Written questions by Moon.

What plans her Department has to collaborate with training providers to increase skills levels in high voltage dynamic cables.

The skills system is designed to enable close collaboration between government, employers and training providers to equip learners with the skills they need. We encourage employers to work with providers and the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) and, in time, Skills England, to develop the necessary training to meet the needs of crucial clean energy sectors like floating offshore wind.Training providers collaborate with IfATE and employers to ensure the training they deliver meets labour market needs. IfATE develops and maintains occupational standards which outline the skills and knowledge required for roles. Employers provide input on these standards, ensuring they reflect current industry requirements. The department supports these partnerships through its policy direction and funding.Skills England will provide an authoritative assessment of national and regional skills needs in the economy now and in the future. It will also ensure that there is a comprehensive suite of apprenticeships, training and technical qualifications for individuals and employers to access, and which are aligned with skills gaps and the needs of employers.

What assessment she has made of the potential merits of ringfencing funding for small and specialist Higher Education Institutions.

Small and specialist higher education (HE) institutions provide a highly valuable role in nurturing talent and contributing to the UK’s academic, cultural and economic landscape.The Office for Students (OfS) provides targeted funding to twenty small and specialist providers that they assessed as world leading. This is delivered through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG), which is funding that the government provides on an annual basis to support teaching and students in HE, including expensive-to-deliver subjects, such as science and engineering, and for students at risk of discontinuing their studies.For this 2024/25 academic year, funding from the SPG for these small and specialist providers was maintained at £58 million. Funding for the 2025/26 academic year will be announced by the OfS, following government guidance, later this year.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding for children with SEND in rural areas.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life and we will set out plans for reforming the SEND system later this year. The mainstream schools’ national funding formula accounts for the particular challenges faced by small schools in rural areas through the lump sum and sparsity factors. These factors recognise that some smaller schools are remote, limiting their ability to grow or make efficiency savings. Such schools often play a significant role in the rural communities they serve, not least in their provision for pupils with SEND. Eligible primary schools attract up to £57,400, and all other schools up to £83,400, in sparsity funding in 2025/26. The government will also take the time needed to consider changes to the funding formulae used by the department to allocate funding for schools and for children and young people with complex SEND.

What plans her Department has to promote training opportunities for (a) mineral processing, (b) metallurgical skills and (c) other critical minerals skills.

I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Camborne and Redruth to the answer of 25 February 2025 to Question 30538.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of not continuing the Adoption and Special Guardian Support Fund beyond March 2025 on eligible adoptive families and special guardianship order families.

I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Camborne and Redruth, to the answer of 12 March 2025 to Question 35389.

What estimate she has made of the future level of skills needed to attract and train young people in the responsible extraction and recycling of critical minerals in the UK.

In February, the Critical Minerals Association, in partnership with the Department for Business and Trade, will host a workshop focusing on the challenges and opportunities in developing skills for critical mineral domestic midstream and recycling capabilities. The workshop will bring together stakeholders from across the UK critical minerals value chain to identify actionable recommendations for how the government can best support skills and development.Skills England refers to critical minerals in its September 2024 report ‘Driving growth and widening opportunities’, where it highlights the need for physical scientists and engineers to support the UK’s clean energy sectors. In the report, Skills England also commits to providing an authoritative assessment of skills needs, gathering insights from sector stakeholders including employers, sector-owning departments, and unions. This will inform priorities for technical education funding and decision-making. In November, Skills England undertook extensive engagement with over 700 stakeholders including employers in manufacturing and clean energy industries.There is a range of skills products which help meet the skills needs of critical minerals industries, including apprenticeships and higher education courses. These include, for instance, degree apprenticeships in mine management and geoscience, as well as the level 2 material processing plant operator apprenticeship, which can be used for mining activities. The Camborne School of Mining also offers the UK’s only Bachelor of Engineering in mining engineering.

Whether her Department has consulted with all local schools in the Perranporth area as part of the review of the Perranporth Academy project; and when she expects the review to be concluded.

A top priority for the government is to drive high and rising education standards for children across the country. The department is reviewing mainstream free school projects to ensure that they continue to meet localised need for places, offer value for money and are not to the detriment of other schools in the local area.Departmental officials have worked closely with Truro and Penwith Academy Trust and Cornwall local authority to gather the required information. No decisions have yet been taken.Stakeholders are welcome to submit their views to the department. These will be taken into consideration before a final decision is made by Ministers.The review is ongoing. The department will update all trusts and local authorities on the next steps in the new year.We will also provide an update on the overall review in due course.

What steps her Department is taking to identify children who are educated outside school.

The department is committed to giving every child the best start in life, regardless of where and how they are educated. We cannot ignore the rising numbers of home-educated children and official data which shows that growing numbers of children have been moved into home education due to mental health concerns or lack of provision for special educational needs in their local schools.Local authorities have legal duties to be satisfied that all children are receiving a suitable education. However, this duty is undermined by the fact that parents have no obligation to inform their local authority of their decision to home educate. This means that local authorities are unable to fulfil their duties. There is a risk that children are going under the radar and missing out on the education they deserve that will enable them to access the best opportunities in life.For this reason, the government will use the Children’s Wellbeing Bill to require English local authorities to maintain registers of children not in school. Parents and certain out-of-school education providers will be required to provide information for those registers. This will help local authorities piece together a fuller and more accurate picture of those children who are receiving education otherwise than at school and target resources to locating and supporting those who are missing out on education. Local authorities will also have a duty to provide support to those home-educators who request it, which will act as an incentive for families to register.The registers will contain information on those children who are registered on a school roll and are receiving education otherwise than at school. It will not include children who are on a school roll but failing to attend. The department is taking separate action on that important issue of persistent absence.In terms of this new system of registration, parents can be assured that the registers will not be used to criminalise any parent who does not send their child to school. Parents who do not provide information for the registers will result in their local authority being unable to be satisfied that a child is not receiving a suitable education and so the local authority will need to proceed to a formal request for evidence about that education. If that evidence is not forthcoming, or is insufficient, this will usually lead to the local authority needing to issue a School Attendance Order. This is the same mechanism that exists in the current law; no change will be made.The government takes the matter of data protection very seriously, including any threats to privacy and personal data. Local authorities will be legally restricted as to whom they may share register information with and for what purposes. The usual provisions of the UK-GDPR will apply to all data processing activities.The department continues to work with local authorities on existing non-statutory registers and to collect data from those registers.