Topical Questions
Monday, 14 September 2026
Contributions
Tom Rutland (East Worthing and Shoreham) (Lab)Labour
T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.
The Secretary of State for Education (Lucy Powell)Labour (Co-op)
Today we are introducing a once-in-a-generation change to school food, making it tastier and healthier and giving over half a million more children free school meals. We have worked with schools, pupils, parents and many more to ensure that these meals are of good quality, attractive to children and deliverable for schools. With free breakfast clubs and a huge expansion of free school meals under this Government, children will be better able to concentrate and learn. I want to put on record my thanks to the Minister for the early years, my hon. Friend the Member for Rochdale (Paul Waugh)—this also happens to be his Dispatch Box debut.
I welcome my right hon. Friend to her place. Will she update the House on the package of cost-saving measures announced by this Labour Government to give families in my constituency of East Worthing and Shoreham more breathing space this September as they return to school?
We are giving families more breathing space by helping them with school uniform costs and by expanding Government-funded childcare, free school meals and free breakfast clubs. In East Worthing and Shoreham, 4,100 children will now be eligible for free school meals.
Mr SpeakerSpeaker
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
Laura Trott (Sevenoaks) (Con)Conservative
On behalf of my party, may I send our condolences to the Prime Minister on the death of his father? I want to ask the Secretary of State a very simple question. Does she think it is acceptable for young girls to be required to wear a hijab to school as part of their school uniform?
No.
I am delighted by that answer. Thank you. This is not a hypothetical situation. A school in Barnet that has recently become state funded says that it is compulsory for girls as young as seven to cover their heads as part of the uniform. Given the Secretary of State’s very welcome repudiation of this, will she intervene to stop the school’s policy?
As the right hon. Lady would expect, we have been in close touch with the school. Obviously, it is a decision for the local authority, now that the school has become voluntary aided. As I understand it, the school has now clarified that hijabs are not compulsory.
Daniel Francis (Bexleyheath and Crayford) (Lab)Labour
T2. This term has seen three new Best Start breakfast clubs open in my constituency, at Saint Paul’s in Slade Green, at Gravel Hill in Bexleyheath and at St Fidelis in Northumberland Heath. Will my right hon. Friend outline timescales for when further breakfast clubs can be rolled out across Bexleyheath and Crayford, to ensure that every primary schoolchild in my constituency starts the day ready to learn?
I am really proud of our commitment to free breakfast clubs, which are great not only for children, but for parents. We hear these testimonies all the time. They are incredibly popular and we will continue to roll them out.
I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.
Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)Liberal Democrat
The Government claimed that their policy to cap the number of branded uniform items would cut costs for parents, yet we know that some schools are getting around the rules by making optional branded items that would keep children warm in winter. Will the Minister now reconsider the Liberal Democrat proposal to cap the cost of uniform, rather than the number of items, so that we can genuinely put pounds back into parents’ pockets?
I am very clear that this is about not just the letter of the law but the spirit of the law, and I want to see schools following the spirit of the new legislation. I have further powers, should I need to use them, to pull in a school’s uniform policy. I do not want to see jumpers and other things that children actually have to wear being branded as optional.
Jessica Toale (Bournemouth West) (Lab)Labour
T4. Changes to higher education funding affecting high-cost creative subjects will cost Arts University Bournemouth in my constituency more than £300,000 this financial year. This will affect jobs and course availability, and it undermines the creative industries as a pillar of our industrial strategy. Will the Secretary of State meet me to discuss the funding crisis affecting our creative arts university and work with us to protect these vital institutions?
I am really happy to meet the hon. Lady to discuss this, because our creative arts universities, such as the one in her constituency, provide fantastic qualifications for young people to get the jobs they need.
Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)Liberal Democrat
T3. Although I welcome the changes to school food standards, Government buying standards for food still do not mandate local or British sourcing, leaving farmers in Glastonbury and Somerton locked out of supplying local schools. My good food Bill would fix this by requiring public bodies to prioritise the procurement of fresh, local, sustainably sourced food, so will the Minister commit to strengthening Government buying standards and back my good food Bill so that schools can buy produce from local farmers?
Absolutely; where schools and local caterers can, we absolutely want them to buy local. This is an important part of sustainability. We have tried to get the balance right with these food standards so that they are deliverable by schools and affordable, they are not putting up the costs of school meals, but they are providing tasty, healthier meals that ideally are locally sourced.
Lee Pitcher (Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme) (Lab)Labour
T5. As Doncaster Sheffield airport moves towards reopening, I want young people in my constituency to be excited about a future career in aviation. With the first officer pilot apprenticeship now at risk of being withdrawn, what will the Secretary of State do to ensure that young people still have clear and affordable routes into aviation careers, and will she work with the British Airline Pilots Association and the industry to help make that happen?
I think I originally branded my hon. Friend Mr Doncaster airport, and I am pleased that he is still living up to that name today. He is absolutely right: this is why we are working very closely with mayors, local employers and others, so that local areas like his in Doncaster can ensure that young people have access to the qualifications and work experience they need for the local economy.
Bradley Thomas (Bromsgrove) (Con)Conservative
T6. Special educational needs and disabilities provision and access to education, health and care plans continues to be a worry and concern for many parents in Worcestershire. What assessment has the Secretary of State made of the adequacy of SEND provision in Worcestershire, and what steps are the Government taking to improve it? If she does not have a comprehensive answer, perhaps she could write to me.
I am happy to write to the hon. Member about that, but rest assured that we are working with all local authorities on their SEND plans at the moment to ensure that they are robust, deliverable and affordable.
Mary Glindon (Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend) (Lab)Labour
T7. Earlier this year, Ravenswood primary school in Newcastle applied to the school rebuilding programme as surveys had deemed the school building to be beyond repair. A subsequent visit promised by the Department has not materialised. Can the Secretary of State expedite a meeting with the Department, the school and Newcastle city council’s cabinet member to discuss the current status of the application?
The Minister for school estates, my hon. Friend the Member for Whitehaven and Workington (Josh MacAlister), would be really happy to meet my hon. Friend, because I know how important this issue is to her constituents.
Marie Goldman (Chelmsford) (LD)Liberal Democrat
Several of my constituents have contacted me about the broken SEND transport system. Several of them did not know what transport would be put in place for their children before the term started, as decisions were delayed. Some of them still do not know how their SEND children are going to get to school. What can the Minister do to help?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Paul Waugh)Labour (Co-op)
The Government’s SEND reforms will create a more inclusive school system, with fewer children needing to travel to access the quality education that they deserve. I take onboard the hon. Member’s concerns, which we are listening to, but we want to make it absolutely clear that ensuring drivers and passenger assistants have received the training necessary to respond to all children’s needs is central to Government policy.
Jonathan Davies (Mid Derbyshire) (Lab)Labour
T8. This summer we found that the number of GCSE and A-level music entrants was down, in line with the general trend that we have seen over the past 16 years. I know that the Government want to address that, which is why they commissioned the National Centre for Arts and Music Education, which was due to start its work at the beginning of this academic year. Can Ministers tell me whether the centre is up and running, and who has won the contract to run it?
My hon. Friend raises a really important issue. Music qualifications have fallen off a cliff, which is why we are taking those steps. The procurement process has begun, so I can outline for him soon what further steps we are taking. I also want to work with musicians such as Ed Sheeran, Fatboy Slim and others who have been campaigning for a music curriculum that actually attracts young people to take it up.
Ian Sollom (St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire) (LD)Liberal Democrat
Last week’s PISA results confirmed that the gap in outcomes for disadvantaged pupils remains stark throughout their education, so will the Secretary of State commit to looking seriously at proposals from the Lib Dems and others to extend the pupil premium to post-16 education?
The hon. Member raises a really important issue. It is not just about keeping young people in further education, which the measure that he outlines would assist with; it is also about engaging young people in school more thoroughly, which is why the whole range of reforms that I have begun to sketch out are so important.
Alistair Strathern (Hitchin) (Lab)Labour
T9. Shockingly, 16 to 19-year-olds face higher rates of domestic abuse than any other age group. With the worst corners of the internet peddling increasingly extreme attitudes to them around sex and relationships, surely we owe them better. That is why my private Member’s Bill builds on the inspiring campaigner Faustine Petron’s work to make it mandatory to ensure that young people up to the age of 18 have healthy spaces to explore these issues in school and at college. Will the Secretary of State meet me to discuss how we can make that vision a reality?
I know that the Minister has spoken to my hon. Friend. His Bill raises an important issue, and I want to see relationship education and all the issues around that extended as far and wide as possible, because it is absolutely critical in the social media age.
Gideon Amos (Taunton and Wellington) (LD)Liberal Democrat
Sampford Arundel, Rockwell Green, Thurlbear and Bishop Henderson are just four schools in my constituency that plan their grants on the basis of having the sport premium grant. Now it has been removed, how will they fund sport, and have the Government made any assessment of how many PE teachers are losing their jobs as a result of this change?
I want to see sport and PE flourishing in our schools, and that is something I have already spoken about. I am happy to meet the hon. Member to discuss that further.
Daniel Zeichner (Cambridge) (Lab)Labour
I welcome the announcements on school meals, but given that young campaigners at Bite Back last week identified that some three quarters of secondary schools do not provide meals that meet Government standards, what can the Minister do to boost enforcement?
The updated standards that we have announced today will ensure that school food is delicious, nutritious and practical for schools. I was proud to see Bite Back and a range of sector leaders welcome our standards, and I thank them all for the hard work they do to help schools achieve what we want.
Suella Braverman (Fareham and Waterlooville) (Reform)Reform UK
We all know that child safeguarding is non-negotiable, so does the Secretary of State share my concern that the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children’s most recent schools briefing appears to put the safety of girls at risk, given that it has removed the express requirement that adult supervisors of pupils getting dressed should be of the same gender or sex? Does the Secretary of State agree that the NSPCC should clarify its guidance to comply with the law so that men and boys have no place in girls’ changing rooms?
The Department for Education guidance is clear on this, and it differs from the NSPCC’s, so I refer the right hon. and learned Member to the DFE guidance.
Darren Paffey (Southampton Itchen) (Lab)Labour
A new report by the charity Become shows that personal advisers are in some cases supervising up to 46 young care leavers each. These are the people who can make the difference between young people setting out into adulthood well or feeling completely on their own. Will the Minister therefore commit not just to reviewing the support, but to a funded national strategy and a cap on caseloads, so that no care leaver in Southampton or anywhere in this country has to face adulthood alone?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Josh MacAlister)Labour
I welcome Become’s report, which builds on the review into the early deaths of care leavers that I commissioned a few months ago. I would like to thank Ashley John-Baptiste and Clare Chamberlain for their important work in bringing to the country’s attention the tragic number of young care leavers who die far too young. That transition to adulthood is an important moment to get right. PAs play a crucial role in that. We are looking at additional training for PAs and also at changing the regulation that sits around them, so we can set a higher expectation.
Dr Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)Green Party
I have been contacted by students, parents and teachers in my constituency telling me that the cost of transport is a key barrier to accessing education and other opportunities. A 19-year-old told me recently that it costs her more than £9 for a return fare to the county town of Hereford, and Hereford sixth-form college has told me that 21 young people dropped out last year because of transport problems. Does the Secretary of State recognise that the cost of travel is a big barrier to accessing education, training and work? Will she work with Cabinet colleagues and the Treasury to implement free bus travel for all young people, in order to invest in them?
The hon. Member raises an important issue, and she is absolutely spot on. I have seen the difference in Greater Manchester of the former mayor’s “Our pass”, which is still there to give free travel to 16 to 19-year-olds. I have also seen the difference it made over August for all young people to have free travel then. She can rest assured that the Prime Minister is making the cost of bus travel, particularly for young people, an absolute priority, and I will continue to work with Cabinet colleagues on it.
Chris Ward (Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven) (Lab)Labour
In Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven we are lucky enough to have two brilliant universities. Both are trying everything they can to adapt to the funding pressures they are under, but it still means that the University of Sussex is making cuts of £35 million a year, and just this morning the University of Brighton announced plans to potentially sell one of its campuses. What can the Secretary of State do to reassure me and give hope to students and staff at the universities that we will get a grip of the funding crisis that we inherited from the last Government and make universities thrive?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. He has fantastic universities in his constituency. I am worried about the pressures facing higher education funding and am looking at these issues closely. As he will know, they are autonomous organisations, but I am doing what I can with Cabinet colleagues to make people aware of the precarious nature of the situation.
Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)Liberal Democrat
Students on the Manhood peninsula in my constituency have no access to post-16 education unless they travel into the city to go to the brilliant Chichester college, and those parents who are paying for a student’s bus fare are struggling to find, on average, £1,200 a year to get them there. Given that it is estimated that one in five students is not in regular education even though they are signed up for college, what steps can the Secretary of State take to make sure that all those living in coastal areas can access post-16 education, and that parents can afford to get them there?
I absolutely hear the hon. Lady. I know how closely related transport and its costs are with young people having access to the education and training that they need. Rest assured, this is a priority for the Government.
Janet Daby (Lewisham East) (Lab)Labour
A constituent’s 11-year-old autistic daughter attempted suicide last year, and she continues to experience severe anxiety and autistic burnout. The family still have no clarity about her education provision for this new term. Will the Government ensure that schools are able to offer placements to children like my constituent’s daughter only when they have the staffing expertise, resource and specialist support necessary to meet that child’s identified needs?
The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)Labour
I am deeply sorry to hear about the experience of my hon. Friend’s constituent; nobody should have to go through that. We want every school to be an inclusive school, in which there teachers are trained and there are experts on hand to support children, so that no one is in that position in future.
Andrew Rosindell (Romford) (Reform)Reform UK
Will the Secretary of State for Education join me in commending my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Fareham and Waterlooville (Suella Braverman) on her proposal that every school in the land should fly the Union flag every day of the year, and that every school should sing the national anthem at assembly at least once a week? Is that not a policy that the Government could implement now, instead of waiting for a Reform UK Government to implement it?
I miss the exchanges that I had with the hon. Gentleman when I was Leader of the House, but now that he is in his new place, I look forward to having them again. This is obviously a matter for headteachers to decide for their schools, and I am all for headteacher autonomy. British values absolutely run right through our curriculum, like the words running through a stick of rock. We can see that British values are right at the heart of it, and I am very proud of that.
Source: UK Parliament Hansard API. Debate ID: 5406324.