Contributions
462 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDSEND ProvisionMy hon. Friend makes an excellent point. The amount being spent on transport rather than provision is too high. The solution is both to create more provision and to meet…14 Mar 2024HANSARDSEND ProvisionI thank my hon. Friend the Member for Worcester (Mr Walker) for opening this important debate. I know how important it is to him that our investment in education gives children…14 Mar 2024HANSARDSEND ProvisionMy hon. Friend makes some important points. The honest truth is that I just do not think the Labour party thought it through. I think they thought it was ideology that would…14 Mar 2024HANSARDChildcare ProvisionWe are removing one of the biggest barriers for working parents by vastly increasing the amount of free childcare that working families can access. By 2027-28, we expect to spend…11 Mar 2024HANSARDSEND: SupportWe are doing two things in this regard. First, we are reviewing the special educational needs inclusion fund as we roll out the new entitlements to ensure that it is working…11 Mar 2024HANSARDSEND: SupportI do not know the specifics of the case that my hon. Friend raises, but if she writes to me, I will happily look at it.11 Mar 2024HANSARDTopical QuestionsMy hon. Friend raises a very important point. We are taking a number of actions to increase the number of people who adopt and foster, and to support kinship care as well, but I…11 Mar 2024HANSARDSEND: SupportIn Cambridgeshire, there has been a 27% increase in funding per head for special educational needs since 2021-22 and a special free school is in the pipeline, along with two local…11 Mar 2024HANSARDSEN Places: EssexI am pleased to inform the House that two new special schools opened in Essex last year, with another in the pipeline. We have also provided £26 million of capital funding to…11 Mar 2024HANSARDSEND: SupportOur SEND and alternative provision improvement plan, published last March, includes the development of new national standards to improve provision in mainstream settings for…11 Mar 2024HANSARDChildcare ProvisionWe set our rates based on a survey of more than 9,000 providers, in order to get those right. Last year we saw a 13,000 increase in the number of staff in the sector and a 15,000…11 Mar 2024HANSARDChildcare ProvisionI thank my hon. Friend for continuing to champion this sector. She is absolutely right about the importance of paying on a monthly basis, which we encourage all local authorities…11 Mar 2024HANSARDSEN Places: EssexMy right hon. Friend is running an excellent campaign and we are impressed with the speed with which Essex has moved to consultation. I cannot pre-empt the Department’s decision,…11 Mar 2024HANSARDChildcare ProvisionThe hon. Lady is right to raise the issue of profiteering that we have seen in some areas of children’s care and social care. We will be setting out some steps that we will be…11 Mar 2024HANSARDChildcare ProvisionMy hon. Friend is right. Last week the Chancellor announced that we will be increasing rates until the end of 2027 for early years providers, which is something they have asked…11 Mar 2024HANSARDSEND: High-quality ChildcareI appreciate that it must be very frustrating for the hon. Lady, who genuinely cares about childcare, to be in a party that cannot be bothered to come up with a plan for it and…11 Mar 2024HANSARDAutism: Initial Teacher TrainingThe Department for Education recently reviewed the mandatory initial teacher training core content framework, alongside the early career framework. Particular attention was given…11 Mar 2024HANSARDTopical QuestionsThrough our special educational needs and disabilities and alternative provision improvement plan we are taking a whole range of actions. That has included increasing the number…11 Mar 2024HANSARDSEND: High-quality ChildcareTo ensure high-quality childcare for children with special educational needs, we are investing hundreds of millions of pounds to increase hourly funding rates and the amount of…11 Mar 2024HANSARDAutism: Initial Teacher TrainingMy hon. Friend is running a strong campaign. From September 2025, initial teacher training and the early career framework will contain significantly more content on supporting…11 Mar 2024