Written questions by Morton.

What assessment she has made of the impact of further education funding pressures on skills shortages in the West Midlands; and what discussions she has had with mayoral combined authorities and local employers on workforce shortages in construction, engineering and health and social care.

Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) bring together employers, education providers, and other local partners to identify and address key skills needs in an area. In the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) the LSIP is led by the Coventry Chamber of Commerce. The WMCA sets out sector skills priorities, which inform the LSIP currently being developed for the area. The LSIP is due to be published this summer.The WMCA also has devolved responsibility for the Adult Skills Fund and delivers priority skills in the region for adults in line with its Integrated Settlement Outcomes Framework, published this May.

What assessment she has made of the impact of the 2025-26 further education funding settlement on colleges’ ability to recruit and retain teaching staff; and what estimate she has made of the current pay gap between further education college staff, school teachers and equivalent industry roles.

Further education (FE) teachers are central to delivering high-quality technical education. The department announced an additional £190 million for colleges and other 16 to 19 providers for the 2025/26 financial year to help them address immediate pressures, including supporting recruitment and retention of specialist FE staff. We are providing nearly £9 billion in 16 to 19 programme funding for the 2026/27 academic year. This will support colleges in their key priorities, including supporting the recruitment and retention of excellent teachers and non-teaching staff. Our targeted retention incentive offer is designed to retain eligible FE teachers in technical subjects with payments of up to £6,000 after tax. In its first year, nearly 6,000 teachers received a payment. Maintained schoolteachers' pay is set nationally subject to recommendations from the School Teachers’ Review Body. FE colleges have statutory autonomy over the pay of their staff.

What assessment she has made of whether current further education funding levels are sufficient to support the Government’s target of training an additional 60,000 construction workers; and what estimate she has made of the number of prospective construction students turned away from further education colleges due to staffing, funding or facilities constraints in the last 12 months.

Awaiting answer.

If he will set out how his Department measures value for money in adult education provision; what weighting is given to learner outcomes, employment and self-employment outcomes, community impact and provider quality when allocating funding; and what assessment he has made of the role specialist local training providers in supporting local economic growth and improving access to employment opportunities.

Awaiting answer.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of barriers to accessing adult education funding opportunities on locally-based training providers; what steps his Department is taking to improve transparency and accountability within funding allocation processes; and what consideration he has given to introducing ring-fenced funding, pilot schemes and other initiatives to support smaller, high-quality providers delivering locally responsive education and training.

Awaiting answer.

What proportion of adult education funding in England is allocated to (a) small and medium-sized providers and (b) large national providers; whether her Department collects data on funding allocation by provider type; and what plans she has to improve the clarity of information of the distribution of adult education funding and the criteria used to allocate it.

Awaiting answer.

What mechanisms are in place to ensure that adult education funding allocations reflect provider quality, compliance and learner outcomes; what action is taken when providers receiving public funding are subject to investigation by the Education and Skills Funding Agency or receive repeated ‘Requires Improvement’ ratings from Ofsted; and whether there is a formal process for reassessing funding allocations in such circumstances.

Awaiting answer.

With reference to the 2025-26 16 to 19 funding settlement, what estimate she has made of the real-terms change in per-student funding for further education colleges after inflation and energy cost increases are considered.

The average total programme funding for all 16 to 19-year-olds, including those at further education colleges, school sixth forms and other providers, has increased from £6,219 in the 2024/25 academic year to £6,762 in the 2025/26 academic year, an increase of 8.74%. This is much higher than the current GDP deflator measure of inflation for 2025/26, which is 3.24%.

What estimate she has made of the number of students on waiting lists for further education construction courses in England; and what assessment she has made of the adequacy of existing capital funding for colleges seeking to expand technical education capacity.

The government is investing £195 million to give colleges the space and facilities to train the next generation of construction workers as part of the Construction Skills Package. A further £375 million will increase capacity in colleges for 16 to 19 year-olds, including technical education. Wave 2 Technical Excellence Colleges are backed by £137 million capital funding, investing in the facilities needed to deliver quality specialist provision across priority sectors.Admissions are a matter for individual providers and the department itself has not made any estimate of waiting lists.

How many 16 to 18-year-old students enrolled at further education colleges in England in the 2025-26 academic year are currently unfunded; what estimate she has made of the number of students who may be denied places in 2026-27 because of funding constraints; and what assessment she has made of the impact of unfunded places on skills shortages in construction, health and social care.

The department funds any 16 to 18-year-old who wants a place in post-16 education. Institutions receive funding for all their students, but on a lagged approach, meaning the funding in each academic year is based on the number of students in the previous year.The department recognises that where an institution makes a particularly significant expansion in student numbers in a single year, that can cause cost pressures. For that reason, we provide exceptional in-year growth (EIYG) funding. We are investing £87 million to fund exceptional in-year growth this year.In the 2026/27 academic year, we have allocated nearly £9 billion in 16 to 19 programme funding to colleges, schools and other institutions. No young person should be denied a place due to funding constraints as institutions can be confident their funding will reflect student numbers.

What new oversight measures she plans to introduce in relation to home schooling as referenced in the Statement of 9 March 2026; whether local authorities will be granted additional statutory powers to register or inspect home-educated children; what safeguards she will put in place to ensure that families who home educate are not subject to disproportionate regulation; and what assessment she has made of the potential resource implications for local authorities.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will require local authorities to maintain registers of children who are not in school, including home-educated children, and require parents of eligible children to give information for these registers. This will support authorities to identify children who are not receiving a safe, suitable education so they can take action.The Bill also requires some parents to seek permission from the local authority before children can be withdrawn for home education, such as children who are subject to section 47 enquiries, are on a child protection plan (or were previously in the last five years), or who attend a special school. This additional check will ensure these children receive a suitable education that is in their best interests.When carrying out their duties, local authorities must act reasonably and we will provide additional training and statutory guidance to support with this. We will also conduct a New Burdens Assessment to establish the amount of additional funding required by local authorities to fulfil their duties. Evidence for this assessment will be gathered through a public consultation ahead of implementation of the measures.

Pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2026 to Question 107689, what the expected split is between inbound and outbound places within the 100,000 places referred to; and over what period those 100,000 places are expected to be delivered.

We expect that over 100,000 people could benefit from outbound mobility and partnership opportunities from UK participation in 2027. Depending on the Erasmus+ action for which they apply, UK beneficiaries of Erasmus+ funding in the 2027 call year will be able to use their funding for projects lasting between 3 and 36 months.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of the benefits to educational outcomes of regular physical activity.

Physical education (PE) and sport are vital elements of a rounded and enriching education that every child deserves. As outlined in the government's response to the curriculum and assessment review recommendations, the department will be strengthening the national curriculum for PE, recognising its role in supporting pupils’ wellbeing and educational outcomes.We have also made a commitment to set out a core enrichment offer that every school and college, in every community, should aim to provide for all children beyond the statutory curriculum. Our ambition is that all schools should provide an offer to all pupils that meets the new benchmarks. This includes access to sport and physical activities, civic engagement, arts and culture, nature, outdoor and adventure, and developing wider life skills.As announced last June by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, the department is working with the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to develop a new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network which aims to support schools to ensure all children and young people have equal access to high quality PE and extracurricular sport.

What steps she is taking to support local authorities to reduce SEND assessment backlogs.

The department publishes annual SEN2 data on education, health and care (EHC) plan assessments, including timeliness of assessment. These data underpin our monitoring of local authority performance, support targeted intervention, and strengthen transparency across the system. SEN2 returns inform regular engagement and monitoring meetings with local areas and help us identify where additional support or challenge may be required.Through our special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) improvement and intervention programmes, we focus on areas showing signs of decline to help strengthen services. When inspections, other local intelligence or monitoring highlight concerns, including failures to meet statutory duties on EHC plan timeliness, we provide a range of universal, targeted and intensive support. This includes peer‑to‑peer support from sector-led improvement partners.Local authorities struggling to meet the 20‑week timeframe receive enhanced monitoring, and specialist SEND Advisers are deployed where further diagnostic support is needed.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of levels in the availability of specialist school places in constituencies such as Aldridge-Brownhills.

It is the responsibility of local authorities to ensure there are sufficient school places for pupils in their area, including those with special educational needs and disabilities. If a local authority identifies a shortage of places, resulting in a significant number of pupils needing to travel a long way to access a placement, they should consider creating, adapting, or expanding provision to meet that need.The department has announced at least £3 billion for high needs capital between 2026/27 and 2029/30. Local authorities can use this funding to create specialist facilities within mainstream schools, adapt mainstream schools to be more accessible, and create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs.This builds on the £740 million invested in 2025/26, which is on track to create around 10,000 new specialist places. Of this, Walsall Council received an allocation of just over £5 million. We will confirm local authority allocations for 2026/27 later in the spring.

What steps is her Department taking to ensure that all pupils leave school with life-saving road safety skills.

I refer the right hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills to the answer of 14 October 2025 to Question 77400.

What steps she is taking to improve outcomes for children with special educational needs.

The department has recently announced £200 million of investment over the course of this Parliament to upskill staff in every school, college and nursery, ensuring a skilled workforce for generations to come. This builds on our £3 billion investment to create more specialist places and ensure more children and young people can thrive at a setting close to home.This government is determined to deliver reform that stands the test of time and rebuilds the confidence of families, which is why we have undertaken a national conversation to gather information and views from parents, teachers and experts in every region of the country so that lived experience and partnership are at the heart of our solutions.We will set out our plans for reform in the upcoming Schools White Paper, building on the work we’ve already done to create a system that’s rooted in inclusion, where children receive high-quality support early on and can thrive at their local school.

What steps she is taking to ensure all children can access cycle training at school.

This government is committed to increasing activity levels for all children. Schools have the flexibility to decide on the activities they provide to deliver a rounded and enriching education to suit their pupils’ needs.The government currently funds a cycling training programme called Bikeability, with the aims to equip more children and families with the skills, confidence, and knowledge needed to cycle safely on roads, while encouraging active travel in everyday life. This investment is part of a broader effort to support local authorities in developing and constructing walking, wheeling, and cycling facilities across England.The department welcomes the opportunity for continued collaboration with Bikeability to create sustainable improvements in physical activity for young people. For example, through active travel and promoting the overall wellbeing benefits of physical activity, including through cycling.

What estimate has she made of the number of places that will be available for a) young British nationals and b) young EU nationals in each of the next five years under the new Erasmus scheme; and what assessment has she made of the expected regional allocation and breakdown of places.

We have now concluded negotiations with the European Commission on the UK’s association to Erasmus+ in 2027. This commitment covers the 2027/28 academic year. Any participation in Erasmus+ into the next Multiannual Financial Framework from 2028/34 will need to be agreed in the future and be based on a fair and balanced contribution.We expect that over 100,000 people could benefit from mobility and partnership opportunities from participation in 2027.We will have detailed information on the UK’s Erasmus+ beneficiaries after our first year of participation.

Whether he will require the Department for Education or newly responsible central government bodies to publish borough-level data on SEND provision, EHCP timeliness and outcomes once funding is centralised, to ensure regional transparency for areas such as Walsall and the Black Country.

Information on the number of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) is published in the statistical release, Special educational needs in England, accessible at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england/2024-25. This includes information for each local authority on the number of pupils with SEN, their type of need, type of school attended and characteristics such as ethnicity, age sex, and free school meal eligibility. Information on the number of education, health and care (EHC) plans maintained by each local authority is published in the statistical release, accessible at:https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans/2025. This includes information for each local authority on the number of plans maintained for all children and young people aged 0 to 25, including those educated other than in schools. It also covers the timeliness for issuing EHC plans, the number of requests for and number of EHC needs assessments carried out, the placement of children and young people with an EHC plan, and the number of plans which cease and the reasons why they cease.