Written questions by Glindon.

With reference to the report by The Sutton Trust entitled The Opportunity Index, published in May 2025, what steps she is taking to increase the proportion of free school meal pupils who become 50th percentile earners by age 28 in Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend constituency.

Through our work to deliver the Opportunity Mission, the department will break the link between young people’s backgrounds and their future success by tackling the underlying barriers that disadvantaged children face across the country, including in Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend.Ensuring all children get the best start in life is how we make the biggest difference to their outcomes. That is why the first goal we have set out in our Plan for Change is for a record proportion of children to be starting school ready to learn. We will deliver this through boosting early family support and increasing access to high quality early years education and childcare for children and families.The quality of teaching is the single most important in-school factor in improving outcomes for children, especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. That is why, as one of our first steps for change, the department has committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across our secondary and special schools and in our colleges over the course of this Parliament.Alongside this, the department is providing over £3 billion of pupil premium funding this year to help raise the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils, supporting them so they can achieve and thrive in education.

What steps she is taking to increase GCSE attainment in (a) maths and (b) English for pupils with free school meals eligibility in Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend constituency.

All children and young people should have every opportunity to succeed, no matter who they are or where they are from. However, the department knows that disadvantaged pupils are more likely to face unacceptable barriers that hold them back, which is why the Opportunity Mission will break the unfair link between background and success.High and rising standards are the key to unlocking stronger outcomes for every child and young person, reducing gaps and ensuring they can achieve and thrive.To drive standards in reading and writing, the government has committed £27.7 million in the 2025/26 financial year. This includes new training and resources for secondary school staff to support reading in key stage 3, with a specific focus on readers who are at risk of falling behind.The department also funds a national network of Maths Hubs, supported by the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics. This includes the Great North Maths Hub, which covers the Newcastle Upon Tyne East and Wallsend constituency. The network aims to raise the standard of mathematics teaching from reception to age 18, preventing and reducing attainment gaps.On 6 May 2025, the department announced a further £8.2 million for the Advanced Mathematics Support Programme, which includes funding to support 400 schools with high-attaining disadvantaged students to progress to higher grades at GCSE and into level 3 mathematics.Alongside this, we are providing pupil premium funding of over £3 billion in the 2025/26 financial year to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of encouraging local authorities to adopt the HAF Plus model of delivering the Holiday Activities and Food programme for 13-16 year olds.

The holiday activities and food (HAF) programme supports disadvantaged children and their families during the school holidays, offering enriching activities and healthy food to support their health, development and wellbeing. The department was very pleased to be able to make available more than £200 million for the HAF programme in 2025/26. Delivery across England has already taken place at Easter, with the summer and Christmas holidays to come.HAF Plus has been adopted by several local authorities as a model for older children, following successful pilots. Through the department’s annual guidance to local authorities who coordinate the programme across England, we encourage flexibility to offer suitable models to older children, with careful consideration given to a different model of food and activity provision. We also strongly encourage consideration of the role that older children can have in supporting, designing and leading sessions for their peers or for younger children, in order to help them to socialise and develop leadership skills, which can be crucial for those in year 9 to 11.

What recent discussions her Department has had with the Department for Health and Social Care on (a) medical student finance and (b) the adequacy of total financial support during NHS Bursary funded years of study.

The department works closely with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) on a wide range of matters to ensure the education system is supporting healthcare students, including student funding.The government needs to ensure that the student funding system is financially sustainable, and funding arrangements are reviewed each year. We will continue to engage with DHSC to consider the financial support that medical students receive.Students attending the fifth and sixth years of undergraduate medical courses and years 2 to 4 of graduate entry medical courses qualify for NHS bursaries. The government has announced an increase to all NHS bursary maintenance grants and allowances for the 2025/26 academic year by forecast inflation, 3.1%, based on the Retail Price Index Excluding Mortgage Interest (RPIX) inflation index.Medical students qualifying for NHS bursary support also qualify for non-means tested loans for living costs from the department. The government has announced that maximum loans for living costs for the 2025/26 academic year, including reduced rate non-means tested loans for students undertaking NHS bursary years, will also increase by 3.1%.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of enabling medical students to receive their student loan provision at the same rate as previous years alongside the NHS Bursary in their final years of study.

The department works closely with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) on a wide range of matters to ensure the education system is supporting healthcare students, including student funding.The government needs to ensure that the student funding system is financially sustainable, and funding arrangements are reviewed each year. We will continue to engage with DHSC to consider the financial support that medical students receive.Students attending the fifth and sixth years of undergraduate medical courses and years 2 to 4 of graduate entry medical courses qualify for NHS bursaries. The government has announced an increase to all NHS bursary maintenance grants and allowances for the 2025/26 academic year by forecast inflation, 3.1%, based on the Retail Price Index Excluding Mortgage Interest (RPIX) inflation index.Medical students qualifying for NHS bursary support also qualify for non-means tested loans for living costs from the department. The government has announced that maximum loans for living costs for the 2025/26 academic year, including reduced rate non-means tested loans for students undertaking NHS bursary years, will also increase by 3.1%.

What steps she is taking to increase the uptake of free school meals by eligible children.

The department recognises the vital role played by free school meals (FSM) and encourages all eligible families to take their entitlement up. There are currently around 2.1 million pupils eligible for and claiming FSM.The department provides the Eligibility Checking System, allowing local authorities to quickly verify eligibility for FSM and ensure FSM are easily received.The department is aware of a range of measures aimed at maximising take up of FSM, including through approaches being trialled by local authorities. We are supportive of local authorities taking action to ensure government support reaches families, subject to them meeting legal and data protection requirements.The government is committed to delivering an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty by tackling the root causes and giving every child the best start at life. To support this, a new ministerial taskforce has been set up to develop a Child Poverty Strategy, which will be published in spring 2025. The taskforce will consider a range of policies, assessing what will have the greatest impact in driving down rates of child poverty.As with all government programmes, the department will keep its approach to FSM under continued review.

If she will take steps to introduce binding sectoral bargaining to the further education sector.

The government does not set or recommend pay in further education (FE) as this remains the responsibility of individual colleges who are free to implement pay arrangements in line with their local needs. There are no current plans to introduce binding sectoral bargaining in FE. The department is investing around £600 million across in FE in the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years. This includes extending retention payments of up to £6,000 after tax to eligible early career FE teachers in key subject areas, including in sixth form colleges. We also continue to support recruitment and retention with teacher training bursaries worth up to £30,000 tax-free in certain key subject areas, and with support for industry professionals to enter the teaching workforce through the Taking Teaching Further programme. The department will also work with the FE sector to recruit 6,500 additional teachers across schools and colleges to raise standards for children and young people.

If she will take steps to reduce pay gaps between school teachers and further education teachers.

The department recognises the vital role that FE teachers play in developing the skills needed to drive our missions to improve opportunity and economic growth. The government does not set or recommend pay in further education (FE), and the FE sector does not have a Pay Review Body. Colleges are not bound by the national pay and conditions framework for school teachers and are free to implement their own pay arrangements. We are investing around £600 million across the financial years 2024/25 and 2025/26, including extending retention payments of up to £6,000 after tax to eligible early career FE teachers in key subject areas. We also continue to support recruitment and retention with teacher training bursaries worth up to £30,000 tax-free in certain key subject areas, and with support for industry professionals to enter the teaching workforce through our Taking Teaching Further programme. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has announced a Budget on 30 October, which will be followed by a multi-year spending review in the spring of next year. Decisions about future post-16 funding and capital programmes will be subject to the outcomes of these fiscal events.