Written questions by Holden.

What changes the Office for Students has made to the regulatory framework to (a) ensure value for money and (b) good outcomes for students since January 2024.

There has been one significant change to the Office for Students (OfS) regulatory framework, which was announced last year. This introduced the registration condition on harassment and sexual misconduct. The main condition will not come into force until 1 August 2025, however the provisions relating to the banning of non-disclosure agreements apply from 1 September 2024. This condition is important in ensuring higher education students are free from harassment and sexual misconduct that would otherwise adversely affect their ability to benefit from their studies.The OfS has been actively regulating within the current framework, ensuring positive outcomes for students, including through undertaking targeted quality assessments for existing registered providers. Additionally, the OfS has conducted assessments against new initial quality conditions for providers joining the register.The OfS is currently consulting on a five year strategy which sets out its plan to implement and focus on the recommendations of Sir David Behan’s independent review of the OfS, and the interrelated priorities which will support better quality, student interest, financial sustainability and protecting public money.This consultation, which opened on 12 December 2024 and closes on 20 February 2025, is available on the OfS website here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/ofs-strategy-for-2025-to-2030/consultation-on-ofs-strategy-for-2025-to-2030/foreword/.

How many (a) approved families looking to adopt and (b) children ready for adoption there were in each of the last 30 years.

The department does not hold information centrally on the number of approved families that are looking to adopt.The number of children looked after for whom the local authority has made the decision that they should be placed for adoption is published in the annual statistical release, available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions.This information was first collected by the department in 2009, therefore data is available as at 31 March 2009 to 2024.Information for the latest 5 years is published annually and can be found in categories 4a and 4c in the latest statistical release, available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/6f861ced-a334-42c1-5a17-08dd3479441b.Figures for other years are contained in previous years’ releases, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-looked-after-children.

With reference to her Department's press release, Government reaffirms commitment to Free Speech in universities, published on 15 January 2025, when she will implement the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.

As my right hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Security said in the House of Lords on 16 December, the Home Office plans to lay the regulations that underpin the scheme in early 2025, ahead of the scheme going live in the summer. The department is keeping implementation of the overseas transparency measures under review whilst we work with the sector to assess their approaches to managing these risks, and to ensure that any new reporting requirements are proportionate and add value to existing and upcoming protections. We expect a decision on the overseas measures to be made before the implementation of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has not conducted an assessment of the potential merits of encouraging higher education (HE) institutions to adopt The Chicago Principles. HE providers are independent institutions and adopting the principles would be a matter for them individually.However, the implementation of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, in the manner set out by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education in her oral statement on 15 January 2025, will seek to achieve many of the same underlying values, including commitment to free and open enquiry in all matters, ensuring the broadest possible latitude to speak, write, listen, challenge and learn, and a solemn responsibility to debate and protect freedom of expression when others attempt to restrict it.

With reference to her oral statement on 15 January 2025 on Higher Education Regulatory Approach, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of encouraging higher education institutions to adopt The Chicago Principles on freedom of speech and academic freedom.

As my right hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Security said in the House of Lords on 16 December, the Home Office plans to lay the regulations that underpin the scheme in early 2025, ahead of the scheme going live in the summer. The department is keeping implementation of the overseas transparency measures under review whilst we work with the sector to assess their approaches to managing these risks, and to ensure that any new reporting requirements are proportionate and add value to existing and upcoming protections. We expect a decision on the overseas measures to be made before the implementation of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has not conducted an assessment of the potential merits of encouraging higher education (HE) institutions to adopt The Chicago Principles. HE providers are independent institutions and adopting the principles would be a matter for them individually.However, the implementation of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, in the manner set out by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education in her oral statement on 15 January 2025, will seek to achieve many of the same underlying values, including commitment to free and open enquiry in all matters, ensuring the broadest possible latitude to speak, write, listen, challenge and learn, and a solemn responsibility to debate and protect freedom of expression when others attempt to restrict it.

Whether her Department provides support programs including (a) appropriate training, (b) mentorship and (c) career pathways to encourage young people to enter the construction sector.

This government is working to create a clear, flexible, high-quality skills system that supports people of all ages, breaking down the barriers to opportunity and driving economic growth.The department has already established Skills England to ensure we have the highly-trained workforce needed to deliver the national, regional and local skills needs of the next decade. It will ensure the skills system is clear and navigable for both young people and older adults, strengthening careers pathways into jobs across the economy.A wide range of government-funded programmes are available for people of all ages to access education and training and develop a career pathway in construction. These include apprenticeships, T Levels, Skills Bootcamps, and Free Courses for Jobs.There are currently 91 high-quality apprenticeship standards in the construction and the built environment sector, with a further two standards in development. The department has introduced innovations to support growth of training programmes in the sector. For example, we are making apprenticeships more flexible through flexi job apprenticeships. There are Skills Bootcamps around the country that offer courses in different areas of construction.The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education has recently published occupational maps on their website displaying the apprenticeship progression opportunities in each occupation. The occupational maps can be accessed via their website at: https://occupational-maps.instituteforapprenticeships.org/. These maps also specify if the occupation is embedded within the green occupational landscape and deliver sustainable outcomes.​T Levels also provide an excellent option for 16 to 19 learners and include valuable workplace experience through an industry placement of at least 45 days. Thousands of young people have benefited from T Levels in subject areas such as Design, Surveying and Planning, and Building Services Engineering, which can lead to rewarding careers in the construction sector. ​​​There are 21 ​Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs) currently available in the Construction and the Built Environment occupational route, with a further 19 becoming available from September 2025. HTQs are level 4 and 5 qualifications which have been independently approved as providing the skills employers need. Examples of HTQs currently available in these areas include Higher National Diploma (HND) in Modern Methods of Construction, HND in Architectural Technology and HNC Construction Quantity Surveying.High-quality careers advice is an essential part of our missions to break down the barriers to opportunity and to drive economic growth. Our ambition is for everyone to have access to impartial careers information, advice and guidance throughout their lives. This will help open up more opportunities for individuals from all backgrounds to access the skills and training they need to succeed in the workplace and to advance their careers.

Whether she plans to take steps to ensure that pay rates of teachers in sixth form colleges match those of school teachers.

This government is committed to ensuring that there is a thriving further education (FE) sector, which is vital to its missions to break down the barriers to opportunity and boost economic growth. The government is not responsible for, and plays no role in, setting or making recommendations about teacher pay in FE colleges. It is for individual colleges and providers to set the pay of their staff. At the Autumn Budget, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer set out an additional £300 million revenue funding for FE in 2025/26 to ensure young people are developing the skills this country needs, as well as £300 million new capital funding to address condition and capacity issues in the FE estate. The department will set out how this funding will be distributed in due course.

What plans she has to increase the number and proportion of pupils attaining a pass grade in GSCE (a) maths and (b) English by the age of (i) 16 and (ii) 18.

High and rising school standards are at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best life chances.The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review which will seek to deliver, amongst other things, an excellent foundation in core subjects of reading, writing and mathematics. The reformed curriculum will drive high and rising standards in schools, ensuring children are prepared for life, work and the future. The review will look closely at the key challenges to attainment that children and young people face, in particular those with SEND, as it seeks to ensure that all pupils benefit from a broad curriculum. This will also include looking at how the assessment system can be improved.The review group will publish an interim report in early 2025 setting out their interim findings and confirming the key areas for further work. The final review with recommendations will be published in autumn 2025.High-quality teaching is the most important in-school factor supporting pupils’ attainment and outcomes. The department is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers in secondary schools, special schools and colleges to drive high standards for children and young people. Our measures will include getting more teachers into shortage subjects, supporting areas that face recruitment challenges and tackling retention issues. Additionally, in October the department introduced a teacher retention incentive of £6,000 for teachers in secondary schools and colleges in shortage subjects including science, technology, engineering and mathematics.The department’s English and Maths Hubs are providing school to school expertise and advice on how to strengthen outcomes in these subjects.From early 2025, new Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams will support all state schools by facilitating networking, sharing best practice and enabling schools to better access support, including for English and mathematics, and learn from one another. For schools requiring more intensive support, RISE teams and supporting organisations will work collaboratively with their responsible body to agree bespoke packages of targeted support, based on a school’s particular circumstances.The department considers level 2 English and mathematics to be essential for enabling students to realise their potential, and seize opportunities in life, learning and work. That is why we have the mathematics and English condition of funding (CoF), which enables all students on 16-19 study programmes or T Levels who have not yet attained grade 4+ GCSE (or equivalent) in English and mathematics to access support that leads to the best outcomes for them. A GCSE pass grade includes students with a prior attainment of grade 9-1, but a pass below grade 4 is not a level 2 pass which is why those students are supported by this policy.The department has announced updates to the CoF requirements to help more students without a level 2 pass to progress in English and mathematics, the updated requirements ensure all students are offered a minimum number of teaching hours for English and/or mathematics. These are three hours for English and four hours for mathematics per week for 2024/25 academic year, and 100 hours for English and 100 hours for mathematics for the 2025/26 academic year. This support must be delivered as in-person, whole class, stand-alone teaching. The 2024/25 requirements are ‘best efforts’, whereas the updates from 2025/26 are mandatory. We also encourage providers to offer an extra 35 hours of mathematics teaching in the 2025/26 academic year, continuing their best efforts in delivering these. We are also reducing the tolerance by which providers may opt out students from these requirements to 2.5% in 2025/26 (from its current level of 5%) so as many students as possible get support for English and mathematics.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing further skills boot camps to help tackle specific sectoral shortages.

Skills Bootcamps remain an important offer in the skills landscape, and in the longer term the department intends to fund Skills Bootcamps through funding Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) and local areas directly. MCAs and the Greater London Authority have the flexibility to use up to 50% of their grants to test Skills Bootcamps in additional sectors. As of the 2024/25 financial year, two trailblazer areas, the West Midlands Combined Authority and Greater Manchester Combined Authority can use 100% of their grants to this effect. More broadly, the department is introducing Skills England to develop a coherent picture of our national and regional skills needs and to shape the technical education needed to meet that demand. Our levy-funded growth and skills offer will deliver greater flexibility for learners and employers, aligned with the government’s industrial strategy, creating routes into good, skilled jobs in growing industries and helping to address skills shortages.As a first step, this will include shorter duration and foundation apprenticeships in targeted sectors, helping more people learn new high-quality skills at work, fuelling innovation in businesses across the country, and providing high-quality entry pathways for young people. Skills England is currently engaging with employers over this autumn on how these apprenticeships can support them to develop their workforces and fill skills gaps. We will receive their findings in the new year which will help to inform our offer, and we will set out more detail on the offer in due course.

What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to collate a national register of pupils with (a) parents and (b) primary carers in prison.

The department knows growing up with a parent or primary carer in prison can have a devastating impact on a child’s life chances. The government has a key mission to break down the barriers to opportunity for every child, which is why the department has committed to identifying children of prisoners and ensuring they get the support they need to thrive. The department acknowledges the complexities of this issue and the wide range of family circumstances there may be. We must consider the implications the imprisonment of a child’s primary carer has on the child, regardless of whether they have legal responsibility for the child and/or are a blood relative. This is why the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) programme report, published by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in July this year, used multiple data sources to capture the breadth of parental relationships. The MoJ is leading on the work to better identify children with a parent or primary carer in prison. At present, alongside the department, the MoJ is working to determine how to effectively identify these children so they are provided with the support they need to thrive. Parental imprisonment is a sensitive issue, and we are working with a range of stakeholders to ensure this is handled in the most child-centred, trauma-informed and age-appropriate way. Exact details of how this will work in practice are to be confirmed. The department will make sure it considers how best to support all children affected by this issue as part of its wider reforms to children’s social care. We are clear that the support these children receive should be based on their individual needs, not solely the characteristic of having a parent or primary carer in prison.

How much funding her Department plans to provide for level seven apprenticeships in each of the next three financial years; and on what categories of apprenticeship this funding will be spent.

Spending on apprenticeships, including the categories of apprenticeship, is demand led as apprenticeships are a job with training and therefore employers and their needs determine which opportunities are available to learners.The government will be asking more employers to step forward and fund level 7 apprenticeships themselves, outside of the levy-funded growth and skills offer. This will enable better targeting of funding and help more people to get on at the start of their working lives instead of subsidising qualifications for those already established in their careers. The department will set out more detail in the new year.

If she will take steps to issue revised guidance to schools on requirements for developing individual health care plans for pupils with epilepsy.

Statutory guidance, ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions’, recommends the use of individual healthcare plans as good practice. They can help schools support pupils with medical conditions, providing clarity about what needs to be done, when and by whom. The school, healthcare professionals and parents should agree, based on evidence, when a healthcare plan would be appropriate. ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions’ can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5ce6a72e40f0b620a103bd53/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions.pdf.The department will keep the statutory guidance under review as we take forward the commitment to delivering an inclusive mainstream system.The department engages closely with school leaders and their representative organisations on a wide range of issues, including supporting pupils with medical conditions.

How many (a) teachers, (b) teaching assistants and (c) other staff are employed in state schools in England.

Information on the school workforce, including the headcount and full-time equivalent number of teachers, teaching assistants, and other support staff in state-funded schools, is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.The specific information requested is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/db9348ac-a1d5-453e-1737-08dcedc9c179.

How many pupils are in state education per year group in England.

The most recently published statistics on the number of pupils at schools in England are from the January 2024 school census and can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.The table at the following link gives the number of state-funded school pupils by national curriculum year group as of that census: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/c9d612cd-f178-4ca0-a02a-08dcedcd278c.