Written questions by Foord.

If she will extend the deadline for the national Childminder Start-Up Grant scheme.

Childminders are a key part of the early years workforce. They offer high quality and flexible early education and care that can be tailored to the needs of parents and children. Attracting childminders to join the workforce and retaining them is of vital importance.The Childminder Start-up Grant scheme provides eligible new childminders, registered on or after 15 March 2023, with payments of up to £1,200 to help with the costs of setting up their business. The scheme was announced at the Spring Budget 2023 and was planned to run for two years.To qualify for a grant, new childminders had to have completed their childminder registration with either Ofsted or a childminder agency by 31 March 2025, and they must apply to the grant scheme within two months of confirmation of their childminder registration.Childminders provide more than 158,000 registered early years childcare places and the department is working with the sector to expand the number of childminders, and to make it easier for them to operate, including through increased funding rates. From 1 November 2024, there have also been new flexibilities for childminders to work with more people and spend more time working from non-domestic premises if they want to.

Whether she is taking steps to extend (a) bursaries and (b) other forms of financial support to trainee primary school teachers.

The bursaries the department offers are designed to incentivise more applications to initial teacher training (ITT) courses. We review bursaries each year before deciding the offer for trainees starting ITT the following academic year. In doing this, we take account of several factors including historic recruitment, forecast economic conditions, and teacher supply need in each subject.Although recruitment of primary trainee teachers has been slightly below the postgraduate ITT target in recent years, there has been a consistent trend of higher ITT recruitment against target in primary compared to secondary over the last ten years. This is why bursaries are currently focussed on secondary subjects where teacher recruitment is more challenging and the need for new teachers is greater.Primary trainee teachers on tuition fee-funded ITT routes can apply for a tuition fee loan and maintenance loan to support their living costs. Additional student finance is also available depending on individual circumstances, such as the Childcare Grant. Alternatively, prospective primary teachers can apply for salaried ITT routes, such as the postgraduate teaching apprenticeship.

If she will take steps to make the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund a permanent initiative.

An announcement on funding for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund will be made shortly. All future decisions will be considered as part of the next spending review.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing a mental health absence code for children with (a) autism and (b) other neurodivergent conditions who are unable to attend school due to ment

Tackling absence is at the heart of the department’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity. Poor mental health and inadequate access to support are real challenges facing children today and have a detrimental impact on their school attendance,...

What plans she has for delivery of the fourth wave of the School Rebuilding Programme.

The department has selected 513 schools for the School Rebuilding Programme. Several rebuilding projects have been completed under the programme, with many more at various stages of delivery. Where schools have not yet started a feasibility study, start dates will be communicated at least a month in advance.