Written questions by Morrison.

What steps her Department is taking to improve SEND training within initial teacher training programmes and ongoing professional development.

​​The initial teacher training (ITT) core content framework and early career framework (ECF), for trainee and early career teachers (ECTs) respectively, cover the first three years or more at the start of a teacher’s career. They set out the core body of knowledge, skills and behaviours that define great teaching and, from September 2025, will be superseded by the combined initial teacher training and early career framework (ITTECF), which sets out a minimum entitlement to training and must be used by providers of ITT and those delivering provider-led early career training to create their curricula. From September 2025, all ECTs will be entitled to a two-year induction that is underpinned by the ITTECF, known as the early career teacher entitlement (ECTE).​High quality teaching is the most important in-school factor for improving outcomes for all children, particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or from disadvantaged backgrounds, and the department is committed to ensuring that all pupils receive excellent support from their teachers. The Teachers’ Standards set clear expectations that teachers must understand the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND.The department’s review of content for the ITTECF paid particular attention to the needs of trainees and ECTs when supporting pupils with SEND. There is now significantly more content related to adaptive teaching and supporting pupils with SEND, some of which has been adapted from the new national professional qualification for special educational needs co-ordinators to be relevant for trainees and ECTs.The department has updated the framework to improve inclusivity for SEND throughout the framework including, for example, developing an understanding of different pupil needs, and learning how to provide opportunities for success for all pupils. From September 2025, the department has also enhanced the requirement on providers of ECT training to develop SEND training materials. The department tested this approach with SEND educational experts, with consensus being that the approach of ‘quality-first teaching’ would be the best way to improve outcomes for all children, particularly those with SEND.The department recognises that continuous improvement is essential and has recently committed to a full review of the ECTE in 2027 to ensure it continues to provide the best possible support for ECTs. This review will focus on the support we provide new teachers in teaching pupils with SEND.

What discussions she has had with exam boards on ensuring adequate provision of practical science assessments for private candidates.

Parents who choose to home educate their children assume full responsibility for that education, as a state-funded place is available for every child.The decision to home educate must be an informed one, with full awareness of potential challenges and the associated costs. Parents should consider and plan in advance how and where their child can access exams and any written or practical assessments for their chosen subject(s).Exam centres, such as schools and colleges, deliver exams on behalf of exam boards, and rightly take their own decisions on whether they can accept private candidates based on their own individual circumstances, such as how big their exam halls are. Private candidates includes home educated students, but also adults and others.The department has worked with the Joint Council for Qualifications (JQC), who have created a centre search function on JCQ’s website, which enables any private candidate, including home educated students, to locate the nearest centre available to sit their A level science exams. Parents or private candidates should contact these centres, and any other private or local centres, to discuss whether they are able to accommodate private candidates taking both their exams and practical assessments.Local authorities have existing oversight responsibilities for home educating children and must make arrangements to identify children in their areas who are of compulsory school age, but who are not in school and not receiving a suitable education. To support local authorities, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, introduced by the government in December 2024, includes measures to introduce a compulsory Children Not in School registration system in each local authority area in England. It also includes accompanying duties on parents and out-of-school education providers to provide information for local authority registers.As part of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the department is also, for the first time, introducing a duty on local authorities to support home educating families on their Children Not in School registers. This new duty means that, when requested to do so by the parent, local authorities must provide advice and information relating to the child’s education. This could include, for example, advice and information about how to access and navigate the exams system or signposting to educational resources. This new support duty will, for the first time, ensure an established baseline level of support across all English local authorities to ensure that wherever home educating families live they have access to a reliable level of support from their local authority.Some local authorities may choose to offer support that goes beyond this baseline. However, this remains a decision for each local authority in respect of their individual circumstances.

What steps her Department is taking to reduce waiting times for (a) speech and language therapy, (b) occupational therapy and (c) other therapy services for SEND students in schools.

The department recognises the impact that long waits to access speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and other therapy services can have on children, their families and carers. The department is committed to reducing these long waits and improving timely access to therapy services, working closely with DHSC and NHS England.The department is continuing to improve access to speech and language therapy by funding the Early Language and Support for Every Child pathfinder project in partnership with NHS England. We are also continuing to build the pipeline of future therapists by introducing the speech and language level 6-degree apprenticeship. This is now in its third year of delivery and offers an alternative pathway to the traditional degree route into a successful career as a speech and language therapist.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of support staff shortages on the provision of SEND support in schools; and what steps she is taking to improve the recruitment and retention of (a) teaching assistants and (b) other support staff essential for SEND students.

School support staff play a vital role in children’s education. They are crucial to ensuring that we give children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the best possible life chances.A departmental survey in 2023 into the use of teaching assistance in schools found that teaching assistants across all school settings most commonly support pupils with SEND, which includes those with education, health and care (EHC) plans. The survey also found that 75% of school leaders found it either 'fairly’ or ‘extremely’ difficult to recruit teaching assistants, and retention was difficult for 29% of leaders. Of those who found recruitment difficult (75% of leaders), four-in-five leaders (81%) found it difficult to recruit teaching assistants with SEND specialism.The department values and recognises the professionalism of the entire school workforce and will help to address recruitment and retention challenges by reinstating the School Support Staff Negotiating Body.The body will be tasked with establishing a national terms and conditions handbook and fair pay rates for support staff and advising on training and career progression routes. This reform will help ensure that state-funded schools can recruit and retain the staff needed to deliver high quality, inclusive education, and drive high and rising standards.

What steps her Department is taking to increase funding for (a) Stockport Borough Council and (b) other local authorities to provide adequate SEND support in schools.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.Following the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND to £11.9 billion. Of that total, Stockport Borough Council is being allocated over £52 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), which is an increase of £4.3 million on this year’s DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula (NFF). This NFF allocation is an 8.3% increase per head of their 2 to 18 year-old population, on the equivalent 2024/25 NFF allocation.In addition to the DSG, local authorities will also receive a separate core schools budget grant (CSBG), and funding in respect of the increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions, in the 2025/26 financial year. This CSBG continues the separate grants payable this year, which are to help special schools and alternative provision with the costs of teachers’ pay and pension increases and other staff pay increases. Individual local authorities’ allocations of this funding for 2025/26 will be published in due course.

What steps she is taking to help ensure that home-schooled students have access to laboratory facilities for required practical assessments in A-Level science subjects.

Parents who choose to home educate their children assume full responsibility for that education, as a state-funded place is available for every child.The decision to home educate must be an informed one, with full awareness of potential challenges and the associated costs. Parents should consider and plan in advance how and where their child can access exams and any written or practical assessments for their chosen subject(s).Exam centres, such as schools and colleges, deliver exams on behalf of exam boards, and rightly take their own decisions on whether they can accept private candidates based on their own individual circumstances, such as how big their exam halls are. Private candidates includes home educated students, but also adults and others.The department has worked with the Joint Council for Qualifications (JQC), who have created a centre search function on JCQ’s website, which enables any private candidate, including home educated students, to locate the nearest centre available to sit their A level science exams. Parents or private candidates should contact these centres, and any other private or local centres, to discuss whether they are able to accommodate private candidates taking both their exams and practical assessments.Local authorities have existing oversight responsibilities for home educating children and must make arrangements to identify children in their areas who are of compulsory school age, but who are not in school and not receiving a suitable education. To support local authorities, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, introduced by the government in December 2024, includes measures to introduce a compulsory Children Not in School registration system in each local authority area in England. It also includes accompanying duties on parents and out-of-school education providers to provide information for local authority registers.As part of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the department is also, for the first time, introducing a duty on local authorities to support home educating families on their Children Not in School registers. This new duty means that, when requested to do so by the parent, local authorities must provide advice and information relating to the child’s education. This could include, for example, advice and information about how to access and navigate the exams system or signposting to educational resources. This new support duty will, for the first time, ensure an established baseline level of support across all English local authorities to ensure that wherever home educating families live they have access to a reliable level of support from their local authority.Some local authorities may choose to offer support that goes beyond this baseline. However, this remains a decision for each local authority in respect of their individual circumstances.

What discussions she has had with specialist schools that deal with children with the most complex disabilities on the increase in employer National Insurance contributions announced in the budget.

The government has agreed that the department will be compensated for the increase in National Insurance Contributions (NICs) paid by state-funded schools, and work is in progress to determine how much the department will receive for those employers within its remit and how that funding will be distributed. The department will engage with key stakeholders on our approach to the NICs funding and will provide more information as soon as is practicable.Compensation for the NICs will be additional to the £1 billion increase to high needs funding announced at the 30 October Budget. Due to timing constraints, NICs funding will need to be provided as a separate grant, alongside the dedicated schools grant, in 2025/26.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of making first aid a mandatory part of the national curriculum.

I refer the hon. Member for Cheadle to the answer of 5 November 2024 to Question 11341.

What his timetable is for providing Bramhall High School with details of (a) funding and (b) a start date for as under the School Rebuilding Programme.

Bramhall High School is currently in the ‘feasibility’ stage of the School Rebuilding Programme. The feasibility will determine the scope of the project, programme and the budget. Once the feasibility is concluded, the department will procure a contractor to undertake the detailed design of the scheme and secure planning permission. The department currently anticipates appointing a contractor in spring 2025 with construction beginning from summer 2026.