Catherine McKinnell
MP for Newcastle upon Tyne North · Labour · United Kingdom
“The family of a terminally ill constituent contacted me in desperation last month after trying to resolve the pension issues of their family member since January. She died yesterday, with her pension still unresolved. Can the Minister be more specific for that family about what will be done to resolve this issue?”
“As the UK trade envoy to Italy, I thank the Secretary of State for confirming the GCAP funding in his statement. As MP for Newcastle upon Tyne North, I add my voice to those who want to see this as an opportunity to genuinely spread investment and opportunity that will build strength and resilience in our people right across the UK—they a…”
“This report is welcome, but that does not make its existence any less tragic. Far too many mothers and babies have been failed, including mothers like my constituent Amie, who late last year was turned away repeatedly, despite reporting reduced movements. Her baby Seren was born stillborn.”
“Failures to address these issues have significant effects, both on the public finances and on the most vulnerable people in society, and, indeed, they are issues that are often reflected in our constituency mailboxes. I was contacted recently by a young woman who had reported child sexual abuse to the police last year.”
“Her husband was the victim of an assault by the defendant, who had raped his wife. They were forced to wait four hours for the trial to begin. They were eventually told that the defendant would arrive and that the delay to his delivery was causing the delay, but it had a knock-on effect on additional days in court.”
“Friend has said, we need a court estate that is fit for purpose in order to maximise the use of these additional days. I too have visited my local court, in this instance Newcastle Crown court.”
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“We are engaging extensively with families and experts as we seek to improve support for children with special educational needs and disabilities. We have invested £1 billion into high-needs budgets and £740 million into creating more specialist places. We are rolling out schemes, from the partnerships for inclusion of neurodiversity in schools—the PINS programme—to Inclusion 2028, which are laying the groundwork for long-term reform. We are building a system in which every child can achieve and thrive.”
“We have yet to decide on the future of education, health and care plans, but we are extremely focused on strengthening the support system so that every child can receive timely, high-quality help. We will set out further details about our approach to special educational needs in this autumn’s White Paper. In the meantime, obviously, children should be getting the support they need, and we are putting in the groundwork so that more children can have that.”
“As I said, we are already investing in supporting children and their families, including through Best Start family hubs, as my hon. Friend mentioned. We want to ensure that all children have access to a family service professional who is trained to support inclusion, can identify where children have additional needs ahead of starting school, and can support parents to navigate services.”
“This Government are committed to ensuring that every child can access the tools they need in order to achieve and thrive. We inherited a challenging workforce picture from the previous Government, which is why we are committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 teachers. We are backing teachers and restoring teaching to being a highly valued profession. There is no doubt that technology has a key role to play in driving high and rising standards at school. However, the most important factor for high-quality education is having an expert teacher at the front of the classroom.”
“Technology has the potential to enhance time efficiency for teachers, reduce workload and improve student engagement and attainment, but it cannot replace the valuable relationship between teachers and pupils. We know that high-quality teaching has the biggest impact on a child’s educational outcomes. School leaders rightly have the autonomy to make decisions about staff deployment, and they are best placed to make decisions about the needs of their pupils.”
“Given the “lose, lose, lose” system that the last Government left behind—in their own words—we are working hard to reform the system so that every child can achieve and thrive. Any reform will be guided by how we improve support for children with SEND. There will always be a legal right to additional support, which this Government will protect.”
“As part of our reforms, we will commence a phased transition process, which will include working with local authorities to manage their SEND systems, including their deficits, alongside an extension to the statutory override until the end of 2027-28. We will set out more details about the plan for how we will support local authorities with the historical and accruing deficits accumulated under the last Government and since, due to the appalling situation that we inherited.”
“I can give my hon. Friend that reassurance. I know that she is incredibly passionate about improving the SEND system, and this Government share that passion. We are not only determined to restore the trust of parents by ensuring that schools and local areas can better identify and support children; we are also working with parents and families to create that system, which we know will improve outcomes for children and their families.”
“My hon. Friend clearly knows that the decision to create any new GCSE is made by an independent awarding organisation, but I have also met the Ukrainian Education Minister, and I know how important this issue is to Ukrainian families living in the United Kingdom and to others. The Secretary of State has written to the awarding organisations to encourage them to create a Ukrainian GCSE. I am now well aware of my hon. Friend’s interest in the issue, and I am more than happy to convey it as well.”
“Indeed, we are building a reformed system in which children and young people’s needs will be identified early, so that evidence-based support can be provided at the earliest opportunity. Earlier this year, I was pleased to open Benton House, a special school in my constituency that is also run by the Outcomes First Group. It was great to see such a well-resourced facility supporting children with complex needs. I would be delighted to hear more about the work in my hon. Friend’s constituency and the proposals.”
“The right hon. Gentleman is pre-empting decisions before they have been made. We have not made decisions about the future of EHCPs. We are listening carefully and working with the sector to make sure we have the workforce in the system and the support systems to identify needs early. We will continue to do that, and we will work with families to design a system that works, rather than the one we inherited.”
“The hon. Lady will know that a curriculum and assessment review is currently being undertaken by an independent panel. We are keen that the curriculum is broad and rich, but also inclusive. We will be responding when the panel reports with its recommendations in the autumn.”
“We recognise that schools are working incredibly hard to deliver in their communities. There is a whole range of factors that impact school funding, including their rural or urban nature and pupil numbers; we have discussed declining rolls. We will continue to keep the school funding formula under review. That does take time and it has to be done very carefully to ensure certainty for schools about their funding planning.”
“As we have said, we are looking at reforms to the system; we recognise that there are challenges right across the system that we inherited. We know that families face challenges in securing support and that schools face challenges, too. We will look at every detail and announce reforms in the White Paper in the autumn.”
“Friend the Member for Carlisle (Ms Minns) mention learners with special educational needs and disabilities, and ensuring that opportunities exist for them too. That is why the Government are committed to recruiting 6,500 additional teachers across both schools and colleges, to raising the quality and prestige of FE teaching as a career, and to offering effective training and professional development.”
“We really want to see improved outcomes for learners. That involves both the Department for Education and the Further Education Commissioner. We have place-based teams with an overarching responsibility for maintaining these relationships. The system ensures accountability, quality and finance oversight; that we are monitoring performance, support and intervention; and that we work collaboratively with local stakeholders to deliver on the outcomes we need to see. That means we can hold colleges to account, but also support them when they need intervention to ensure that they are delivering. Any organisation is only as good as its workforce. FE teachers and staff play such a vital role in colleges to break down barriers for learners and teach skills vital to economic growth. I was pleased to hear my hon.”
“I want to be clear that the reduction to the adult skills fund for the 2025-26 academic year in no way diminishes our commitment as a Government to investing in education and skills training for adults over the life of this Parliament. We want to work collaboratively with the further education sector to make sure that these difficult decisions can be taken while still delivering in the way that the country requires. On sustainable funding, which I know many Members have an interest in, the Government are committed to ensuring that the further education sector is supported to achieve continuous improvement and, most of all, excellent outcomes for learners. The Department has in place a really strong accountability system alongside college oversight, which holds colleges to account and encourages continuous improvement.”
“We used the 16 to 19 funding formula to calculate the allocation based on each institution, each academic year. My hon. Friend the Member for Shipley expressed significant interest in the adult skills fund, which fully funds or co-funds courses for eligible adults aged 19 or over from pre-entry to level 3. A number of other Members understandably have a huge interest in those opportunities. The Department will provide approximately £1.4 billion in funding for the adult skills fund in the coming academic year, ensuring that adult learners can access education and training that they need to progress in their employment and work. The funding will be used by colleges, local authority adult education providers and independent training providers.”
“Building on the £80 million of capital commitment in construction made at the spring statement, there will also be £1.7 billion of capital funding to help colleges maintain the condition of their estates, which will be risen in line with inflation, in terms of their annual allocation, and £375 million to support post-16 capacity to accommodate the increasing student numbers, which, of course, we welcome and are happy to support. More broadly, more than £7.5 billion of the 16 to 19 programme funding will be invested during this academic year, ensuring there is a place in educational training for every 16 to 18-year-old who wants one. That funds further education colleges and other institutions to provide study programmes or T-levels for 16 to 19-year-olds. Many Members raised how valuable access to T-levels is for young people.”
“The 2025 spending review announced continued capital investment to support further education providers’ capacity to deliver high quality training, ensuring that learners have access to the facilities and equipment that they need along all their training routes. From 2026-27 to 2029-30, the investment will include £200 million for the new skills mission fund, to strengthen technical education and tackle those sector-specific shortages of skills that we know are right across England, including through targeted investment in technical education colleges, which I will come on to shortly.”
“I know that the sector is dealing with a whole range of challenges, not least those set out by my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley in her opening speech. That is why we are continuing to invest and to provide support. We are really focused on delivering that where it is most needed. My hon. Friend first raised a question relating to capital investment, because excellent further education colleges, with good quality buildings and facilities, are really foundational to the Government’s opportunity and growth missions. In 2025-26, the Government are investing £6.7 billion of capital funding for education. That is a 19% real-terms increase from 2024-25, and includes £950 million for skills.”
“It is key to unlocking their living standards and opportunities and to breaking down barriers to opportunity right across the country. Let us not forget—all hon. Members have reminded us clearly of this today—that colleges are a unique part of the education landscape. They deliver such a wide range of provision at all levels and to all learners of all ages. From foundation-level qualifications to master’s-level provision, they really do it all. We ask an awful lot of the sector, but we also know that it can deliver: it has shown that, and it delivers really well. As of 31 May this year, 86% of colleges were rated good or outstanding in their Ofsted reports. That really is a fantastic achievement, demonstrating consistently high quality across the sector.”
“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Anna Dixon) for securing this incredibly important debate on further education colleges. Their importance and the passion for them have been clearly demonstrated by the number of interventions that she has skilfully taken, while also allowing for the contribution from my hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Alison Hume). It is a real honour to be representing my colleagues from the Department for Education; the Minister for Skills and the Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing speak on these issues in the House. Further education really is vital to our plans to develop the skilled workforce needed for all pillars of the plan for change, and for providing people with the skills that they need to thrive in their life and work.”
“I think I have demonstrated excellently our passion and support for further education colleges. We know how important they are to employers, businesses and the country as a whole, and I share that passion. Our colleges are crucial to the education system, equipping young people with the skills they need to get on in life and giving some people the second chance that they might not otherwise have had. Our plans and investments will help to support, develop and transform our excellent FE system. Motion lapsed (Standing Order No. 10(6)).”
“We are also ensuring our initial teacher education system is setting high standards for new FE teachers, ensuring they have access to quality training, that we have bursaries to attract more than 2,300 trainees, that they are achieving the level 5 or higher FE teaching qualification, and that we are promoting the role in industry associates. Industry practitioners can teach part-time in FE and help to spread construction skills and exchange of industry practice, to make sure we can pass that on to the next set of learners who will work in our industries. I was going to talk about technical excellence colleges, but I am running out of time, so I want to say thank you again to my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley for securing the debate. I thank all Members who have taken part.”
“I am really sorry, but I do not think I will have time if I am to respond to all the issues that have been raised; I do not think I will manage even that. We are offering targeted retention incentive payments to FE teachers, particularly in key science, technology, engineering and mathematics and technical shortage subjects. We have a national recruitment campaign called “Teach in Further Education”, which we cannot shout about enough, to help raise awareness and increase consideration for FE teaching among industry professionals.”
“It is pervasive and has not shifted in the right direction at all. For example, last month we joined 80 parents at a meeting of the National Network of Parent Carer Forums steering group, alongside key representatives from the Disabled Children’s Partnership, to listen to the current challenges and what they want to see change. We plan to do more of that in the lead-up to publishing the schools White Paper in the autumn, and we will continue to listen beyond that. It is important that we co-produce any reform of the system so that we rebuild the trust of children, parents and families—a trust that has been so badly broken over the past 14 years.”
“The first thing we did when we came into Government was move the responsibility for special educational needs into the schools group within the Department and into the role of the Minister for Schools because we recognise that that is where the challenges lie. However, it is also where many of the chances to turn around opportunities for children lie. In recent weeks and months—indeed, since I took this role—we have engaged with and listened to children, young people and parents. We have sought to understand what they want to see change and how we can together co-produce an education system that will lead to better experiences for them and their children and fundamentally drive improved outcomes for children. For too long, the attainment gap between children with special educational needs and their peers has been too large.”
“I appreciate that people do not want to talk about the past; they want to talk about the future and how we are going to fix it, and that is what we are focused on. However, we have to be careful to put this issue into the context of the huge challenge that we are currently facing and the absolutely abysmal legacy. It was put on the “too difficult” pile for far too long—it was somebody else’s children who were facing these challenges. We grasped the issue immediately on coming into Government and are determined to deliver on it because we want all children to receive the right support to succeed in their education and lead happy, healthy and productive adult lives. That message came across clearly in the contributions today.”
“I congratulate the hon. Member for Tunbridge Wells (Mike Martin) on securing this debate about an incredibly important subject. He, like many others here today, has a real interest in supporting families in his constituency to navigate the complex and challenging special educational needs and disabilities system. I know that he has met with the regional director for the south-east, Dame Kate Dethridge, to raise directly with her the concerns on a local level. I want to be clear from the outset that improving the SEND system is a priority for this Government. I have to say that I was a bit surprised by the speech made by the hon. Member for Reigate (Rebecca Paul) and what appeared to be some amnesia about the record that has been inherited.”
“We are extending the partnerships for inclusion of neurodiversity in schools—the PINS programme—to a further cohort of around 1,200 additional mainstream primary schools, to build that teacher and staff capacity to identify and better meet the needs of neurodivergent children in mainstream primary schools. The programme is supported by the Department for Education and the Department for Health, because we absolutely recognise the challenges outlined by a number of hon. Members, including my hon. Friends the Members for Worthing West (Dr Cooper) and for Rochester and Strood (Lauren Edwards), about making sure that we work together with the Department for Health where that is needed.”
“We want to ensure that all pupils in those schools can achieve and thrive, whatever their background, so we are targeting the support where that challenge is currently greatest. I recently had the opportunity to see that in action in Kent, when I visited Astor secondary school in Dover with Sir Kevan Collins. We met school and trust leaders, as well as the RISE adviser and the supporting organisation, Mulberry Schools Trust. We listened intently to the school’s experience of the programme so far. It is early days, but looking incredibly positive and it was good to see that support being put in place for schools that have been struggling for far too long. We are also building a robust evidence base on what works to drive inclusive education, including through the creation of the expert advisory group for inclusion, led by Tom Rees.”
“Yes, we absolutely recognise that the current system is really difficult for parents, carers and young people to navigate, and it is not delivering the outcomes we want to see. While we will set out the longer-term approach to reform in the schools White Paper in the autumn, we are clear that the changes we make must improve support for families, stop parents from having to fight for that support and education, and protect the effective provision already in place. We have given that reassurance. We know that sustainable reform will take some time, but we have already begun the work to ensure that children and young people are getting the support they need. We have introduced the regional improvements for standards and excellence advisers to work with mainstream schools, where we know outcomes need to be better.”
“Friend the Member for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven (Chris Ward) said, high-quality teaching is central to ensuring that pupils with SEND are given the best possible opportunities to achieve. That is why we are implementing a coherent offer of high-quality teacher development for all teachers. It begins with their initial teaching training and goes into their early career teaching support, so that all teachers have the right skills and support to enable them to support students with special educational needs. It will enable teachers to identify those needs and to signpost if needed, as well as to adapt their teaching according to different learning abilities.”
“Friends the Members for Aylesbury (Laura Kyrke-Smith) and for East Thanet (Ms Billington). The insights show that more children and young people could have their needs met in a mainstream setting, rather than a specialist placement. That would ensure that they could go to school locally and help to tackle some of the incredible transport challenges and costs, as well as the time that young people spend travelling around. They should be able to go to their local school. We also know that it takes a vast workforce, from teachers to teaching assistants, early years educators and health professionals, to help children thrive. We are investing of each one of these to improve outcomes and experiences across the country. As my hon.”
“As of January 2025, there were over 630,000 children and young people with an EHCP—an increase of 10% in the last year alone. As a result of flaws and lack of capacity in the system to meet lower-level need, additional strain has been placed on specialist services, which has had a detrimental impact on families’ experiences of accessing support and contributed to creating an unsustainable system. Many parents feel that the only way they can get any support for their child is by going through the EHCP process. However, independently published insights show that extensive improvements to the system, using early intervention along with better resourcing of mainstream schools, could create much better outcomes for children. I know that is what many constituents want to see, including those of my hon.”
“That is happening is Bracknell Forest, Kent, Surrey, Slough, Oxfordshire, West Sussex, Medway, Milton Keynes, and the Isle of Wight. There are also additional packages of support to provide training and advice in those local areas. It is vital that rapid action is taken to improve SEND services where weaknesses are identified, and that leaders accept collective responsibility and accountability for delivering on these improvements. There is a relentless focus on driving improvement, supporting where we can and where necessary, but also ensuring that good practice, where it emerges, is spread. That is what we want to focus on with our reforms. The number of education, health and care plans has increased each year since they were introduced in 2014.”
“We are absolutely laser-focused on improving those outcomes for children. On accountability and inspection, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission jointly inspected the local SEND provision. I read with great concern the inspection reports for Oxfordshire and Bracknell Forest, both of which have been inspected under the new Ofsted-CQC framework. They identified significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes for children with SEND in the local areas. The issues that have been raised are incredibly serious, and DfE officials and NHS England advisers are meeting regularly with leaders and representatives from schools, colleges and parent-carer forums to continue to review and challenge the progress against the improvement plans. The Department has also appointed SEND advisers to provide advice and challenge to local leaders.”
“The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. What we want is a system in which local partners work in partnership. Currently, that is inspected by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission. I will come to the particular examples in Kent and the south-east that hon. Members have raised. We want to support and challenge local authorities and health authorities to ensure that partnership is real, working and—most of all—delivering outcomes for children. Everything we do is focused on improving those outcomes, which is why we are prioritising early intervention and inclusive provision. We know that early intervention prevents unmet need from escalating. It supports children to achieve their goals alongside their peers, and we have a clear target for more children to meet their early development goals.”
“They want to deliver the best for our children, and we as a Government want to support them to do so. I thank the hon. Member for bringing this matter to the House.”
“Okay, Sir Edward. I take the points about the specialist teaching workforce, and how we need to invest in that. Finally, on increasing the capacity in the system, we have already allocated £740 million to capital funding for high-needs capital allocations. Kent county council has been given £24 million as part of that funding. The funding is to create additional capacity in the system to ensure that mainstream inclusion can be a reality for schools—the capital allocation is there to make that happen. I thank the hon. Member for Tunbridge Wells again for bringing forward this debate. My final word, as always, goes to those working across the education, health and care systems in the interests of our children and young people, both in Kent and the south-east and right across the country.”
“There is much more we can do, and that is why the Government are focused on taking action to ensure that every child and young person believes that success belongs to them.”
“We need to address the underlying risk factors for becoming NEET, and that includes supporting young people’s mental health, with access to specialist mental health professionals in every school and mental health support teams in every college. Young people need effective transitions as well between school, further education and employment to prevent those moments of disengagement. We will continue to work to ensure that young people can unlock the opportunities that we know will set them up for life. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bishop Auckland again for raising these really important matters of concern, and I thank all those who have contributed to this thoughtful debate. I readily acknowledge that there are a number of challenges to boys’ attainment and engagement.”
“All those issues will be addressed, and we want to empower schools to tackle these very important issues with young people. Close to 1 million 16 to 24-year-olds are not in education, employment or training. That number is too high, and the consequences are serious. My hon. Friends the Members for Stafford (Leigh Ingham) and for Loughborough (Dr Sandher) highlighted the cost of this not only to the individuals themselves, but to our society. Alongside the development of the youth guarantee, we are requiring local authorities to ensure that every young person receives a suitable offer of a place in post- 16 education or training.”
“We will publish the revised RSHE guidance, which will include the importance of building communication skills, expressing and understanding boundaries, handling disappointment and paying attention to the needs and preferences of others. It will explore communication and ethics within relationships and support young people to think about what healthy relationships involve, beyond consent, including kindness, attention and care. It will consider the real-life complexities of relationships, including the significance of power, vulnerability and managing difficult emotions that can relate to relationships, such as disappointment and anger, and the influence of online misogynistic content and the impact of pornography on sexual behaviour, including what some people perceive as normal.”
“School leaders must develop and implement a policy that has the support of the school and aligns with its culture, but I acknowledge the challenges that colleagues have outlined. Education has a crucial role to play in helping children and young people to develop empathy, boundaries and respect for difference. Through compulsory relationships education, all pupils should learn how to form positive and respectful relationships. We are reviewing the relationships, sex and health education guidance to ensure that it empowers schools to tackle harmful behaviour, starting in the earliest years of primary school. It will be clear that teachers must facilitate conversations with students on what positive masculinity and femininity mean in today’s world, and on developing positive role models to build students’ self-esteem and sense of purpose.”
“Every child deserves to learn in a safe and calm classroom, and we will always help our hard-working teachers to make that happen. Schools should take proportionate and measured steps to create calm and supportive classrooms. That is how to break down the barriers to opportunity and improve the life chances for all pupils. However, we know that poor behaviour can be rooted in much wider issues. The Government are developing an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty, led by a taskforce co-chaired by the Education Secretary, so that we can break down the barriers to opportunity. All schools are required by law to have a behaviour policy with effective strategies to encourage good behaviour.”
“The curriculum and assessment review is considering specifically how to remove the existing blocks to progress to ensure good outcomes for children and young people from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds or who are otherwise vulnerable. The review published its interim findings earlier this year. It highlighted the gap in attainment and committed to addressing the challenges and barriers holding children back from the opportunities and life chances that they deserve. We look forward to receiving the final recommendations in the autumn. As my hon. Friends the Members for Heywood and Middleton North (Mrs Blundell) and for Suffolk Coastal (Jenny Riddell-Carpenter) set out powerfully, school disengagement and exclusion are incredibly damaging and a significant concern.”
“That is why we have also commissioned an independent panel of experts to review the existing national curriculum and assessment system. We want to ensure an excellent foundation in the core subjects of reading, writing and maths, and a rich, broad and inclusive curriculum that readies young people for life and work. We want a curriculum that reflects our whole society, ensuring that children feel inspired and engaged in it. My hon. Friend the Member for North Warwickshire and Bedworth (Rachel Taylor) mentioned the value of time and support for young people to take part in sport. I very much agree.”
“Friend the Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes) rightly said, men are under-represented across the teaching workforce—over three quarters are female. Although that is broadly in line with international trends and has been stable in England for some time, we need to do better. We want to see representation increase across all phases, and we are working to recruit and retain high-quality teachers in our classrooms. We know that our recruitment campaigns are reaching diverse audiences, and they widely feature male teachers. I acknowledge the challenges that were so eloquently set out by my hon. Friend the Member for Bishop Auckland. I agree that every child and young person should have the opportunity to achieve and thrive in education, regardless of their background.”