Written questions by Hinds.

What representations she has received on the effectiveness of the change in the real terms per pupil funding measure as an indicator of growth or otherwise in school budgets when pupil numbers are declining.

Every year the department publishes the schools’ costs technical note to help the sector to understand school costs and funding. Our analysis considers pupil demographic changes alongside other factors.The department allocates most mainstream funding through the schools national funding formula (NFF). In the 2025/26 financial year, 92% of total schools NFF funding is being distributed through “pupil led” factors, which are based on pupil numbers and pupil characteristics, such as eligibility for pupil premium and special educational needs and disabilities.Real terms per pupil comparisons are only one way in which the department communicates funding changes, and schools and local authorities can also see their funding as total cash amounts. The total size of the core schools budget in the 2025/26 financial year is £65.3 billion, a £3.7 billion increase over 2024/25. This represents a 6.0% rise in cash terms, or 3.3% increase in real terms.

What recent estimate she has made of the proportion of school costs that is directly related to the number of pupils.

Every year the department publishes the schools’ costs technical note to help the sector to understand school costs and funding. Our analysis considers pupil demographic changes alongside other factors.The department allocates most mainstream funding through the schools national funding formula (NFF). In the 2025/26 financial year, 92% of total schools NFF funding is being distributed through “pupil led” factors, which are based on pupil numbers and pupil characteristics, such as eligibility for pupil premium and special educational needs and disabilities.Real terms per pupil comparisons are only one way in which the department communicates funding changes, and schools and local authorities can also see their funding as total cash amounts. The total size of the core schools budget in the 2025/26 financial year is £65.3 billion, a £3.7 billion increase over 2024/25. This represents a 6.0% rise in cash terms, or 3.3% increase in real terms.

What estimate she has made of the contribution from the apprenticeship levy to level 7 apprenticeships provided by (a) the NHS and (b) other bodies in the health and social care sector to apprentices (i) under 21 (ii) over 21 in (A) 2023/24 (B) 2024/25 (C) 2025/26 and (D) 2026/27.

The apprenticeship levy is collected by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) from all UK employers with a pay bill above £3 million. HMRC publish overall levy receipts at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmrc-tax-and-nics-receipts-for-the-uk.The department is responsible for apprenticeships in England only. The funding for apprenticeship training comes from the annual protected apprenticeship budget agreed at Spending Reviews. Although closely linked, this is distinct from the total levy income collected and the funds in employer accounts.The department is therefore not able to provide information about how individual levy contributions link to the amount of the budget that is spent supporting level 7 apprenticeships in specific bodies.The department publishes official statistics on apprenticeships that include information on apprenticeship starts by sector, level, standard and age at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships/2024-25.Details of apprenticeship standards by route at level 7 can be found at: https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeships/?levels=7&includeApprovedForDelivery=true.

What estimate she has made of the contribution from the apprenticeship levy to level 7 apprenticeships provided by (a) schools, (b) other bodies in the education sector and (c) bodies in the children’s social care sector to apprentices (i) under 21 (ii) over 21 in (A) 2023/24 (B) 2024/25 (C) 2025/26 and (D) 2026/27.

The apprenticeship levy is collected by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) from all UK employers with a pay bill above £3 million. HMRC publish overall levy receipts at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmrc-tax-and-nics-receipts-for-the-uk.The department is responsible for apprenticeships in England only. The funding for apprenticeship training comes from the annual protected apprenticeship budget agreed at Spending Reviews. Although closely linked, this is distinct from the total levy income collected and the funds in employer accounts.The department is therefore not able to provide information about how individual levy contributions link to the amount of the budget that is spent supporting level 7 apprenticeships in specific bodies.The department publishes official statistics on apprenticeships that include information on apprenticeship starts by sector, level, standard and age at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships/2024-25.Details of apprenticeship standards by route at level 7 can be found at: https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeships/?levels=7&includeApprovedForDelivery=true.

Whether she has made an assessment of the effectiveness of internet filtering systems used in schools.

All schools and colleges must have regard to ‘Keeping children safe in education’, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2. This guidance already makes clear that schools and colleges should ensure appropriate filtering and monitoring systems are in place and that their effectiveness is regularly reviewed.The department developed the filtering and monitoring standards to help schools and colleges to understand what they should be doing to keep children safe online. These standards offer support to schools, who can use South-West Grid for Learning’s testing tool to check that, as a minimum, their filtering system is blocking access to illegal child abuse material, unlawful terrorist content, and adult content.The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) provide lists of illegal websites that filtering providers can block as part of their service, known as blocklists. Schools and colleges must make sure these blocklists are included with their filtering solutions.To further support schools, the department has launched ‘Plan technology for your school’ which allows schools to self-assess their filtering and monitoring provision against the standards and make strategic decisions about how to improve their provision. This can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/plan-technology-for-your-school.The department will continue to work with the providers, including filtering and monitoring providers, and the wider sector, to understand how we can best support them.

What steps she is taking to help ensure that internet filtering systems used in education settings are independently accredited.

All schools and colleges must have regard to ‘Keeping children safe in education’, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2. This guidance already makes clear that schools and colleges should ensure appropriate filtering and monitoring systems are in place and that their effectiveness is regularly reviewed.The department developed the filtering and monitoring standards to help schools and colleges to understand what they should be doing to keep children safe online. These standards offer support to schools, who can use South-West Grid for Learning’s testing tool to check that, as a minimum, their filtering system is blocking access to illegal child abuse material, unlawful terrorist content, and adult content.The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) provide lists of illegal websites that filtering providers can block as part of their service, known as blocklists. Schools and colleges must make sure these blocklists are included with their filtering solutions.To further support schools, the department has launched ‘Plan technology for your school’ which allows schools to self-assess their filtering and monitoring provision against the standards and make strategic decisions about how to improve their provision. This can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/plan-technology-for-your-school.The department will continue to work with the providers, including filtering and monitoring providers, and the wider sector, to understand how we can best support them.

Pursuant to the Answer of 19 May 2025 to Question 52225, whether there is a (a) budget cap, (b) indicative range and (c) best estimate of the money allocated in this financial year's capital budget for the purchase of land near Junction 7 of the M3.

The New Hospital Programme (NHP) has confirmed the budget allocation for Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s land purchase in this financial year. This does include a budget cap which is based on an estimate of what is expected to be required to complete the land acquisition. The actual funding amount will only be confirmed once the short form business case is approved as per the business case process set out in HM Treasury Green Book.The trust is currently in the process of developing their short form business case in relation to the purchase of land near Junction 7 of the M3 with support from the NHP.

Pursuant to his Answer of 19 May 2025 to Question 52225 on Hospitals: Basingstoke, what is the timescale for the short form business case for the purchase of land near Junction 7 of the M3.

The New Hospital Programme (NHP) has confirmed the budget allocation for Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s land purchase in this financial year. This does include a budget cap which is based on an estimate of what is expected to be required to complete the land acquisition. The actual funding amount will only be confirmed once the short form business case is approved as per the business case process set out in HM Treasury Green Book.The trust is currently in the process of developing their short form business case in relation to the purchase of land near Junction 7 of the M3 with support from the NHP.

How many apprenticeship starts there were in the hair and beauty sector in (a) 2023-4 and (b) 2024-5; and what estimate she has made of the number of apprenticeship starts expected in the hair and beauty sector in 2025-6.

The number of hair and beauty related apprenticeship starts in England is published in the apprenticeship accredited official statistics publication, which can be accessed at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/aab773ca-8918-4c57-2ec9-08dd9836fa33.These were last published in March 2025 and include full year figures for the 2023/24 academic year and year to date figures for the 2024/25 academic year (August 2024 to January 2025).Apprenticeships are jobs and starts are dependent on employers choosing to offer apprenticeship opportunities, as well as individuals choosing to undertake them.

Whether the School workforce in England figures, published in June 2024 will be the baseline against which she will measure progress towards recruiting 6,500 new expert teachers in key subjects.

High quality teaching is the in-school factor that has the biggest positive impact on a child and young person’s outcome in schools and colleges. Recruiting and retaining more qualified, expert teachers is critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child.This is why, in its Plan for Change, the government is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers in secondary and special schools, and in our colleges, over the course of this Parliament, and we will be continuing to monitor this.Delivery is already under way. Upon entering government we moved quickly to expand our Get Into Teaching marketing campaign and, in July 2024, announced a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools. In 2024/25, we drove forward teacher recruitment and retention, backed by investment of around £700 million across schools and further education (FE). This includes announcing a £233 million initial teacher training financial incentives package, confirming targeted retention incentives worth up to £6,000 after tax, and taking steps to improve teachers’ workload and wellbeing. Building on this, on 22 May 2025, we also announced a 4% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools in England from September 2025, ensuring teaching remains an attractive graduate profession.The government’s Plan for Change is starting to deliver, with over 2,000 more people training to become secondary school teachers this year and recruitment on track to improve even further for the cohort set to start training in 2025/26, with 1,070 more acceptances to postgraduate and teacher degree apprenticeship initial teacher training courses in secondary subjects by the end of April 2025, compared to the same time last year. Additionally, over 2,500 more teachers are expected to stay in the profession over the next three years.

How the recruitment of 6,500 new expert teachers in key subjects will be split across (a) mainstream schools (b) special schools and (c) other educational settings.

High quality teaching is the in-school factor that has the biggest positive impact on a child and young person’s outcome in schools and colleges. Recruiting and retaining more qualified, expert teachers is critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child.This is why, in its Plan for Change, the government is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers in secondary and special schools, and in our colleges, over the course of this Parliament, and we will be continuing to monitor this.Delivery is already under way. Upon entering government we moved quickly to expand our Get Into Teaching marketing campaign and, in July 2024, announced a 5.5% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools. In 2024/25, we drove forward teacher recruitment and retention, backed by investment of around £700 million across schools and further education (FE). This includes announcing a £233 million initial teacher training financial incentives package, confirming targeted retention incentives worth up to £6,000 after tax, and taking steps to improve teachers’ workload and wellbeing. Building on this, on 22 May 2025, we also announced a 4% pay award for teachers and leaders in maintained schools in England from September 2025, ensuring teaching remains an attractive graduate profession.The government’s Plan for Change is starting to deliver, with over 2,000 more people training to become secondary school teachers this year and recruitment on track to improve even further for the cohort set to start training in 2025/26, with 1,070 more acceptances to postgraduate and teacher degree apprenticeship initial teacher training courses in secondary subjects by the end of April 2025, compared to the same time last year. Additionally, over 2,500 more teachers are expected to stay in the profession over the next three years.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled Almost million more pupils get access to mental health support, published on 16 May 2025, whether the next phase of the implementation schedule for mental health support teams in schools differs from that of the previous Government.

Almost one million more young people will have access to mental health support in school this year. Previous plans to expand mental health support in schools were unfunded. By confirming this new investment, six in 10 pupils will have access to a mental health support team by March 2026. All pupils will have access to mental health support in school by 2029/30.

Innovation and Technology, what discussions he has had with Ofcom on the (a) scope, (b) function and (c) remit of the proposed advisory committee on disinformation and misinformation in Section 152 of the Online Safety Act (2023).

The Online Safety Act provides clear requirements for the Committee’s responsibilities: advising Ofcom on how providers should address mis- and disinformation, and how Ofcom should exercise their transparency powers and fulfil their statutory duty to promote media literacy in relation to mis- and disinformation.How Ofcom approaches the design of the committee, providing that it is compliant with these legislative requirements, is for it to decide as an independent regulator. The terms of reference for the new Online Information Advisory Committee have now been published and confirm that these duties remain at the heart of its function.

How much (a) capital funding and (b) revenue funding has been allocated for the purchase of land near Junction 7 of the M3 for development of a new hospital for Basingstoke and North Hampshire.

The New Hospital Programme confirmed to the Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on 7 May that it has included provision for the purchase of land for their scheme in this financial year’s capital budget. Revenue budget is not expected to be needed.The funding amount will be confirmed once the short form business case is approved as per the business case process set out in HM Treasury’s Green Book.

With reference to the policy paper entitled Generative artificial intelligence (AI) in education, updated 22 January 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the use of generative AI by school pupils on those school pupils.

The department is working to develop the evidence base for the safe and effective use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in education, including interventions to ensure teachers are equipped and supported to promote safe and appropriate use of AI.The department’s policy position on generative AI in education sets out advice on legal responsibilities related to data protection, keeping children safe in education and intellectual property law when considering the use of pupil-facing generative AI.A new departmental group will advise on digital, AI and technology to increase the future pipeline of talent and prepare children and young people for an AI and tech-enabled world, as well as promoting the use of AI and education technology for better teaching and learning. Expert and evidence-informed recommendations will be produced.The department is also developing online training resources and guidance materials for teachers and leaders, to be launched in the summer. The resources will help with the risks and opportunities of AI across settings as part of a wider digital strategy.In January 2025, the department announced that leading global tech firms had jointly committed to making AI tools for education safer by design. Google, Microsoft, Adobe and Amazon Web Services are amongst the firms who have helped develop a set of expectations AI tools should meet to be considered safe for classroom use. The Generative AI product safety expectations framework was published in January 2025.

With reference to the policy paper entitled Generative artificial intelligence (AI) in education, updated 22 January 2025, what steps her Department is taking with the education sector to develop effective and safe use cases for the use of generative AI by school pupils.

In August 2024 the government announced the content store, which is a £3 million data library funded by the Department for Science and Technology. It will be used to provide large language artificial intelligence (AI) models with high-quality educational information, like curriculums and mark schemes. This means AI products will be even more effective at producing resources to help teachers.The department also announced the AI Tools for Education Funding, £1 million of funding through Innovate UK’s contracts for innovation programme, to help build AI tools that will help with teacher workload across all the key stages.In January 2025, to ensure the safety of children the department announced that leading global tech firms had jointly committed to making AI tools for education safer by design. Google, Microsoft, Adobe and Amazon Web Services are amongst the firms who have helped develop a set of expectations AI tools should meet to be considered safe for classroom use. The resulting Generative AI product safety expectations framework was announced on 22 January 2025.To support a clear ask from teachers and leaders, the department is developing online resources and guidance materials to help teachers and leaders use AI safely in their setting. We expect the resources to be published in summer 2025. The online resources and guidance materials for teachers will outline the basic information that everyone working with young people should know about using AI safely and some potential applications or basic training in how to use generative AI tools.

Innovation and Technology, if he will hold discussions with online service platforms on the potential merits of taking steps to ensure that children between 13 and 15 years of age cannot (a) change family safety settings for online devices and (b) turn off their parents' ability to see their online activity without parental consent.

The government has high expectations there will be significant change in online experiences for children, as services start to comply with their duties under the Online Safety Act. Ofcom stands ready to act against services who fall short in protecting users.Ofcom’s final child safety codes outline over 40 measures that providers should consider to protect children online. Ofcom considered parental controls as part of the evidence base that informed these codes.Ministers have regular meetings with stakeholders, including social media companies, to discuss protecting children online. Details of ministerial meetings are published quarterly on gov.uk.

What data her Department holds on trends in the level of usage of coach transport (a) over time and (b) by sector.

The National Travel Survey asks individuals how frequently they use different modes of transport. Reported frequency of use of coach travel is as follows:Frequency of use of coach or express bus: England, 2003 onwards Less than once a year or neverOnce or more per year but less than once a monthOnce a month or more 200383%15%2% 200584%15%2% 200785%13%2% 200986%12%2% 201086%12%2% 201185%13%2% 201285%13%2% 201386%13%1% 201487%11%2% 201586%12%2% 201687%12%2% 201786%12%2% 201887%12%2% 201988%10%2% 202092%7%1% 202195%4%1% 202291%7%1% 202389%9%2% These data are available only for the sector as a whole.

Pursuant to the Answer of 10 December 2024 to Question 17083 on Mental Health Services: Schools, whether planned aspects of provision of access to a specialist mental health professional in every school go beyond the plan to introduce Mental Health Support Teams.

The Government has committed to expanding Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) in schools and colleges to reach 100% coverage by 2029/30. As the programme matures, the Department of Health and Social Care will work with the Department for Education to consider if there are ways the MHST offer can be improved to better support children and young people.We also continue to work with the Department for Education to deliver our commitment of providing access to a specialist mental health professional in every school in England. We are also working across Government and with NHS England to set up a network of community Young Futures hubs.We are currently developing the 10-Year Health Plan with the public, staff, and patients. We continue to listen to emerging insights on children and young people’s mental health and are taking participants' concerns seriously. The consultation process has provided invaluable feedback, and we are in the process of exploring how we best take this forward.

With reference to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, whether a branded lanyard ribbon will count toward the proposed limit on the number of branded school uniform items.

This measure limits the number of compulsory branded items of uniform that schools can require to three or under. Secondary schools and middle schools will have the option to include an additional compulsory branded item if one of those items is a tie.The proposed legislation defines school uniform as a bag and any clothing required for school or for any lesson, club, activity or event facilitated by the school. Therefore, as it is not clothing or a bag, a branded lanyard ribbon would not count towards the limit on the number of branded school uniform items.We also expect schools to follow existing statutory guidance which is clear that all branded items should be kept to a minimum and that schools should carefully consider whether any branded item is the most cost-effective way of achieving the desired result for their uniform.