Written questions by Jarvis.

What proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals achieved a grade 5 or above in English and Maths GCSEs in the 2024-25 academic year .

The data for the 2024/25 academic year is not yet available and is intended for release in October 2025, when it will be available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/key-stage-4-performance/.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of support available to secondary school pupils who have not been awarded 5 GCSE's.

All 16 to 19 study programmes should be tailored to support students to progress to education at a higher level or into employment, or should prepare them for adult life.These study programmes should include substantial qualifications that stretch students. Students who are not awarded 5 GCSEs may take other level 2 qualifications to prepare them for employment or further study.Any student on a 16 to 19 study programme, who has not yet achieved an English and/or maths GCSE grade 4 or higher, must continue studying these subjects.In the 2025/26 academic year, the department has increased 16 to 19 funding for English and maths delivery and to help with the additional costs associated with teaching and supporting students who have not yet achieved English and/or maths GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 by the end of year 11.

What assessment she has made of the potential implications of the policies set out in the Cabinet Office policy paper entitled UK-EU Summit - Common Understanding, updated on 19 May 2025, for the future of the Turing Scheme.

The government remains committed to providing opportunities to study and work abroad, especially for those students from disadvantaged backgrounds. That is why we have agreed to work towards association to the Erasmus+ programme on much better financial terms for the UK. The Turing Scheme is now in its fifth year, with placements starting this September. Details on the future of the Turing Scheme will be shared in due course.

What steps she is taking to ensure children in foster care are provided access to mental health support.

Children in foster care should be provided with access to mental health support at home and at school.The National Minimum Standards for fostering sets out that children should ‘live in a healthy environment where their physical, emotional and psychological health is promoted.’Children should have prompt access to doctors and other health professionals, including specialist services, when they need these services.The government is committed to providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school by expanding Mental Health Support Teams.Alongside the Department of Health and Social Care, the department is reviewing and updating current statutory guidance on promoting the health and wellbeing of children in care.As part of the statutory guidance review, we are considering what changes are needed to better ensure that children in care, including those in foster care, and care leavers receive the necessary support for their mental health and wellbeing.

What steps her Department is taking to support progression routes into higher education for students studying qualifications other than A-Levels; and what assessment she has made of the accessibility of university entry routes for students applying with qualifications other than A-Levels.

The department is committed to supporting diverse routes into higher education (HE). Students with qualifications other than A levels can progress to university, with many providers accepting these qualifications.HE providers are autonomous institutions who set their own entry requirements, many with high or additional entry requirements for some courses. While the department cannot intervene in individual cases regarding university admission policies, we remain committed to supporting progression routes.The department works closely with sector bodies such as UCAS and Universities UK, as well as individual providers, to ensure that admissions processes are inclusive and transparent. We also work with these bodies to ensure that T Levels are understood by universities as a high quality offer.The department continues to monitor accessibility and outcomes for students entering via vocational routes and are funding initiatives to widen participation and improve support for all learners.

What steps she is taking to support (a) children experiencing Emotionally Based School Avoidance and (b) their families.

Tackling absence is at the heart of the government’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity. However, we recognise that some pupils face barriers to attendance, such as those who have mental health conditions, or who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).To tackle these issues our statutory guidance, ‘Working together to improve school attendance’, sets out a ‘support first’ approach. Specific guidance for schools on mental health and attendance has also been published, and the department is committed to providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school. This guidance is accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mental-health-issues-affecting-a-pupils-attendance-guidance-for-schools.Six in ten pupils will have access to a mental health support team by March 2026 and, under government plans, all pupils will have access to mental health support in school by 2029/30.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for her policies of the report entitled Moved During Exams, published by the charity Become; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure greater stability and improve educational outcomes for children in care.

Statutory care planning guidance is clear that everything should be done to minimise school changes and ensure transitions are well-planned and supported. Where a change is unavoidable, the child’s Personal Education Plan should set out arrangements to reduce disruption, particularly during exams and other key periods in their education.The government is introducing measures to rebalance the placement market, improve regulation and commissioning of placements, and bring greater visibility to the prices local authorities are paying. This includes addressing the barriers that prevent homes for looked-after children being established where they are needed.Through the department’s Plan for Change, we’re investing £2 billion to give more children a safe, loving home, including expanding the children’s home estate, delivering more foster care placements and helping keep families together by providing targeted support before problems escalate.These measures will mean more placements are available, allowing children to be placed closer to home and school when in their best interests.

How many children were referred to the Prevent duty in schools in the last 12 months; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of referrals on (a) ethnic minority pupils, (b) neurodiverse pupils, (c) teaching staff and (d) safeguarding responsibilities.

Annual Prevent Programme statistics are published by the Home Office each year and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/individuals-referred-to-prevent-to-march-2024.The education sector, in the year ending 31 March 2024, made 2,788 referrals.The department publishes comprehensive advice and made a range of resources freely available on our Educate Against Hate website to support teachers in protecting children from extremism and radicalisation. We also have a team of regional co-ordinators who work directly with education institutions in England to provide advice, support and training to ensure providers are well equipped to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of the National Literacy Trust’s report entitled Children and young people's writing in 2025, published on 12 June 2025.

High and rising school standards, with excellent foundations in reading, writing and mathematics, are at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child, in every region of the country, the best start in life.In the 2025/26 financial year, the government has committed £27.7 million to support and drive high and rising standards in reading and writing. This summer, the department will publish a Writing Framework which will be a first step to support schools in delivering high-quality writing provision across England.The department recognises the important work of organisations such as the National Literacy Trust in promoting reading and writing and will continue to engage with them on this important issue.

If she will make an assessment of the adequacy of holiday clubs for parents of children with disabilities.

The government is committed to the holiday activities and food (HAF) programme to ensure children who are eligible for free school meals can access enriching activities and healthy meals. More than £200 million has been allocated to the programme for 2025/26.Local authorities and their providers have flexibility about how they deliver HAF provision to best serve the needs of children and families in their area. The department encourages all local authorities to have a rich mix of provision catering for children with different interests and of different ages. There is flexibility in how the programme can be delivered to children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or additional needs.When assessing the requirements of children with SEND or additional needs, local authorities should ensure that the provision they fund through the HAF programme is fully compliant with the Equality Act 2010. This will include making sure that they, and the providers they work with, put in place any reasonable adjustments which are required to ensure that children with a disability are not subject to discrimination.

What steps she is taking to help ensure that disabled students entering higher education receive (a) timely and (b) appropriate support from Student Finance England.

The department and the Student Loans Company (SLC) are committed to ensuring that disabled students domiciled in England and entering higher education receive timely and appropriate support through the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA).Eligible students undergo a Study Needs Assessment (SNA), which identifies their individual needs. These are then compiled into a Needs Assessment Report and are submitted to SLC for approval, helping to ensure that students receive the right support efficiently, and enabling them to access higher education with confidence and the resources they need to succeed.In previous years, approximately 40% of DSA applications are submitted at the start of the academic year. However, this year, SLC has worked with UCAS to encourage earlier applications. This has resulted in a higher volume of submissions ahead of the 2025/26 academic year. To manage this, SLC has increased resourcing to improve processing times and ensure students receive funding promptly.Additionally, SLC’s suppliers, Capita and Study Tech, have recruited more Needs Assessors to offer flexible assessment scheduling. SLC continues to monitor demand and capacity throughout the academic cycle to maintain effective support for students.Current processing times for DSA and other applications can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/sfe-current-application-timescales.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a national dyslexia strategy.

I refer the hon. Member for Eastleigh to the answer of 12 June 2025 to Question 57810.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of not awarding marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar for exams in subjects other than English.

I refer the hon. Member for Eastleigh to the answer of 12 June 2025 to Question 57812.

How many specialist SEND nurseries have (a) closed and (b) been replaced by a mobile SEND service since 2015.

The information requested is not held centrally.Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. Part B of the ’Early education and childcare’ statutory guidance for local authorities highlights that local authorities are required to report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare, and to make this report available and accessible to parents. The guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-education-and-childcare--2.The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing.Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and where needed support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.

How many dedicated mental health professionals are employed in secondary schools in (a) Hampshire and (b) Eastleigh constituency.

This government is committed to improving mental health support for all children and young people. This is critical to breaking down barriers to opportunity and helping pupils to achieve and thrive in education.Information on the numbers of staff employed in schools is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-workforce-in-england-november-2023. The department does not collect information on how many dedicated mental health professionals are employed in secondary schools in (a) Hampshire and (b) Eastleigh constituency.The government has committed to providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school by expanding mental health support teams (MHSTs), so every child and young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate. The teams act as a link with local children and young people’s mental health services and are trained and supervised by NHS staff.At the end of 2024/25, around 600 NHS-funded MHSTs were operational in 10,100 (41%) schools and colleges in England. At the end of 2024/25, 5 million pupils and learners were covered by MHSTs which equates to 52% coverage of pupils in schools and further education learners in England. In Hampshire local authority, 43% of pupils/learners and 43% of schools/colleges were covered by MHSTs, as at end 2024/25, compared to 52% and 41% nationally, respectively.Around six in ten pupils will have access to a mental health support team by March 2026, with the rollout prioritised based on NHS identification of local need and reaching the most vulnerable children first.The government will also recruit an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults, and open new Young Futures Hubs with access to mental health support workers.

What estimate she has made of the number of students taking heritage language GCSEs in the academic year 2024-25.

Provisional data on GCSE entries for the 2024/25 academic year will be published by Ofqual on 12 June 2025.The department will publish provisional key stage 4 performance statistics for the 2024/25 academic year in October 2025.

Whether her Department plans to introduce a Ukrainian language GCSE.

Decisions about which languages to offer at GCSE in England are taken by four independent awarding organisations – AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel and WJEC – rather than by central government. These organisations have the freedom to create a Ukrainian GCSE based on the subject content for modern foreign language set by the department. We have recently written to these organisations to ask them to consider introducing a Ukrainian GCSE.​The British government stands steadfast behind the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian government. The department is proud to support children and families from Ukraine during their transition to a new life in the UK. To do our part to support the Ukrainian people, we are supporting the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science in policy development and this year have launched a UK-Ukraine Schools Partnership Programme, twinning 100 schools in the UK and Ukraine.

What steps her Department is taking to increase funding certainty for schools over a multi-year period.

The overall core schools budget is increasing by £3.7 billion in the 2025/26 financial year, meaning that it will total £65.3 billion, compared to £61.6 billion in the 2024/25 financial year. This is a 6% overall increase.The government is considering how it can support schools to plan their budgets from the perspective of both their funding and their costs. The teacher pay award this year has been announced two months earlier than last year as part of the government’s ambition to improve the pay round process. This is alongside £615 million of additional funding to support schools with their overall costs, including staff pay awards.Budgets for the 2026/27 financial year and beyond are still to be agreed and this includes the 2026/27 Core Schools Budget. This will be subject to the multi-year spending review, which the department expects to be concluded later this month.

If she will take steps to (a) mandate allergy safety policies in all schools, (b) ensure the provision of individual healthcare plans for every child with an allergy, (c) mandate staff training on (i) allergy awareness, (ii) anaphylaxis management and (iii) responding to emergencies involving allergies in schools and (d) mandate the provision of emergency adrenaline auto-injectors in every school.

Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. The accompanying statutory guidance on ‘Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school’ makes clear to schools what is expected of them in taking reasonable steps to fulfil their legal obligations and to meet the individual needs of pupils with medical conditions, including allergies. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.Schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with medical conditions and have policies and processes in place to ensure these can be well managed. Policies should set out how staff will be supported in carrying out their role to support pupils, including how training needs are assessed and how training is commissioned and provided. Any member of school staff providing support to a pupil with medical needs should have received suitable training.The statutory guidance recommends the use of individual healthcare plans as good practice for pupils with medical conditions, providing clarity about what needs to be done, when and by whom.Schools can purchase spare adrenaline auto-injectors from a pharmacy without a prescription and for use in an emergency situation.

What steps she is taking to help ensure all schools have the recommended allergy safeguards in place.

Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. The accompanying statutory guidance makes clear to schools what is expected of them in taking reasonable steps to fulfil their legal obligations and to meet the individual needs of pupils with medical conditions, including allergies.