Written questions by Pochin.

What assessment she has made of the availability of speech and language support for primary school pupils.

Awaiting answer.

What assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the extent to which local authorities comply with identified SEND provision prior to tribunal proceedings.

To ensure all local areas have the capacity to undertake meaningful transformation planning and delivery while maintaining current special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services, the department is investing £200 million for local authorities t...

What definition her Department plans to apply to complex needs in determining eligibility for Education, Health and Care Plans under proposed SEND reforms.

I refer the hon. Member for Runcorn and Helsby to the answer of 11 June 2026 to Question 2530.

What assessment she has made of the potential risk of children and young people with SEND not having access to a suitable school place under proposed reforms to the SEND system.

Too many children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities do not currently have access to a suitable school place close to home. That is why our reforms aim to expand specialist capacity within mainstream settings and increase the...

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of persistent pupil absenteeism on educational attainment.

School attendance is vital for children’s learning, wellbeing and wider development, and is a strong protective factor for all children and young people. Being persistently absent from school significantly harms a child’s chances of future success. For ex...

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of proposed SEND reforms on the ability of parents and carers to enforce provision through the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability)

After a 12-week consultation period, including over 200 engagement events, meetings and roundtables, the department’s ‘SEND reform: putting children and young people first’ consultation has now closed. We are carefully reviewing all responses submitted to...

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that (a) replacement and (b) reform of Education, Health and Care Plans retains legally enforceable provision for children and young people with SEND.

Under our proposed special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms, new, improved education, health and care (EHC) plans will guarantee statutory entitlements for children who require specialist provision. Children and young people with SEND wil...

What assessment she has made of the impact of smartphone use on pupil behaviour in schools.

In January 2026, the department published strengthened ‘mobile phones in schools’ guidance which states that all schools should be mobile phone-free environments by default. The department expects schools to implement a policy whereby pupils do not have a...

What discussions she has had with school leaders regarding the use of artificial intelligence in education.

The department carries out regular direct engagement with school leaders, alongside teachers, support staff, unions, and experts, to better understand what schools need most when implementing AI in their settings. This includes working closely with school...

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of childcare costs on the UK birth rate.

Coram-PACEY’s 2026 Childcare Survey shows the expansion of government funded entitlements in 2024/25 brought the cost of a part-time childcare place for eligible working parents back to what it was in 2005. They additionally found that the expansion of 30...

What steps she is taking to help improve educational attainment among white working-class boys in England.

Awaiting answer.

What analysis she has conducted of the educational progress of white working-class boys in England.

Awaiting answer.

What conversations she has had with stakeholders about the impact of the Government’s June 2025 Ofsted accountability and inspection reform programme.

A robust and effective inspection system is essential to our mission to break down barriers, provide opportunities and drive high and rising standards for every child and young person. The revised Ofsted education inspection framework was published on 9 S...

What assessment she has made of the impact of teacher shortages on secondary school outcomes.

High-quality teaching is the in-school factor that has the biggest positive impact on a child’s outcomes, and recruiting and retaining expert teachers is critical to the government’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity for every child. We ha...

What assessment she has made of regional variations in educational attainment across England.

The ‘Every Child Achieving and Thriving’ White Paper sets out our plan to tackle the unacceptable disparities in attainment across the country. This builds on the steps set out in our ‘Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life’ strategy, to expand family ...

For what reason eligibility for the Holiday Activities and Food programme is limited to children who meet the benefits-related Free School Meals criteria.

The holiday activities and food (HAF) programme provides free nutritious meals, enriching activities, and safe environments to eligible children during the school holidays. The programme is mainly aimed at children in receipt of benefits‑related free school meals, to ensure that funding is focused on the most disadvantaged. Research has shown that the school holidays can be pressure points for some families. Children from households on low incomes are more likely to experience food insecurity, social isolation, reduced physical activity, and fewer opportunities for enriching experiences during the school holidays. HAF directly responds to this by ensuring all sessions include a nutritious meal and enriching and physical activities, benefiting health, wellbeing and learning of those who attend.In addition, local authorities have discretion to use up to 15% of their funding to provide free or subsidised holiday club places for children who do not meet the eligibility criteria but who the local authority believe could benefit from HAF.

Whether she plans to introduce a mandatory registration of staff working in children's homes.

The government set out its position regarding professional registration of the children’s homes workforce in its ’Tackling child sexual abuse: progress update’, published on GOV.UK in April 2025 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-child-sexual-abuse-progress-update. The immediate focus is to develop workforce standards and review sector qualifications to ensure staff working in children’s homes are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to provide the best possible care, and have access to high quality continuing professional development. This will provide the essential foundation for looking at the risks and benefits of a registration model for care staff, including a wider consultation in the longer term.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of implementing the recommendation of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse to appoint a Cabinet level Minister with responsibility for children.

In April 2025, the government published its Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Progress Update, which responded to each of the 20 recommendations form the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. The government agrees with the importance of having a clear focus on children across government, including at Cabinet level. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, is the Cabinet minister for children and a Keeping Children Safe ministerial board has been established to drive and mainstream the strong collective cross-government focus on children’s wellbeing, safety and opportunity. This will bring together ministers from the government departments with a key role on issues affecting children.

When amendments to the Children Act 1989 to strengthen protections for children in local authority care will be brought forward, in the context of the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

Our ‘Tackling child sexual abuse: progress update’, published in April 2025, set out the government’s work to respond to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse’s recommendation to amend the Children Act 1989. The update is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-child-sexual-abuse-progress-update.The department will publish new national standards and statutory guidance for advocacy for children and young people and has committed to establishing a Child Protection Authority. In December 2025, we published the consultation on the authority’s scope, functions and powers, with the aim of making the system clearer, more unified and ensure there is ongoing improvement through effective evidence-based support for practitioners.Further, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill marks the biggest overhaul of children’s social care in a generation with a sharp focus on protecting children. This includes measures to establish multi-agency child protection teams in every local authority area, improve information sharing between agencies, and automatically include education and childcare settings in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of excluding full-time higher-education student households from childcare support schemes when mandatory placements prevent parents from working on those households.

Students with children who are undertaking work placement years with private employers do not qualify for the full-rate partially means-tested loans for living costs or means-tested dependants’ grants (Childcare Grant or Parents’ Learning Allowance). They only qualify for a reduced rate loan for living costs from Student Finance England. The government expects private employers who benefit from students’ work to provide support for students during work placements rather than the taxpayer The government makes an exception for many work placements in the public sector by making available the full-rate partially means-tested loan for living costs and dependants grants to encourage students to gain work experience in these areas. This ensures that low-income students with children undertaking working placements in the public sector receive targeted support through the student support system.Public sector work placements include unpaid service with a hospital, with a local authority in relation to the care of children and young persons, health and welfare, with the prison and probation service, and with either House of Parliament. They also include unpaid research at a UK or overseas institution.