Lords
Oral Questions
17 November 2025
9 contributions
Dyscalculia
I thank my noble friend for that Answer. For the edification of the House, dyscalculia is a specific difficulty in understanding numbers and number processes. It is 130 years since the term dyslexia was coined. In 1978, Baroness Mary Warnock was told by an education civil servant that she should not…
My Lords, the answer that the Minister has just given shows why we need a name. She gave a long description of a term that can have one name, which means that the teachers, the parents and the child can understand it. One word is better than many for this, even if it happens to be a Greek one.
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
10 November 2025
13 contributions
Curriculum and Assessment Review
I start by welcoming the noble Lord, Lord Mohammed of Tinsley, to his new role on the Front Bench. I will do my best to cover the points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Barran, and the noble Lord—although I note that, for the second time in a row in responding to a Statement, I have less time to re…
I thank the noble Lord. I do not think there is very much I need to add to that.
+11 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
5 November 2025
10 contributions
Equality and Human Rights Commission: Draft Updated Code of Practice
I thank the Minister for that very helpful response. Given that there is no new legislation and no opportunity for the Minister to refuse or reject the EHRC code of practice, why, therefore, have the government invited the EHRC to make an absolute analysis of the outcome the code of practice would h…
My Lords, does my noble friend the Minister share my concern that details of aspects of the code are being conducted through public letters in the press rather than through proper parliamentary scrutiny? In the other place, the Secretary of State has suggested that the EHRC should focus on providing…
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
29 October 2025
9 contributions
Antisemitism: Universities
I thank the Minister for that. Since the year following 7 October 2023, Jewish students have seen a 413% increase in antisemitic incidents on campus. In the last three weeks alone, there have been death threats in university WhatsApp groups and university students chanting, “Put the Zios in the grou…
My Lords, can the Minister say whether universities are required to have designated places of worship for Jewish students, and, if so, what security arrangements they are expected to put in place to ensure that Jewish students can worship in safety?
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
23 October 2025
7 contributions
Autistic Children: State Schools
That was a most helpful and welcome Answer. Autistic children are particularly vulnerable to being excluded from school. Sometimes, behaviour associated with their autism is confused with disobedience because of a lack of awareness by staff. Most schools take the view that every child is responsible…
I am grateful to my colleague, the noble Lord, Lord Touhig, for asking this Question and I too declare my interest as a vice-president of the National Autistic Society. When autistic children present challenging behaviour in a classroom setting, there is always a reason for it. Very often, it is see…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
22 October 2025
14 contributions
Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy
My Lords, in the relatively short time left for me before we get on to other questions, I will endeavour to respond to as many of the points raised as possible. Just to reiterate, this White Paper outlines the Government’s plans to deliver a joined-up skills system that targets skills gaps and leave…
To reiterate, what we have said is that where there is a T-level in place, we will, as we said we would in the qualifications review that we did last year, defund a large qualification that sits alongside it because all the evidence is that students get through T-levels—and the placements, for examp…
+12 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
16 October 2025
8 contributions
Youth Unemployment
I am grateful to the Minister for her Answer, and I hope it all works. However, earlier this week, the ONS published the latest jobs data, which the Daily Telegraph reported by stating:
“Young workers are taking a particular beating in the jobs market, with a slump in graduate vacancies, and drops …
Does the Minister agree that a major factor in the persistence of youth unemployment is that 32% of 16 year-olds failed to achieve a grade 4 in English and Maths at GCSE in 2024? Does she also agree that the ongoing curriculum and assessment review, led by Professor Becky Francis, must reunite knowl…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
18 September 2025
15 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, the amendments in group 1, as we have heard in a very good and well-informed debate, relate to duties on Ministers and public bodies in respect of children’s rights and parents’ rights to educate children in accordance with their faith. Let me be clear in responding to this group that the …
I have barely got started, but yes, most certainly we do, and I will come to a bit more detail on that in a moment. As we have discussed at various points during the course of the Bill’s passage, there are a whole range of ways in which the Government engage with children, both on the specifics of l…
+13 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
16 September 2025
13 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, the amendments in this first group cover admissions and related issues in relation to these clauses. This package of measures will help to ensure that decisions on place planning and admissions support the needs of communities and families while also supporting local authorities to deliver…
I am certainly happy to write to my noble friends and perhaps facilitate the opportunity for them to meet the new Schools Minister to discuss this particular issue.
I was in the process of saying that this relates to the new provisions around opening schools. In doing that, decision-makers will car…
+11 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
10 September 2025
5 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I turn to the amendments in this group tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Barran. Before I get into the detail of the clause and the amendments, I say to her that we believe that she may have been reading from an old version of the policy notes, because they were updated when they came to …
My Lords, I turn now to the amendments in group 10, tabled by the noble Baronesses, Lady Barran and Lady Bennett, and my noble friend Lord Blunkett. Although my noble friend is not here, I will respond to that amendment, given that it was addressed by the noble Baroness, Lady Spielman.
We have hear…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
10 September 2025
5 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
You always know that you are in for a good debate when you have a group in which four former Secretaries of State for Education contribute—in agreement with each other—accompanied by a positive bevy of Academies and Schools Ministers and a former chief inspector.
I thought that my noble friend Lord…
I am sure that this will be part of what officials have been using, but I reiterate the point that there have been other, considerable changes to the Ofsted regime, many of which were announced this week. We must ensure that the work goes alongside that. We will very soon have a new White Paper on s…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
10 September 2025
3 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, this Government are determined to break down barriers to opportunity by supporting every child to achieve and thrive at school. We know the impact that any absence can have on a pupil. The noble Baroness, Lady Barran, is right that even small bits of absence, particularly when added up ove…
My Lords, I strongly associate myself with the comments from the noble Baroness, Lady Barran, about the excellent work happening in schools around the country and the enormous pride, enjoyment and achievement that children experience in those schools. However, I would add that, in last week’s length…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
2 September 2025
19 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
Amendments in group 4, which we have now got to, concern the inclusion of certain information in the registers and the delegated power for changes to be made to the operation of the registers. I turn to speak to Amendments 255, 256, 257, 258 and 259, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Lucas. Each amendm…
My Lords, as I have said previously, the duty on parents to give information for children not in school registers is key to their operation. Information on where the child is being educated, and by whom, is vital in enabling local authorities to identify cases of potentially unsuitable or unsafe edu…
+17 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
2 September 2025
6 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I thank the noble Lords, Lord Wei, Lord Lucas and Lord Crisp, my noble friend Lord Hacking and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Manchester for taking time over the summer to meet my officials. Having the opportunity to discuss in detail with noble Lords how the provisions for child…
My Lords, as we have heard, the amendments in this group concern the sharing and protection of information on the registers. I can completely understand concerns about the collection and processing of data, and I hope to provide in my response some of the reassurances that noble Lords seek. But we m…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
1 September 2025
8 contributions
Children: Dangers of Screen Time
I thank the Minister for her Answer and appreciate what she says about conflicting evidence, but does she agree with me that there is a problem and that teachers need help solving it? Given that situation, will the Government now advise schools to strictly limit screen time for children, including t…
My Lords, the Minister will be aware that the Department for Education is requiring the reception baseline assessment for four and five year-olds to use the format of touchscreen devices. There is concern that the introduction of a screen-based element to assessment for the youngest children will en…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
24 July 2025
8 contributions
Young Futures Hubs
I thank the noble Baroness. I have been a firm supporter of early support hubs since their inception. I was delighted to visit the Hive hub in Camden on Monday and greatly impressed by what I saw. But the recent government announcement framed Young Futures hubs very much as a crime prevention initia…
My Lords, Young Futures has such potential to deliver transformative change for young people, and I am grateful for the support that has been expressed for it. I have to declare an interest; it was an approach that a commission that I chaired put forward in 2022, dubbed “Sure Start for teenagers” at…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
7 July 2025
15 contributions
Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life
My Lords, with permission I will now make a Statement to update the House on this Government’s vital work to change our country for good by giving every child the best start in life.
“The focus today is firmly on our youngest children, but the impact will be much broader. This Government are buildi…
I thank the noble Lords for their response to and broad welcome of the Statement. I assure the noble Baroness, Lady Barran, that I did not feel uncomfortable at all. It took me back, I have to say, but nevertheless the challenge and contrast that my right honourable friend the Secretary of State set…
+13 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
3 July 2025
17 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, we have got to group 3, which is good. I start by addressing the Clause 30 stand part notice tabled by my noble friend Lord Hacking. Clause 30 sets out the requirement that a child who is on a child protection plan, who is the subject of a Section 47 inquiry or who is registered at a speci…
The children who are subject to child protection inquiries and plans are among our most vulnerable and the children who attend special schools are likely to have the highest levels of need. It is necessary that local authority consent is sought in those scenarios to ensure that these children are sa…
+15 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
3 July 2025
12 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I rise to speak to the amendments in group one. Just to be clear, the Government believe that uniforms have an important role to play in our schools, for many of the reasons that noble Lords have outlined, but we are committed to cutting the cost of school uniforms for families. This is wh…
On the sports competition, I think it is wholly possible to envisage that the school would provide a set of branded uniform for the school sports team, while not suggesting that it was compulsory to wear it. Of course, I understand all the arguments for wanting to have a clear identity for the schoo…
+10 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
30 June 2025
8 contributions
School Libraries
I thank my noble friend for that Answer. This is an issue essentially about intellectual freedom and opposing censorship. The School Library Association believes that it is a symptom of the more polarised society in which we live today, but their members are on the front line. My noble friend is abs…
My Lords, in talking about this example of over 50% of books being withdrawn, I wonder whether the Minister is concerned that there might be a case of schools feeling intimidated and having the knee-jerk reaction to withdraw the books without thinking it through. I am surprised that there is no thou…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
25 June 2025
8 contributions
Independent Schools: Tax Changes
My Lords, documents released during legal action against the Government over the imposition of VAT midway through the academic year revealed that Ministers were warned by officials that theirs would be the most disruptive option for the implementation of this vindictive policy. Why did they callousl…
My Lords, the last Tory Government cut school budgets for 93% of pupils, let our schools run down and end up in a bad state of repair and refused to pay our teachers a proper wage to work in our schools, and yet they have the cheek to worry about a few people in private schools. Does the Minister ag…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
24 June 2025
8 contributions
Young People: Sporting Activities
The announcement by the Prime Minister that every child across the country will be given equal access to high-quality PE and sport, as the Government have indicated, will be welcomed across all sides of the House. However, in view of the fact that some 3.9 million children—an increase this year to n…
My Lords, when, a good few years ago now, all three major parties looked at sports policy, we all said that there should be a link with clubs. We also all said that there had to be a mix of options available to make sure people find something they will enjoy or stand a chance at. Will the Government…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
24 June 2025
8 contributions
Music and Dance Scheme
I thank my noble friend the Minister for her reply. I, too, welcome that DfE has confirmed the continued funding for bursaries, at least for 2025-26. However, there is no commitment beyond 2026 and DfE did cut the outreach funding for the schemes earlier this year. Can my noble friend tell me what s…
My Lords, I welcome the Government’s continued support of MDS and the national centres, and the recognition of their vital role in opening up dance careers to diverse talent. However, does the Minister share my concern that too many children will never know whether they have a talent for dance? Desp…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
23 June 2025
10 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, this has been a wide-ranging debate. As we begin, it is probably worth while identifying that the amendments fall into three related but distinct areas: the use of and regulation of social media, the impacts of screen time, and the proposals for the use of mobile phones in schools. I will …
On the point about regulation, the reason why I started by referring to the Online Safety Act was precisely to identify the need that was manifest in a piece of legislation that came through this House before my time but which presumably some noble Lords around the Chamber were engaged in and which …
+8 more contributions in this session