Written questions by Timothy.

With reference to the Written Statement of 15 December 2025 on Investment in high needs place, HCWS1163, which (a) Members of Parliament and (b) local authorities met departmental officials to discuss the status of one or more of the 28 mainstream free school projects ahead of their cancellation.

The department has engaged with trusts, local authorities and other stakeholders in relation to projects in scope of the mainstream review, including reviewing the evidence they have provided. This included all of the local authorities with a project in scope.MPs with an interest in projects were invited to a ‘drop in’ session during the review and again following the announcement on 15 December 2025. Individual meetings with interested MPs have also taken place.

What evidential basis her department is using to promote resource bases for pupils with specialist needs in mainstream schools.

I refer the hon. Member for West Suffolk to the answer of 13 February 2026 to Question 103940.

With reference to the Written Statement of 15 December 2025 on Investment in high needs place, HCWS1163, what meetings were held with the 18 local authorities that had successful bids for a (a) special and (b) AP free school ahead of the cancellation of those projects.

Meetings were held with a small number of local authorities with projects across the special and alternative provision free schools pipeline during the process of formulating policy. As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of 15 December 2025 (HCWS1163), policy decisions have been taken to ensure that capital investment delivers specialist places more quickly and flexibly.For 18 projects where a trust had not been appointed by July 2024 and so are furthest from opening, the department concluded that local authorities are best placed to create the required places sooner than would be possible through the free school route. Each affected authority will be given an alternative funding package, calculated on a per-place basis, enabling them to expand existing provision or adapt mainstream settings as part of their local special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) strategy and in line with SEND reform.Authorities can submit representations if they disagree with the decision. The deadline for them to do so is 27 February 2026.

With reference to the Written Statement of 15 December 2025 on Investment in high needs place, HCWS1163, how much each local authority will receive from the £3 billion investment in SEND school places.

In December, the department announced at least £3 billion for high needs capital between 2026/27 and 2029/30 to support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities or who require alternative provision. This funding is intended to create facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs. It can also be used to adapt mainstream schools to be more accessible and to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs. We will confirm local authority allocations later this spring.

With reference to the Written Statement of 15 December 2025 on Investment in high needs place, HCWS1163, what meetings her Department held with the mainstream free school projects prior to their cancellation.

The department has engaged with trusts, local authorities and other stakeholders in relation to individual projects in scope of the review, including reviewing the evidence they have provided. As would be expected from a review of this scale, there have been a significant number of meetings

If she will make an assessment of the adequacy of safeguarding in nursery settings.

The safety of our youngest children is our utmost priority and the department continually monitors and reviews safeguarding requirements to make sure children are kept as safe as possible.The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements early years providers must meet to ensure that children are kept healthy and safe. It is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68c024cb8c6d992f23edd79c/Early_years_foundation_stage_statutory_framework_-_for_group_and_school-based_providers.pdf. In September 2025, changes were introduced to strengthen the safeguarding requirements in the EYFS, including clearer expectations on safer recruitment, child absences, safer eating, safeguarding training and whistleblowing.A new safeguarding training annex now sets out what training must cover. To support providers, a free online safeguarding training package is being developed with the NSPCC, aligned to the new requirements.We are also appointing an expert panel to inform whether CCTV should be mandated within early years settings, along with the development of guidance on the safe and effective use of digital devices and CCTV within safeguarding, setting out best practice, technical information and clear expectations.

Pursuant to the answer of 23 December 2025 to written question 93136, how much funding has been allocated to the RISE Advisor budget by key expenditure items.

This government is focused on driving high and rising standards through our Plan for Change, to enable every child to achieve and thrive.Our targeted regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) programme is ensuring schools who need it most are getting the support they need to improve.Over 360 schools have already benefited from RISE, supported by 65 advisers, experienced leaders across the schools sector.£4.8 million has been allocated to the RISE Adviser budget for the 2025/26 financial year. Budgets for future years will be set through business planning.

With reference to her Department's written statement entitled Investment in high needs place of 15 December 2025, what evidential basis her department is using to promote internal alternative provision for pupils with specialist needs in mainstream schools.

The department has announced at least £3 billion for high needs capital between 2026/27 and 2029/30, which is intended to create facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more flexible support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs, alongside expanding or creating special and alternative provision schools.Pupil support units are used as a planned intervention to support pupils with additional needs, including behaviour difficulties, and to improve their engagement with mainstream education.The department has reviewed the existing evidence base, including findings from the department's school and college voice omnibus surveys, and third-party reports.The department’s ‘Explorative research into In-School Support Units’ found that improvements in outcomes were perceived to span behaviour, attendance and attainment, as well as softer outcomes including improvements in feelings of belonging.We are working with the sector to develop guidance applicable to pupil support units.

With reference to written statement 1163, on what grounds the Government approved the Eton Star academy projects in Dudley and Oldham.

All free school projects were evaluated in line with consistent criteria focusing on assessing the need for places and value for money. This included considering whether projects would provide a distinctive local offer and whether they would risk negatively impacting other local schools or colleges.

Pursuant to written question 93138, what her planned timetable is for publication of the (a) terms of reference and (b) membership of the regional improvement for standards and excellence Operations Working Group.

The department will publish the terms of reference, membership details and minutes of the first meeting of the Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence Operations Working Group by the end of January 2026. Minutes for future meetings with be published following each meeting.

Pursuant to written question 100178, if she will publish the criteria used by her Department to evaluate (a) the need for places, (b) value for money, (c) whether they would provide a distinctive or innovative education offer and (d) whether they would negatively affect other local schools.

We have written to trusts, local authorities and members of Parliament setting out the position on individual projects, as well as offering more detailed feedback. The department considered whether there was a strong need for the school in the medium term. We assessed published School Capacity data (SCAP24), in line with the department’s longstanding approach to assessing pipeline projects, as well as other data from local authorities, such as plans for future housing developments. We also considered forecast costs of delivering each school, delivery issues such as finding a suitable site and whether projects would provide a distinctive local offer or risk negatively impacting other local schools. Final decisions on projects where a ‘minded to cancel’ letter was issued, will be made once trusts and local authorities have had the opportunity to submit any new evidence. Representations should be made by 30 January 2026.

Pursuant to the Answer of 24 December to Question 96893, when she will publish the aggregated information on programme-level performance measures and key performance indicators for RISE advisors.

This government is focused on driving high and rising standards through our Plan for Change, to enable every child to achieve and thrive.Our targeted RISE programme is ensuring schools who need it most are getting the support they need to improve. We will publish an interim process evaluation report in the spring, but we are continuing to evaluate and listening to a range of feedback directly informing the program. We will publish further process evaluation interim reports and expect to publish a final process evaluation report in 2028.

With reference to written statement HCWS1163 made on 15 December 2025, how much government funding has been given to date to each of the 28 mainstream free school projects ahead of their cancellation.

The department provides capital funding for the acquisition of sites/land and the construction of free schools. Where sites have been secured, details and costs of acquisitions will be set out on the Land Registry website. The department also publishes contract details and costs for all free school projects on Contracts Finder.

How many local authority presumption free schools have been established since central applications were closed last year, broken down by (a), primary, (b) secondary, (c) post-16, and (d) special schools.

The number of free schools that have been opened through the free school presumption process since July 2024 is as follows:Primary23Secondary0All-through1Post-160Special8Alternative provision1 For comparison, the number of presumption free schools that were established in the previous academic year (2023/24) was:Primary12Secondary0All-through1Post-160Special1Alternative provision0

What evidential basis her Department is using to promote internal SEND units for pupils with specialist needs in mainstream schools.

This government is committed to encouraging schools and local authorities to set up resourced provision and special educational needs (SEN) units to increase capacity in mainstream schools.The department has carried out wide stakeholder engagement and reviewed the existing evidence base, including academic literature, public datasets and third-party reports.We know there are many great examples of mainstream schools delivering specialist provision through resourced provision and SEN units. They have an important role to play in a more inclusive mainstream system, enabling children to achieve and thrive in a mainstream school.We are committed to building the evidence base. For example, the ‘What Works in SEND’ programme is undertaking a research project on SEN units and resourced provision, including a systematic review of existing UK and international literature and research into operational models in primary and secondary schools in England.The department is also working with the Council for Disabled Children and the National Association for Special Educational Needs to develop guidance to help mainstream settings deliver high quality support for children accessing SEN units, resourced provision, and pupil support units.

If she will publish in full the data held by the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) database.

The department does not have plans to publish in full the data held in the Longitudinal Education Outcomes database.The database contains the sensitive personal information of UK citizens. It would be a breach of the public trust and UK General Data Protection Regulations 2018 legislation to publish it in full.However, the department routinely publishes a wide range of statistical information drawn from the data. The department also makes the data available for research in the public interest through the Office for National Statistics Secure Research Service. Further information on how to access the data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-to-access-the-longitudinal-education-outcomes-leo-dataset.

How many overseas investors have been involved in the additional needs sector in each year since 2020.

Based on publicly available information, we understand that, of the fifteen private equity funds who own independent special schools (ISS), five are based outside the UK (Jersey, Guernsey, USA, Qatar and Abu Dhabi), together owning 170 units (19%) with nine thousand pupils (27%). We cannot say how many individual investors these five funds represent, nor can we say how many overseas investors have invested in the remaining ten UK-based private equity funds who own ISS units.

What has been the market share of (a) private equity firms, and (b) sovereign wealth funds in the additional needs sector in each year since 2020.

Based on publicly available information, we understand that approximately 300 independent special schools (34% of the sector), educating around 14,000 pupils, are owned by fifteen private equity funds, including sovereign wealth funds (SWF). Within these 300 schools, two sovereign wealth funds, Abu Dhabi and Qatar, own 42 schools (5% of the total market). The Qatar Investment Authority acquired Senad Group in 2008, while Mubadala Capital (part of the Abu Dhabi SWF) acquired Witherslack Group from a UK private equity firm in 2021. SWF owned six independent special schools in 2020, increasing to the current level in 2021.

What information her Department holds on the level of fee increases for (a) independent and (b) non-maintained special schools in each year since 2020.

The department does not monitor increases to private school fees. This is a matter for individual schools.

Which metrics were used to decide which of the previously-approved free schools went ahead.

Mainstream projects were evaluated against consistent criteria on the need for places, value for money, and whether they would provide a distinctive or innovative education offer or risk negatively impacting other local schools.