Written questions by Evans.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to Part 2 student loan repayments and the freezing of interest thresholds on [a] women and [b] students with disabilities.

We inherited a Plan 2 loan system that was devised and implemented by the previous government, and there have not been retrospective changes to repayments. Students sign the terms and conditions of the student loan plan type available at the time of their studies before any money is paid to them. Student loan terms and conditions make clear that the conditions of the loan may change in line with the regulations that govern the loans.There has also been no freezing of interest rate threshold. Interest accrues on loan balances at a rate of Retail Price Index (RPI) to RPI+3% until the loan has been repaid in full or is cancelled. Borrowers on Plan 2 terms have interest applied at RPI only if earnings fall below the repayment threshold and interest rates do not impact monthly repayments made by borrowers.If a borrower becomes disabled and permanently unfit for work, loan balances, including interest, may be written off. For all borrowers, any outstanding loan, including interest accrued, will be cancelled after the loan term ends, and debt is never passed on to family members or descendants.

If she will undertake a review of student and graduate opinion about the retrospective nature of changes to Part 2 student loan repayments and the freezing of interest thresholds.

We inherited a Plan 2 loan system that was devised and implemented by the previous government, and there have not been retrospective changes to repayments. Students sign the terms and conditions of the student loan plan type available at the time of their studies before any money is paid to them. Student loan terms and conditions make clear that the conditions of the loan may change in line with the regulations that govern the loans.There has also been no freezing of interest rate threshold. Interest accrues on loan balances at a rate of Retail Price Index (RPI) to RPI+3% until the loan has been repaid in full or is cancelled. Borrowers on Plan 2 terms have interest applied at RPI only if earnings fall below the repayment threshold and interest rates do not impact monthly repayments made by borrowers.If a borrower becomes disabled and permanently unfit for work, loan balances, including interest, may be written off. For all borrowers, any outstanding loan, including interest accrued, will be cancelled after the loan term ends, and debt is never passed on to family members or descendants.

What recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the introduction of VAT on private school fees on the financial sustainability of small private schools with less than 500 pupils.

His Majesty’s Treasury published a tax information and impact note on applying VAT to independent school fees.The department has announced allocations for at least £3 billion in high needs capital between 2026/27 and 2029/30 to support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or those requiring alternative provision. This funding is expected to fund a transformative expansion of inclusion bases, as well as adaptations to improve the accessibility and inclusivity of mainstream settings. It can also be used to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs. Wider proposals for SEND reform have been announced in the Schools White Paper, published on 23 February.

What recent discussions she has had with local authorities on trends in the level of demand for state SEND provision due to private school pupils transferring to the state system.

His Majesty’s Treasury published a tax information and impact note on applying VAT to independent school fees.The department has announced allocations for at least £3 billion in high needs capital between 2026/27 and 2029/30 to support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or those requiring alternative provision. This funding is expected to fund a transformative expansion of inclusion bases, as well as adaptations to improve the accessibility and inclusivity of mainstream settings. It can also be used to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs. Wider proposals for SEND reform have been announced in the Schools White Paper, published on 23 February.

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of introducing a targeted subsidy for small charitable independent schools with fewer than 500 pupils on those schools.

His Majesty’s Treasury published a tax information and impact note on applying VAT to independent school fees.The department has announced allocations for at least £3 billion in high needs capital between 2026/27 and 2029/30 to support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or those requiring alternative provision. This funding is expected to fund a transformative expansion of inclusion bases, as well as adaptations to improve the accessibility and inclusivity of mainstream settings. It can also be used to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs. Wider proposals for SEND reform have been announced in the Schools White Paper, published on 23 February.

What recent estimate she has made of the numbers of parents using private education due to issues with accessing [i] SEND provision and [ii] EHCPs.

His Majesty’s Treasury published a tax information and impact note on applying VAT to independent school fees.The department has announced allocations for at least £3 billion in high needs capital between 2026/27 and 2029/30 to support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or those requiring alternative provision. This funding is expected to fund a transformative expansion of inclusion bases, as well as adaptations to improve the accessibility and inclusivity of mainstream settings. It can also be used to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs. Wider proposals for SEND reform have been announced in the Schools White Paper, published on 23 February.

What steps she is taking to determine the number of educational psychologists required to meet demand as part of the Government's forthcoming plans for SEND.

Educational psychologists play a critical role in the support available to children and young people, including those with special educational needs and disabilities. That is why we are already investing more than £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists over two cohorts, starting their studies in 2024 and 2025. This is in addition to the £10 million currently being invested in the training of more than 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.As these trainees complete their studies, they will join the workforce to support local authority educational psychology services, including contributing to statutory assessments. Trainees who have had their training funded by the department are required to remain in local authority employment for a minimum period. For trainees beginning their course in September 2024, this period is three years.

What steps she is taking to increase the number of educational psychologists to respond to SEND needs.

Educational psychologists play a critical role in the support available to children and young people, including those with special educational needs and disabilities. That is why we are already investing more than £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists over two cohorts, starting their studies in 2024 and 2025. This is in addition to the £10 million currently being invested in the training of more than 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.As these trainees complete their studies, they will join the workforce to support local authority educational psychology services, including contributing to statutory assessments. Trainees who have had their training funded by the department are required to remain in local authority employment for a minimum period. For trainees beginning their course in September 2024, this period is three years.

What discussions she has had with adoptive and kinship families about levels of support offered by statutory authorities to meet family needs.

The government works closely with organisations that represent kinship and adoptive families, and directly with adopters and kinship carers through both our adopter and kinship carer reference groups.Following the Care Review, the government updated the kinship care guidance for local authorities and appointed the first ever National Kinship Ambassador, who works closely to engage with lived experience groups.Local authorities have a statutory duty to assess and provide adoption support tailored to family needs. This includes financial assistance such as adoption allowances, settling-in grants, and access to adoption leave and pay. The adoption and special guardianship support fund provides post-adoption support interventions, including therapeutic support for adopted children and their families.Through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the department will mandate all local authorities in England to publish their local kinship offer and offer family group decision-making at pre-proceedings where that is in the child’s best interests. We will soon trial a kinship allowance in some local authorities, to support eligible kinship carers with the additional cost incurred when taking the parental responsibility of a child in kinship care.

If she will make an assessment of trends in the level of data on [a] met and [b] unmet need among [i] looked-after and [ii] previously looked after children.

The department monitors outcomes for looked-after and previously looked-after children through national statistics on education, health, and care leaver activity. While these datasets do not directly record met and unmet needs, they inform targeted interventions.For example, the adoption and special guardianship support fund provides therapeutic support for previously looked-after children, including those adopted or under special guardianship, helping address complex emotional and behavioural needs identified by local authority assessments.Our reform programme will give children and young people the start in life they deserve. This includes strengthening the children’s social care data and digital strategy with a ‘Centre of Excellence’ supporting data and digital culture, leadership, skills and collaboration for children’s social care.

What steps she is taking to capture the needs of adoptive and kinship families as part of the SEND White Paper.

The department is committed to ensuring parents and carers play a central role in helping shape the future special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system through our National Conversation including in-person and online events, as well as inviting views online. Our SEND regional engagement events bring together diverse stakeholder groups for meaningful dialogue. In addition, we have organised online sessions with Ministers and expert panels to discuss the department’s five principles of reform. Full details, including ways to share views and resources for engaging children, young people, teachers, and others, are available at: https://consult.education.gov.uk/send-reform-national-conversation/.This is not a formal consultation but an expansion of ongoing engagement to ensure parents’ voices are heard. The Schools White Paper, due early next year, will outline our proposed SEND reforms and will be followed by a formal consultation and further engagement.

With reference to the report by the NAO entitled Home to School Transport, published on 31 October 2025, what recent discussions she has had with local authorities about the increasing demand for home to support transport; and whether she intends to include policies to support home to school transport provision as part of the forthcoming Government White Paper on SEND.

Department officials hold regular forums to which all local authority home-to-school travel teams are invited. These meetings provide the department with valuable information about the challenges local authorities face. We have committed to reform the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system to enable more children to thrive in local mainstream settings, whilst guaranteeing access to excellent specialist provision where needed. This will mean fewer children will need to travel long distances to access education which will reduce the financial and logistical burden on local authorities and leave the service better able to meet the needs of the children that continue to rely on it. These reforms to the SEND system will be set out in a Schools white paper early in the new year.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of including issues about (a) personal taxation and (b) tax codes in the financial education syllabus arising from the outcomes of the Curriculum Review.

On 5 November, the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review published its final report which includes recommendations for a refreshed curriculum and assessment system in England.As part of the response to the Review’s report the government has made a commitment to strengthen pupils’ foundational understanding of financial education in mathematics and citizenship, with digital resources to support teaching. From budgeting to understanding credit, through our revised curriculum all children will learn about the fundamentals of money, ensuring every pupil develops the skills needed to succeed in the modern world.The department will engage with sector experts and young people in working out how best to reflect this in the updated curriculum. There will be public consultation on the updated curriculum programmes of study, to seek views on the content before they are finalised.

Pursuant to the Answer of 23 October 2025 to Question 82987 on Jobcentres: Neurodiversity and Young People, what recent discussions she has had with (a) education providers and (b) local authorities on recent trends in the performance of children and young people with SEND across the country.

Over the last year, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, and the former Minister for School Standards, alongside expert advisers like Tom Rees and Dame Christine Lenehan, have listened to the voices of parents, teachers and young people to guide policy development and we have made good progress on plans to build a truly inclusive system where high quality support is provided at the earliest opportunity.To help us deliver the most effective set of reforms we can, we have taken the decision to have a further period of engagement, with the view of bringing forward a full Schools White Paper early in the new year. Through this period of engagement with parents, educators, experts, local authorities and representative organisations, we will test policy options being considered and seek views through listening sessions in every region of the country, and Ministerial meetings with parent and expert groups.

If she will undertake a further consultation on the material for the financial education curriculum in advance of the publishing of the revised curriculum in 2027.

On 5 November, the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review published its final report which includes recommendations for a refreshed curriculum and assessment system in England.As part of the response to the Review’s report the government has made a commitment to strengthen pupils’ foundational understanding of financial education in mathematics and citizenship, with digital resources to support teaching. From budgeting to understanding credit, through our revised curriculum all children will learn about the fundamentals of money, ensuring every pupil develops the skills needed to succeed in the modern world.The department will engage with sector experts and young people in working out how best to reflect this in the updated curriculum. There will be public consultation on the updated curriculum programmes of study, to seek views on the content before they are finalised.

Pursuant to the Answer of 23 October 2025 to Question 82927 on Special Educational Needs, what steps she is taking to ensure that the outcomes of the Curriculum and Assessment Review feed into the forthcoming White Paper on SEND provision.

The Curriculum and Assessment Review looked closely at how to break down the barriers that hold back children and young people, especially those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.We have already accepted the Review’s recommendation to develop new evidence-based resources to support curriculum adaptation for all children and young people.

Pursuant to the Answer of 23 October 2025 to Question 82925 on Special Educational Needs, what recent discussions she has had with (a) children, (b) parents and (c) experts on SEND provision; and if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing (i) consultation portals and (ii) additional contact mechanisms for the public to share ideas.

This government is determined to deliver reform that stands the test of time and rebuilds the confidence of families. To ensure lived experience and partnership are at the heart of our solutions, we are currently engaging with children, young people and their families, experts, charities and other sector organisations through our special educational needs and disabilities Ministerial development group, regional and online engagement sessions, and ministerial roundtables as well as through our online portal which can be accessed here: https://consult.education.gov.uk/send-reform-national-conversation/.We want to hear from as many people as possible, from parents and young people to those working in schools, colleges and early years – building a consensus on what works to help deliver lasting reform. The experiences shared during these engagement opportunities will be vital in ensuring that our proposals effectively deliver meaningful reforms for families. We will also continue engagement as part of a formal consultation following the Schools White Paper publication, and the responses received will be carefully considered in shaping the reforms.

Pursuant to the Answer of 3 October 2024 to Question 73744 on Private Education, whether the matter of the financial impact of VAT on private school fees was discussed at the meeting on 22 July 2025.

The impact of VAT changes on private schools with Independent Schools Council membership was discussed at the meeting on 22 July.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the introduction of VAT on independent school fees on the ability on non-affluent families to afford private school education.

HM Treasury published a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) on applying VAT to independent school fees. This is a comprehensive assessment of the VAT policy, including impacts on individuals and families and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-on-private-school-fees/applying-vat-to-private-school-fees#who-is-likely-to-be-affected.

When Ministers in her Department last met representatives of the independent school sector to discuss issues facing that sector.

The last meeting was held on 22 July 2025.