The government is continuing to fund the National Consortium for Languages Education (NCLE). NCLE is delivering a new model of support for schools that can potentially reach a greater number of schools nationally. The new programme, which replaces Language Hubs, has national reach as it is not constrained by geography or limited by the number of schools it can support.

NCLE launched Language Educators Online (LEO) on 16 September 2025. LEO provides free continuous professional development to all language teachers in England. This is supported by 14 Strategic Learning Networks and locally responsive National Priority Projects. It is research-informed, helping teachers collaborate and tackle key challenges in language education. Language teachers can join the NCLE Language Network in their area and sign up to LEO to keep up to date with current and evolving teaching practice in language education.

The government is continuing to fund the National Consortium for Languages Education (NCLE). NCLE is delivering a new model of support for schools that can potentially reach a greater number of schools nationally. The new programme, which replaces Language Hubs, has national reach as it is not constrained by geography or limited by the number of schools it can support.

NCLE launched Language Educators Online (LEO) on 16 September 2025. LEO provides free continuous professional development to all language teachers in England. This is supported by 14 Strategic Learning Networks and locally responsive National Priority Projects. It is research-informed, helping teachers collaborate and tackle key challenges in language education. Language teachers can join the NCLE Language Network in their area and sign up to LEO to keep up to date with current and evolving teaching practice in language education.

On 29 July, the Government announced that, as of 1 January 2025, all education services and vocational training provided by a private school in the UK for a charge will be subject to VAT at the standard rate of 20 per cent. This will also apply to boarding services provided by private schools.

Any fees paid from 29 July 2024 relating to the term starting in January 2025 onwards will be subject to VAT. Furthermore, where a school in England has charitable status, the Government will legislate to remove their eligibility to business rates charitable rate relief. This is intended to take effect from April 2025, subject to Parliamentary passage.

This includes independent schools, part-funded by overseas governments, bi-lingual schools, and faith schools. The final policy design will be confirmed at the Budget.

A technical note setting out the details, alongside draft VAT legislation, was published in July and is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-on-private-school-fees-removing-the-charitable-rates-relief-for-private-schools.

Business rates are administered by local government. Therefore, local authorities are responsible for determining eligibility for reliefs, including with respect to dual-use locations. Charitable rates relief is available to properties deemed to be ‘wholly or mainly’ used for charitable purposes. Certain properties are exempt from business rates including buildings that are places of public religious worship and buildings used for the training and/or welfare of disabled persons. The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is responsible for determining whether a property meets the necessary legal requirements to be exempt. Details on final policy decisions regarding the removal of private schools’ eligibility for charitable rate relief will be set out at the Budget.

The Government has carefully considered the impact that changes to the tax treatment of private schools will have on pupils and their families across both the state and private sector, as well as the impact they will have on state and private schools. Following scrutiny of the Government’s costing by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, the Government will confirm its approach to these reforms at the Budget on 30 October, and set out its assessment of the expected impacts of these policy changes in a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN). TIINs give a clear explanation of the policy objective, including details of the tax impact on the Exchequer, business, individuals and any equalities impacts.

These changes will not affect the VAT status of FE Colleges. Maintained schools are funded by local authorities, who are able to recover their VAT through the s33 VAT refund scheme, which aims to ensure VAT is not a burden on local taxation. Academies can also recover their VAT under s33B, to ensure they are not disincentivised from leaving LA control. FE colleges do not meet the rationale for admission to either refund scheme.

Schools are responsible for ensuring that all pupils, including those with a first language other than English, can access the full school curriculum and have the opportunity to realise their full potential in education. It is for individual schools to determine how to support those pupils with a first language other than English in developing proficiency in the English language, as they are best placed to understand and respond to the specific needs of those pupils. Schools have flexibility over their budgets, including any funding allocated through the English as an Additional Language factor in the national funding formula for schools, in order to put appropriate measures in place to support pupils with English language development needs.

The department currently has the highest number of teachers on record, with over 468,000 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England. This represents an increase of 27,000 (6%) since the School Workforce Census began in 2010.

The department knows there is further to go to improve recruitment in some subjects. That is why the department has put in place a range of measures, including bursaries worth £28,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £30,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees to key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. For language subjects, the department is offering bursaries worth £25,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £27,000 tax-free in French, German and Spanish. The department is also continuing to offer bursaries and scholarships to all non-UK national trainees in physics and languages. The Initial Teacher Training (ITT) financial incentives package for the 2024/25 recruitment cycle is worth up to £196 million, which is a £15 million increase on the last cycle.

For the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years, the department is doubling the rates of the Levelling Up Premium to up to £6,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. As of 2023, 69% of secondary or special schools in coastal towns are eligible for the Levelling Up Premium, compared to 59% of schools elsewhere in the country. This will support both recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.

Coastal communities are also well served by the department’s network of Teaching School Hubs (TSHs), which are school-led centres of excellence in professional development, delivering training and support to teachers and school leaders at every stage of their career. The 87 TSHs cover all of England, with 31 hubs currently serving 146 coastal areas across England.

Regarding recruitment targets, simply looking at post-graduate Initial Teacher Training (PGITT) recruitment as an indicator of broader teacher recruitment is misleading as it is not the only route into teaching, nor does it represent the available number of teachers in the workforce. The PGITT target is calculated using the Teacher Workforce Model, which considers a broad range of factors including, but not limited to, projected pupil numbers, historical recruitment performance, teacher retention forecasts, economic factors, and recruitment from other non-ITT related routes such as returners and those teachers that are new to the state-funded schools sector.

Therefore, the PGITT target is not based on the total number of entrants schools’ need, but rather on the forecast residual need after accounting for other non-PGITT inflows, such as undergraduate ITT and returners. The department calculates targets on an annual basis, and if retention and entrants from other routes are higher than expected during the time that trainees are applying for and completing their course, this can offset the need to meet the PGITT targets in full.

The department will continue to monitor PGITT and other routes into teaching and have provided targeted support to ensure it recruits and retains sufficient numbers of teachers in all key subjects, including physics and languages.

The department currently has the highest number of teachers on record, with over 468,000 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England. This represents an increase of 27,000 (6%) since the School Workforce Census began in 2010.

The department knows there is further to go to improve recruitment in some subjects. That is why the department has put in place a range of measures, including bursaries worth £28,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £30,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees to key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. For language subjects, the department is offering bursaries worth £25,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £27,000 tax-free in French, German and Spanish. The department is also continuing to offer bursaries and scholarships to all non-UK national trainees in physics and languages. The Initial Teacher Training (ITT) financial incentives package for the 2024/25 recruitment cycle is worth up to £196 million, which is a £15 million increase on the last cycle.

For the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years, the department is doubling the rates of the Levelling Up Premium to up to £6,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. As of 2023, 69% of secondary or special schools in coastal towns are eligible for the Levelling Up Premium, compared to 59% of schools elsewhere in the country. This will support both recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.

Coastal communities are also well served by the department’s network of Teaching School Hubs (TSHs), which are school-led centres of excellence in professional development, delivering training and support to teachers and school leaders at every stage of their career. The 87 TSHs cover all of England, with 31 hubs currently serving 146 coastal areas across England.

Regarding recruitment targets, simply looking at post-graduate Initial Teacher Training (PGITT) recruitment as an indicator of broader teacher recruitment is misleading as it is not the only route into teaching, nor does it represent the available number of teachers in the workforce. The PGITT target is calculated using the Teacher Workforce Model, which considers a broad range of factors including, but not limited to, projected pupil numbers, historical recruitment performance, teacher retention forecasts, economic factors, and recruitment from other non-ITT related routes such as returners and those teachers that are new to the state-funded schools sector.

Therefore, the PGITT target is not based on the total number of entrants schools’ need, but rather on the forecast residual need after accounting for other non-PGITT inflows, such as undergraduate ITT and returners. The department calculates targets on an annual basis, and if retention and entrants from other routes are higher than expected during the time that trainees are applying for and completing their course, this can offset the need to meet the PGITT targets in full.

The department will continue to monitor PGITT and other routes into teaching and have provided targeted support to ensure it recruits and retains sufficient numbers of teachers in all key subjects, including physics and languages.

The department does not produce projections of future trends of the number of students taking specific qualifications or future trends in the number of schools or colleges offering specific qualifications.

The department recognises the importance of the study of languages in Britain and is taking steps to increase the number of pupils studying languages at GCSE level and beyond. This is particularly important given that languages became non-mandatory at GCSE in 2004. The recently launched Language Hubs programme is comprised of 15 lead hub schools from across England, including a hub based in the North West. The lead hub schools will work with other schools in their areas to improve standards of language teaching, in line with recommendations of the Teaching Schools Council’s 2016 ‘Modern Foreign Languages Pedagogy Review’.

Managed by the National Consortium for Languages Education, the programme provides high-quality teacher Continuing Professional Development and includes improving transition from key stage 2 to key stage 3, increasing opportunities among disadvantaged pupils to study languages, and increasing the access to home, heritage, and community languages.

The department does not produce future trends of the number of students taking specific qualifications, or future trends in the number of schools or colleges offering specific qualifications.

The department recognises the importance of the study of languages in Britain and is taking steps to increase the number of pupils studying languages at GCSE level and beyond. This is particularly important given that languages were made non-mandatory in 2004. The department’s Language Hubs programme is comprised of 15 lead hub schools across England, all of which will work with other schools in their area to improve standards of language teaching, in line with recommendations of the Teaching Schools Council’s 2016 modern foreign languages pedagogy review.

Managed by the National Consortium for Languages Education, the programme provides high-quality teacher Continuing Professional Development and includes improving transition from key stage 2 to key stage 3, increasing opportunities among disadvantaged pupils to study languages, and increasing the access to home, heritage, and community languages.

The department does not produce future trends of the number of students taking specific qualifications, or future trends in the number of schools or colleges offering specific qualifications.

The department recognises the importance of the study of languages in Britain and is taking steps to increase the number of pupils studying languages at GCSE level and beyond. This is particularly important given that languages were made non-mandatory in 2004. The department’s Language Hubs programme is comprised of 15 lead hub schools across England, all of which will work with other schools in their area to improve standards of language teaching, in line with recommendations of the Teaching Schools Council’s 2016 modern foreign languages pedagogy review.

Managed by the National Consortium for Languages Education, the programme provides high-quality teacher Continuing Professional Development and includes improving transition from key stage 2 to key stage 3, increasing opportunities among disadvantaged pupils to study languages, and increasing the access to home, heritage, and community languages.

The department does not produce future trends of the number of students taking specific qualifications, or future trends in the number of schools or colleges offering specific qualifications.

The department recognises the importance of the study of languages in Britain and is taking steps to increase the number of pupils studying languages at GCSE level and beyond. This is particularly important given that languages were made non-mandatory in 2004. The department’s Language Hubs programme is comprised of 15 lead hub schools across England, all of which will work with other schools in their area to improve standards of language teaching, in line with recommendations of the Teaching Schools Council’s 2016 modern foreign languages pedagogy review.

Managed by the National Consortium for Languages Education, the programme provides high-quality teacher Continuing Professional Development and includes improving transition from key stage 2 to key stage 3, increasing opportunities among disadvantaged pupils to study languages, and increasing the access to home, heritage, and community languages.

The department does not produce future trends of the number of students taking specific qualifications, or future trends in the number of schools or colleges offering specific qualifications.

The department recognises the importance of the study of languages in Britain and is taking steps to increase the number of pupils studying languages at GCSE level and beyond. This is particularly important given that languages were made non-mandatory in 2004. The department’s Language Hubs programme is comprised of 15 lead hub schools across England, all of which will work with other schools in their area to improve standards of language teaching, in line with recommendations of the Teaching Schools Council’s 2016 modern foreign languages pedagogy review.

Managed by the National Consortium for Languages Education, the programme provides high-quality teacher Continuing Professional Development and includes improving transition from key stage 2 to key stage 3, increasing opportunities among disadvantaged pupils to study languages, and increasing the access to home, heritage, and community languages.

School funding is distributed by the department fairly, based on schools’ and pupils’ needs and characteristics. It is then for school heads and governors to decide how this money is spent, in line with their school’s context.

The department does not hold the cost and spending for translating school materials into non-English languages or providing language translators in schools. Such professional services are procured by individual schools and local authorities. Local authorities can ‘de-delegate’ funding from maintained schools in their area to meet the costs to improve the performance of underperforming pupils from ethnic minority groups and meeting the specific needs of bilingual pupils, and local authorities submit data on this spending as part of their annual returns to the department. ‘De-delegated’ funding is spent centrally by local authorities to meet costs faced by maintained schools in their area.

Figures for ethnicity at local authority level for the 2015/16 academic year are available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/94f677ea-a7ea-4157-4649-08dc15e274f3.

Figures for English as an additional language for the 2015/16 academic year are available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/6ff8c047-798c-45c6-aaab-08dc15deba2a.

Figures from the 2009/10 to 2014/15 academic years are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-and-pupil-numbers.

Archived figures for academic years before 2009/10 are available in the following published sources:

2009 https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130323071655/http:/www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/statistics-by-topic/schoolpupilcharacteristics/a00196015/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics. 2009: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130323071655/http:/www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/statistics-by-topic/schoolpupilcharacteristics/a00196015/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics.

Ethnicity tables 12a and 12b

EAL tables 13a and 13b

2008: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130323071719/http:/www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/statistics-by-topic/schoolpupilcharacteristics/a00195968/pupil-absence.

Ethnicity not published at local authority (LA) level

EAL not published at LA level

2007: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130323071912/http:/www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/statistics-by-topic/schoolpupilcharacteristics/a00195601/dcsf-schools-and-pupils-in-england-january-2007-(f.

Ethnicity tables 32 and 33

EAL tables 34 and 35

2006: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130323072019/http:/www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/statistics-by-topic/schoolpupilcharacteristics/a00195302/schools-and-pupils-in-england-january-2006-(final).

Ethnicity table 33

EAL 34

2005: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130323072209/http:/www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/statistics-by-topic/schoolpupilcharacteristics/a00194892/schools-and-pupils-in-england-january-2005-(final).

Ethnicity table 33

EAL table 34

2004: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130104091248/http:/education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/statistics-by-topic/schoolpupilcharacteristics/a00194445/statistics-of-education-schools-in-england-2004-ed.

Ethnicity tables 47a and 47b

EAL tables 51a and 51b

2003: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130104091256/http:/education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/statistics-by-topic/schoolpupilcharacteristics/a00194094/statistics-of-education-schools-in-england-2003-ed.

Ethnicity tables 47a and 47b

EAL tables 51

2002 https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130104091304/http:/education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/statistics-by-topic/schoolpupilcharacteristics/a00193886/statistics-of-education-schools-in-england-2002-ed2002: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130104091304/http:/education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/statistics-by-topic/schoolpupilcharacteristics/a00193886/statistics-of-education-schools-in-england-2002-ed.

Ethnicity tables 47a and 47b

EAL not published at LA level

2001: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130113104450/https:/www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/statistics-by-topic/schoolpupilcharacteristics/a00193690/schools-in-england-2001.

Ethnicity not published at LA level

EAL not published at LA level

2000 https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130113104731/https:/www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/statistics-by-topic/schoolpupilcharacteristics/a00193434/schools-in-england-2000 2000: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130113104731/https:/www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/statistics-by-topic/schoolpupilcharacteristics/a00193434/schools-in-england-2000.

Ethnicity not published at LA level

EAL not published at LA level

1999 https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130103145428/http:/www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/statistics-by-topic/schoolpupilcharacteristics/a00193237/schools-in-england-1999 1999: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130103145428/http:/www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/statistics-by-topic/schoolpupilcharacteristics/a00193237/schools-in-england-1999.

Ethnicity not published at LA level

EAL not published at LA level

1998 https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130113104903/https:/www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/statistics-by-topic/schoolpupilcharacteristics/a00193283/schools-in-england-1998 1998: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130113104903/https:/www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/statistics/statistics-by-topic/schoolpupilcharacteristics/a00193283/schools-in-england-1998.

Ethnicity tables 49a and 49b of pdf document

EAL table 50 of pdf document

Since 2010, the proportion of pupils taking a language GCSE has increased from 40% to 47%. In December, we outlined plans to improve the quality of language teaching in England, where schools with a good track record in teaching languages will share best practice and pedagogy.

What steps he is taking to improve foreign language teaching in schools.

I also welcome the Secretary of State to his place. I listened to his answer with great interest. North of the border, Scotland’s future economic prosperity will clearly be dependent on young people having the very best language skills. Would the Secretary of State’s Department be good enough to share—[Laughter.]Would his Department share best practice with the Scottish Government? I think that the Scottish Government would be very grateful.

Vielen Dank, Herr Sprecher. Do you not agree with me—[Interruption.] I should not have said, “Vielen Dank, Herr Sprecher”; I have completely thrown myself. I should have asked, does the Secretary of State agree that German is an important language to learn? Not only does German give us the grammatical structures that would otherwise be learnt from Latin, which is rarely taught in schools nowadays, but it is easy for British people to speak German with a convincing accent.

We were all suitably impressed when Emmanuel Macron spoke flawless English in his candid interview with Andrew Marr the other week. That is no surprise given that 80% of children in EU member states start learning a second language in primary school. What is the Secretary of State going to do to ensure that children in the UK do not fall behind their European counterparts?

The number of entries for GCSE Mandarin has increased by nearly 50% since 2010. Will the Secretary of State continue to support that language and other languages spoken in the world’s fastest-growing economies?

DWP recognise that some people will need help with on-line claims and activity. People without digital skills will be offered support in jobcentres to make and manage their claims on-line, and also to acquire or improve core digital skills. Our work coaches have the flexibility to tailor support for individuals in difficult circumstances; they can adjust their work search requirements and conditionality to allow them to prioritise solutions to their issues. DWP has also rolled out the Universal Support initiative alongside the national roll out of Universal Credit, as part of which Local Authorities deliver both digital and budgeting support.

Where claimants have no capability to make or manage their claim on-line, telephone, and face to face support is available. Alternatively, an Appointee could make the claim on their behalf and maintain their online account. Interpreting services are available in the Jobcentre for those with severe language challenges. As we continue to deliver the full Universal Credit service, with its expanded claimant base, we are continually reviewing and developing the current vulnerable claimant customer journey, including how vulnerable people are identified and how they are supported both internally and via referral to local services delivered in partnership activity.