Written questions by Garnier.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to funding for physical education and sports on child obesity.

Physical activity is an important part of a healthy lifestyle that plays a role in tackling childhood obesity.Too many children and young people do not meet the Chief Medical Officer’s recommendation of 60 minutes of daily physical activity. The department is taking action to ensure all children and young people have access to high quality PE, physical activity and sport.Good PE lessons are important in securing a solid foundation for leading active lives. That is why we are reforming the PE curriculum to support participation and development across all four key stages.We are setting up a new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network, which will bring together schools, grass-roots clubs, and sport national governing bodies, so children and young people get a range of opportunities to take part in sport and physical activity inside and outside of school.

What plans her Department has for improving provision of financial education as part of the adult education curriculum.

The essential skills entitlements, funded through the adult skills fund (ASF), support adults without a GCSE maths grade 4 or higher, or equivalent qualification, or are assessed at working below this level, to undertake a range of free courses including maths GCSEs and functional skills qualifications.As part of the ASF, Tailored Learning funding can also be used to fund provision supporting learners to address specific needs such as financial education.Currently, approximately 68% of the ASF is devolved to 12 strategic authorities and delegated to the Mayor of London acting through the Greater London Authority. These authorities are responsible for the provision of adult education and allocation of the ASF in their local areas.The Department for Work and Pensions is responsible for the remaining ASF in non-devolved areas where colleges and training providers have the freedom and flexibility to determine how they use their ASF to meet the needs of their communities.Alongside, there is a range of apprenticeships available which provide training in occupationally specific financial knowledge and skills, for example, in payroll, investment or financial services-related roles. We also continue to fund apprentices to secure up to a L2 maths qualification as part of their apprenticeship.

What steps her Department is taking to help further education colleges support young people who are not in education, employment or training through (a) flexible funding arrangements and (b) supporting collaborative working with local authorities.

Through the Post-16 education and skills white paper, the department is committed to enabling local and strategic authorities, schools, and further education (FE) providers to more effectively identify, track and share data about young people. These measures aim to prevent young people falling out of education/training and becoming not in education, employment, or training, and look to ensure that those without a post-16 study plan are automatically allocated a place at a local college or FE provider.We will provide £1.2 billion of additional investment per year in skills by 2028-2029. This investment will enable us to support 1.3 million learners each year. This significant investment will ensure there is increased funding to colleges and other 16-19 providers to maintain real terms per-student funding in the next academic year to respond to the demographic increase in 16 to 19-year-olds. This will enable the recruitment and retention of expert teachers in high value subject areas, and interventions to retain top teaching talent.

If she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of trends in the number of students who are at risk of being withdrawn from their study programme for not attending their GCSE retake lessons.

I refer the hon. Member for Wyre Forest to the answer of 31 October 2025 to Question 83275.

How her Department uses data on people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) to develop policy in the context of changes in the number of people who are NEET.

The department collects and uses a range of data and evidence relating to young people who are not in education, employment, or training (NEET) to inform policy, including ‘Participation in education, training and employment’, which can be accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/participation-in-education-and-training-and-employment/2024.The department also uses NEET age 16 to 24 statistics, which can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief/2024.In developing policy, the department engages with a range of externally produced research and evidence, including through the Youth Futures Foundation – the What Works Centre for youth employment.The post-16 education and skills white paper set out our objectives for a skills and employment system with a clear focus on re-engaging those who are NEET. The white paper recognises evidence shows there are certain characteristics that can increase the risks of young people becoming NEET. These include young people with low prior attainment, from low socio-economic backgrounds or who have special educational needs or mental health problems. The white paper includes a range of measures which apply the use of data to respond to these challenges, such as improving early identification and tracking through better data sharing and artificial intelligence-driven risk indicators.

What estimate her Department has made of the number of young people with education, health and care plans who are not in employment, education or training.

There are 165,000 16 to 25 year-olds with an education, health and care (EHC) plan. Of these, it is estimated that approximately 22,000 are not in education, employment or training (NEET).Published data for the reporting year 2025 shows that approximately 11% of 16 to 19 year-olds with EHC plans and 21% of 20 to 25 year-olds with EHC plans were NEET. The data is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/da86f4d8-c536-4e7d-5ab8-08ddf5e2701a.The department is acting to tackle the number of young people who are NEET.The recently published post-16 education and skills white paper commits us to building a system that leaves no learner behind.We are tackling NEETs by ensuring that every young person has access to education, training or support to move into work, backed by measures such as automatic college places for 16 year-olds without a post-16 plan, subsidised paid work placements, and a guaranteed job for those on Universal Credit unemployed for over 18 months.The Youth Guarantee trailblazers are testing focused support for vulnerable groups such as care leavers, young people with special educational needs and disabilities, and those from alternative provision. This focused support includes mentoring, confidence building, coaching and financial management skills. This testing will inform the future roll out of the Youth Guarantee.

What steps her Department plans to take to help re-engage young people with education, health and care plans who are not in employment, education or training.

There are 165,000 16 to 25 year-olds with an education, health and care (EHC) plan. Of these, it is estimated that approximately 22,000 are not in education, employment or training (NEET).Published data for the reporting year 2025 shows that approximately 11% of 16 to 19 year-olds with EHC plans and 21% of 20 to 25 year-olds with EHC plans were NEET. The data is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/da86f4d8-c536-4e7d-5ab8-08ddf5e2701a.The department is acting to tackle the number of young people who are NEET.The recently published post-16 education and skills white paper commits us to building a system that leaves no learner behind.We are tackling NEETs by ensuring that every young person has access to education, training or support to move into work, backed by measures such as automatic college places for 16 year-olds without a post-16 plan, subsidised paid work placements, and a guaranteed job for those on Universal Credit unemployed for over 18 months.The Youth Guarantee trailblazers are testing focused support for vulnerable groups such as care leavers, young people with special educational needs and disabilities, and those from alternative provision. This focused support includes mentoring, confidence building, coaching and financial management skills. This testing will inform the future roll out of the Youth Guarantee.

Whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing supported internship funding arrangements for young people aged between 16 and 19 who require additional support to enter the workplace but do not have an education, health and care plan.

The department is continuing to invest in supported internships by providing up to £12 million to March 2026 to support local areas to sustain their progress and develop their supported internship offers.This includes funding to expand the department’s pilot that is testing supported internships with young people who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) but don’t have an education, health and care plan and are furthest from the labour market, to support hundreds more young people with SEND to transition into paid employment.This will help to build the department’s evidence base and inform our evaluation of the pilot, which will inform future policy planning on supported internships. An evaluation of our wider investment is expected to be published next summer, including some learning from the pilot, and a follow-up report with more detailed learning from the pilot is expected in summer 2027.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional intervention funding for the provision of education re-engagement programmes for 16 to 18 year olds who have defaulted their initial course but who could be re-engaged.

Under Section 68 of the Education and Skills Act 2008, local authorities are required to make available the support it considers appropriate to encourage, enable or assist all young people aged 16 to 19 to effectively participate in education or training.Local authorities must also collect information about young people to identify and give reengagement support to those who are not participating or are not in employment, education, or training. They are expected to meet any costs incurred in the delivery of the above from their overall budgets, including central government grants.Funding for education and training provision for 16 to 19-year-olds and those up to the age of 25 with an education, health and care plan is provided to schools, colleges and training providers.The funding formula for 16 to 19-year-olds includes extra funding for disadvantaged students to recognise that there are additional costs incurred in engaging, retaining and supporting young people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and to account for the additional costs incurred for teaching and supporting students who have low prior attainment to achieve their learning goals.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing in year growth funding to schools affected by additional starts relating to provision intended to (a) prevent and (b) reduce the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training.

The department funds any 16, 17 or 18-year-old who wants a place in post-16 education.Typically, this is through lagged funding, where the main funding is based on student numbers in the year before. However, for those institutions with a significant growth in students, we recognise that there are additional costs and provide in-year funding to help with these.To support providers to offer places to young people across the country, we announced our plans for In Year Growth in the 2025/26 academic year on 27 August 2025. This should support providers to offer places to all young people who want one, including young people not currently in education, employment or training. Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/16-to-19-funding-in-year-growth-for-2025-to-2026.

What steps he is taking to prevent Further Education colleges from losing the whole funding allocation for students who do not meet the maths and English condition of funding.

Further education (FE) providers who do not support eligible students in maths and/or English under the maths and English condition of funding will have their future funding allocations reduced by half the national funding rate for each student and would not have their whole funding allocation removed. A provider is permitted to have non-compliance up to 2.5% of their total 16 to 19 cohort by opting them out of the requirements without incurring a financial penalty. This recognises that it may not be appropriate for all students to meet the requirements. Students with education health and care plans are eligible for an exemption.The department is delivering a package to ensure every student is supported to make progress towards and attain level 2. This includes significant additional investment, including increases to the English and maths funding rate of 11% and the disadvantage payments of 7%, in 2025/26, and £800 million additional investment in FE in 2026/27.

Whether her Department engages with local authorities for the collection of data of the number of people not in education, employment or training.

The department regularly engages with local authorities with regard to monitoring not in education, employment or training (NEET) data and fulfilling their statutory duties. Statutory guidance directs local authorities to track information about all 16 and 17-year-olds (and up to 25 for those with education, health and care plans) and report monthly via the National Client Caseload Information System. This information will include whether they are NEET or have characteristics that put them at risk of becoming NEET, so that they and their delivery partners can effectively target and support those young people.This management information is published annually and includes a NEET comparative scorecard that supports local authorities in benchmarking their performance and helps them to identify weaknesses in tracking and engagement. This information can be accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/participation-in-education-training-and-neet-age-16-to-17-by-local-authority/2024-25. .The department also works with local authorities to support the use of data tools to identify those at an increased risk of becoming NEET, so they can be monitored and targeted with extra support.

How many and what proportion or people without education, employment or training (a) left school and (b) left further education before the end of their course.

The department publishes statistics on those not in education, employment or training (NEET) for England from the labour force survey (LFS) for young people aged 16-24. These are accessible at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief/2024.Additionally, estimates of young people aged 16 to 18 participating in education and training using the department’s administrative data are published at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/participation-in-education-and-training-and-employment/2024. This release contains the most robust measure for 16 to 18 year olds NEET.Both NEET sources are based on status at time of data collection and therefore the definition does not rely on being out of education and employment for a specific length of time before being categorised as NEET.Neither source can be used to estimate the number of young people who left school/further education before the end of their course. However, they will be included in the statistics as NEET if they had left their course prior to the reporting timeframe and not taken part in any employment or alternative education at that time.

What plans she has to provide pathways for students who have been withdrawn from further educations due to their absence from Maths and English GCSE lessons.

Further education colleges can decide to retain students who have been absent from their maths or English lessons, but they will have their future funding allocations reduced by half the national funding rate for every eligible student who is not offered the minimum planned teaching hours. This demonstrates the importance of supporting all students to make progress towards and attain level 2 in English and maths. A provider is permitted to opt out up to 2.5% of their 16- to 19 cohort from this requirement without financial penalty, where it is not appropriate to offer a student the minimum planned teaching hours.

If she will take steps to ensure that further education colleges are able to apply discretion in relation to retaining students who may have been absent from maths or English GCSE lessons.

Further education colleges can decide to retain students who have been absent from their maths or English lessons, but they will have their future funding allocations reduced by half the national funding rate for every eligible student who is not offered the minimum planned teaching hours. This demonstrates the importance of supporting all students to make progress towards and attain level 2 in English and maths. A provider is permitted to opt out up to 2.5% of their 16- to 19 cohort from this requirement without financial penalty, where it is not appropriate to offer a student the minimum planned teaching hours.

What steps she is taking to help students to change their further education course.

Students in further education (FE) do have the option to change courses. The process can vary between institutions and may have implications for funding, which should be carefully considered.For funding purposes, a student aged 16 to 19 is considered as having started a study programme once they have remained on that programme within the current funding year for a defined period of time, as per the funding guidance accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/funding-rates-and-formula/16-to-19-funding-2025-to-2026-rates-and-formula.To support a change, colleges are responsible for providing independent careers guidance up to the age of 18, in accordance with the Gatsby Benchmarks. This includes ensuring that personal guidance meetings are available to all learners at key decision points, particularly when significant choices regarding study or career pathways are being made.

Whether those who leave further education before the end of their course are included in the without education, employment or training statistics in the year of departure.

The department publishes statistics on those not in education, employment or training (NEET) for England from the labour force survey (LFS) for young people aged 16-24. These are accessible at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief/2024.Additionally, estimates of young people aged 16 to 18 participating in education and training using the department’s administrative data are published at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/participation-in-education-and-training-and-employment/2024. This release contains the most robust measure for 16 to 18 year olds NEET.Both NEET sources are based on status at time of data collection and therefore the definition does not rely on being out of education and employment for a specific length of time before being categorised as NEET.Neither source can be used to estimate the number of young people who left school/further education before the end of their course. However, they will be included in the statistics as NEET if they had left their course prior to the reporting timeframe and not taken part in any employment or alternative education at that time.

Whether her Department applies the same methodology for the number of people not in employment, education or training who are (a) 16 to 18 and (b) 18 to 24 years of age.

The department publishes statistics on those not in education, employment or training (NEET) for England from the labour force survey (LFS) for young people aged 16-24. These statistics are accessible at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief/2024.The methodology is consistent for all age groups and further details can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/methodology/neet-age-16-to-24-methodology. Estimates relate to the status of young people as recorded for the associated response period.Additionally, estimates of young people age 16 to 18 participating in education and training using departmental administrative data are published annually at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/participation-in-education-and-training-and-employment/2024.This methodology enables an administrative estimate of those not in education or training. The LFS is used to estimate the proportion in employment. This source is considered the most robust measure for 16 to 18 year olds NEET. This release is a snapshot of participation and employment at the end of the calendar year.Both NEET sources are based on status at time of data collection and therefore the definition does not rely on being out of education and employment for a specific length of time before being categorised as NEET.

What timeframe her Department uses to determine how long young people are out of education, employment or training before they are categorised as NEET.

The department publishes statistics on those not in education, employment or training (NEET) for England from the labour force survey (LFS) for young people aged 16-24. These statistics are accessible at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief/2024.The methodology is consistent for all age groups and further details can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/methodology/neet-age-16-to-24-methodology. Estimates relate to the status of young people as recorded for the associated response period.Additionally, estimates of young people age 16 to 18 participating in education and training using departmental administrative data are published annually at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/participation-in-education-and-training-and-employment/2024.This methodology enables an administrative estimate of those not in education or training. The LFS is used to estimate the proportion in employment. This source is considered the most robust measure for 16 to 18 year olds NEET. This release is a snapshot of participation and employment at the end of the calendar year.Both NEET sources are based on status at time of data collection and therefore the definition does not rely on being out of education and employment for a specific length of time before being categorised as NEET.

If she will take steps to help support students who are retaking (a) maths and (b) English GCSE whilst in further education.

The department is committed to supporting high quality teaching and learning for students who are continuing their English and maths study during 16 to 19 under the maths and English condition of funding. The department has already introduced the requirement for providers to offer 100 hours minimum of classroom teaching per subject, supported by additional funding for providers, and set clearer expectations on which students should typically be entered into November resits, to avoid unnecessary repeated resits which we recognise are demoralising for students.We are also introducing new level 1 stepping stone qualifications to support post-16 students to consolidate foundational skills and knowledge, preparing those with lower prior attainment for successful GCSE resits the following year. In addition, we are working with the further education Commissioner to gather and share effective practice, to help providers support their students.