected to offer a range of subject options to help meet the aspirations of all pupils.On 23 February, the department published a consultation which includes proposals to improve the Progress 8 model to maintain a strong academic core and ensure breadth and choice for every child. The consultation is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/key-stage-4-performance-measures-and-targeted-rise-extension. We want to recognise the value of subjects that strengthen our economy and society, for example the arts and sciences, and the importance of a broad pre-16 curriculum.

What steps she is taking to help support mature students in universities.

As autonomous institutions, higher education (HE) providers are responsible for setting their own timetabling and student support arrangements and in doing so, must take the needs of all students including mature learners, into account.In January 2027 the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) will launch and transform the HE student finance system. The LLE will give adults, up to the age of 60, access to a flexible, four year loan entitlement to use over their working lives to study full courses and individual modules. The LLE will broaden access at levels 4 to 6 for a range of learners, including those returning to education later in life or studying whilst working.We are also reintroducing targeted, means-tested maintenance grants, providing disadvantaged students with up to £1,000 extra per year on top of existing loans for living costs from academic year 2028/29.Together, these reforms modernise the student finance system and ensure that mature students can access the support they need to participate and succeed in HE.

What steps she is taking to help support students to challenge issues of free speech on university campuses.

Higher education (HE) must be a space for robust discussion, intellectual rigour and exposure to new ideas. These expectations on our universities are long standing and not negotiable.There are already routes of redress for students where they believe that a HE provider has breached its duties under the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023. As we have previously set out, students can already make complaints relating to free speech to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator, whose service is free at the point of use.The Office for Students (OfS) already regulates providers in relation to free speech and academic freedom through their existing conditions of registration. The OfS has also issued extensive guidance to HE providers on commencement of their duties, which supports students navigating these issues.

Whether her Department has had recent correspondence with universities on the enforcement of freedom of speech guidelines.

The department has not had recent correspondence with universities on the enforcement of the free speech duties. This answer does not cover any correspondence which the Office for Students may have had with universities on enforcement of freedom of speech.

What recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the national safeguarding guidelines for (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.

Schools and colleges have a critical role to play in protecting children and keeping them safe. The department publishes statutory safeguarding guidance Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE) which all schools and colleges must have regard to when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. KCSIE is subject to regular review to ensure it is kept up to date and relevant. We are proposing to make changes to KCSIE 2026 and plan to launch a public consultation very soon.

What steps her Department is taking to encourage outdoors learning in schools.

The department believes all children and young people should have access to a broad and balanced curriculum and a variety of enrichment opportunities at school. The value of nature for outdoor learning and for learners’ wellbeing is fundamentalto the department Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy and it is woven throughout initiatives such as the National Education Nature Park. Delivered by the Natural History Museum, it provides curriculum aligned resources and encourages children and young people to get outside and take action to improve the biodiversity of their school grounds. It also supports the development of physical and mental wellbeing through active, hands-on engagement with the natural world. The value of outdoor learning is being recognised and promoted through our upcoming Enrichment Framework, which includes 'Nature, outdoors and adventure' as one of five categories that schools and colleges should seek to cover in a broad and well-rounded enrichment offer.

What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the national curriculum in teaching British values.

All schools are expected to actively promote fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance for those of different faiths and beliefs.Schools are free to include a full range of issues, ideas, and materials in their curriculum.Following the Curriculum and Assessment Review, the government will make citizenship statutory at key stages 1 and 2. Content at primary and secondary will include media literacy, law and rights, democracy and government, to enable children to be informed and active participants in society. Covering these issues in citizenship will ensure we continue to focus on schools’ role in developing fundamental British values, including mutual tolerance and respect.Proposals will be consulted on from 2026 and we are working towards a first teaching of the new curriculum from September 2028.

What guidelines the Government provides for schools when they are responding to alleged cases of political bias in the classroom.

School leaders and staff have a responsibility to ensure that they act in accordance with their duties on political impartiality. When political issues are discussed, schools must offer pupils a balanced presentation of opposing views and should not present materials in a politically biased or one-sided way.The department has published clear and comprehensive guidance to help those working with and in schools to understand their legal duties on political impartiality and how to meet them, both in teaching about political issues and beyond the classroom. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools/political-impartiality-in-schools.The guidance includes advice on how schools can deal with complaints about political impartiality through appropriate local processes. Where parents and carers remain dissatisfied, they can raise a formal complaint in line with school complaints procedures.

What steps she is taking to ensure schools adequately respond to accusations of political bias.

School leaders and staff have a responsibility to ensure that they act in accordance with their duties on political impartiality. When political issues are discussed, schools must offer pupils a balanced presentation of opposing views and should not present materials in a politically biased or one-sided way.The department has published clear and comprehensive guidance to help those working with and in schools to understand their legal duties on political impartiality and how to meet them, both in teaching about political issues and beyond the classroom. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools/political-impartiality-in-schools.The guidance includes advice on how schools can deal with complaints about political impartiality through appropriate local processes. Where parents and carers remain dissatisfied, they can raise a formal complaint in line with school complaints procedures.