This Government is transforming the Apprenticeships Levy into a new Growth and Skills Levy in England, backed by £1 billion of additional investment, which will support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, give employers greater flexibility to develop the workforce they need, and support the industrial strategy.

The three-year residency requirement forms part of the eligibility criteria for government funded apprenticeships and is consistent with longstanding residency requirements used elsewhere in publicly funded education programmes. The apprenticeship funding rules provide that learners who are temporarily outside the UK for reasons such as employment should be considered ordinarily resident in the UK for the purposes of assessing eligibility for apprenticeship funding on their return. In addition, those aged 16 to 18 may be eligible for apprenticeship funding where they are accompanying a parent who has the right of abode. The Department keeps apprenticeship funding rules under review.

This Government is transforming the Apprenticeships Levy into a new Growth and Skills Levy in England, backed by £1 billion of additional investment, which will support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, give employers greater flexibility to develop the workforce they need, and support the industrial strategy.

The three-year residency requirement forms part of the eligibility criteria for government funded apprenticeships and is consistent with longstanding residency requirements used elsewhere in publicly funded education programmes. The apprenticeship funding rules provide that learners who are temporarily outside the UK for reasons such as employment should be considered ordinarily resident in the UK for the purposes of assessing eligibility for apprenticeship funding on their return. In addition, those aged 16 to 18 may be eligible for apprenticeship funding where they are accompanying a parent who has the right of abode. The Department keeps apprenticeship funding rules under review.

Bereaved parents may be eligible for Universal Credit, help with immediate costs through a Funeral Expenses Payment, and assistance through the Crisis and Resilience Fund.

For Universal Credit customers, the department maintains payments for the assessment period in which a child, partner or non-dependent dies, and for the following two assessment periods.

Where one parent has died, the surviving parent may be eligible for Bereavement Support Payment.

The government keeps bereavement support under review.

As set out in the department’s consultation, ‘SEND Reform: Putting Children and Young People First’, the department proposed a duty on settings to produce an Individual Support Plan (ISP) for every child or young person receiving targeted, targeted plus or specialist support. Under this proposal, the ISP would provide a clear and consistent record of a child or young person’s needs and the help they receive, so that support is joined‑up, timely and centred on what will help them thrive. The responses to the consultation are carefully being reviewed and we will respond in due course.

The department recognises the importance of ensuring that parents and carers have effective routes to raise concerns where support is not being delivered as expected. The ISP will be developed by settings together with parents and young people, giving every child or young person with special educational needs a clear and consistent record of their needs and the help they receive.

The department proposed strengthening the school complaints system with the inclusion of an appropriate, independent SEND specialist on a complaints panel if the complaint cannot be resolved by the school’s senior management team or head teacher. We also proposed strengthening the utilisation of Disagreement Resolution Services by improving and updating guidance for schools. In addition, we set out plans to improve complaints systems more generally in the Schools White Paper, by exploring digital solutions, updating guidance and setting out clearer handling processes.

National guidance and service specifications recognise the importance of early parent-infant relationships and helping parents understand and respond to their baby’s needs. The refreshed Healthy Child Programme guidance and Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies guidance promote evidence-based support for parent-infant relationships, including practitioner observation of interactions between babies and their parents and carers. The Healthy Child Programme guidance and the Best Start Family Hubs and Healthy Babies guidance are available at the following two links:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a2965046d178a6fb7e32098/Best_start_family_hubs_and_healthy_babies_-_guidance_for_local_authorities.pdf

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a2965046d178a6fb7e32098/Best_start_family_hubs_and_healthy_babies_-_guidance_for_local_authorities.pdf

Through Healthy Babies, we are investing in national workforce development initiatives to increase practitioner skills and confidence in supporting parent-infant relationships in 75 local authorities with high levels of deprivation. These local authorities are expected to train their workforce in evidence-based approaches, such as Video Interaction Guidance.

NHS England also routinely identifies and disseminates best practice and learning across National Health Services and clinical networks to support local delivery of parent-infant relationship support.

Decisions on the use of specific observational approaches, including tools such as Newborn Behavioural Observations and the Neonatal Behavioural Assessment Scale, are made locally by services and appropriately trained practitioners.

As part of the government’s work to reduce child poverty and ease cost pressures on families, the department has put in place a major package to support families with back-to-school costs.

Over 3 million children from families receiving Universal Credit will now benefit from free school meals, marking a major contribution to the government’s work to lift over a half a million children out of poverty, the biggest reduction in a single Parliament since records began.

This is alongside 1400 more free breakfast clubs opening across the country, saving families up to £654 per child per year on childcare costs, and new limits on expensive branded school uniforms, which could save some families up to £50 per child on the back-to-school shop.

Families benefiting from free school meals, free breakfast clubs and cheaper uniforms could save up to £1,200 a year, while eligible working parents using government-funded childcare could save up to £8,000 a year.

Parent and child bays are not prescribed or required by national legislation. The Department has made no assessment of the adequacy of parent and child parking spaces, or measures to prevent their misuse, in local authority or private car parks.

The provision of parent and child parking bays in private car parks is a matter for the operator. The government is aware of the enforcement challenges to prevent the misuse of these bays. Whilst there have been no recent discussions with retailers on this matter, the government will continue to work closely with representatives for local authorities and parking operators.

Parent and child bays are not prescribed or required by national legislation. The Department has made no assessment of the adequacy of parent and child parking spaces, or measures to prevent their misuse, in local authority or private car parks.

The provision of parent and child parking bays in private car parks is a matter for the operator. The government is aware of the enforcement challenges to prevent the misuse of these bays. Whilst there have been no recent discussions with retailers on this matter, the government will continue to work closely with representatives for local authorities and parking operators.

Parent and child bays are not prescribed or required by national legislation. The Department has made no assessment of the adequacy of parent and child parking spaces, or measures to prevent their misuse, in local authority or private car parks.

The provision of parent and child parking bays in private car parks is a matter for the operator. The government is aware of the enforcement challenges to prevent the misuse of these bays. Whilst there have been no recent discussions with retailers on this matter, the government will continue to work closely with representatives for local authorities and parking operators.

In the year ending October 2024, around 219,000 children were estimated to have a parent in prison in England and Wales. For too long, there has been no systematic mechanism to recognise children with a parent in prison, which is why we are testing how children can be recognised safely and connected to focused support.

The National Bereavement Care Pathway sets standards and guidance aimed at ensuring all bereaved parents, including fathers and partners, receive consistent, individualised, and sensitive care. NHS England’s Medium Term Planning Framework sets an expectation that all National Health Service trusts implement the pathway for stillbirth and neonatal death.

The Department’s engagement with bereaved fathers and other families helps ensure that their experiences inform work to improve bereavement care and support. The National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce is also supported by family expert reference groups, including people with experience of bereavement, whose chairs represent members’ views and priorities on the taskforce. Ministers and officials will continue to engage with bereaved families, including fathers and partners, as this work develops.

In the 2024/2025 academic year, 93% of penalty notices were issued for unauthorised family holidays. This is an increase of 4% compared to the previous year.

A further 0.3% were issued for lateness and the remaining 7% for other unauthorised circumstances.

This distribution is in line with the government‘s requirement that penalty notices should only be issued for unauthorised absences and only where support has been ineffective, not engaged with or would be inappropriate. Penalty notices must be considered on an individual basis and schools must not have blanket rules. All schools have the discretion to grant leave of absence in exceptional circumstances, allowing the leave to be authorised and not fined.

Shared Parental Leave and Pay gives parents flexibility to choose a caring arrangement that works for them in their child’s first year of life.

Employers may decide to offer more than the statutory entitlement, for instance by enhancing the statutory rate of pay, and we encourage them to do so whenever possible.

However, we recognise that more can be done to support working parents and to support employers understanding and implementation of parental leave entitlements. Last year the government launched the Parental Leave and Pay Review, which is considering all current entitlements. Findings are expected in early 2027.

We want to ensure that young people of all backgrounds can access the apprenticeship opportunities they need to get ahead. To address this, we have announced a targeted bursary worth up to £4,500 per year per eligible Universal Credit household. This will remove a barrier that may otherwise discourage a small number of young people from taking up an apprenticeship, helping them to take the first step into their careers, regardless of their families’ financial circumstances. Further information on how eligible households can apply, how the bursary will be paid, and timelines for implementation will be announced in due course.