The recently published consultation draft of ‘Keeping children safe in education’ does not say that schools should accept requests for pupils to join sports teams for the opposite sex. The guidance is absolutely clear that some sports may need to be played in single sex sports to ensure children’s safety, and that where this is the case there should be no exceptions.

Where there are other reasons for providing single sex sports, the guidance sets out that schools should take into account all the relevant factors, including the best interests of the child, as well as considering the impact on other children.

Schools should be informed by advice from national governing bodies on what is appropriate for individual sports.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

From the 2026/27 financial year, the department intends to invest up to £250,000 per year for three years (a total of £750,000) to partner with an organisation to deliver a national programme for chess in schools.

It will aim to increase pupils’ participation in chess, embed sustainable provision, and ensure regular opportunities to play chess are made available across all nine regions of England. This includes resources and training for staff, support for pupil-led delivery, and opportunities for schools to join local and online tournaments to celebrate achievement and encourage engagement.

We will prioritise mainstream primary and secondary schools with higher proportions of pupils eligible for free school meals, as well as special schools and alternative provision settings, and improve access for girls and pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.

The department intends to publish an invitation to tender for delivery of the programme in due course.

The number of private school closures is publicly available from the ‘Get Information about Schools’ website. Where local circumstances show that converting a private school into a state funded school would meet local demand for school places, the conversion may be considered through the established legal process.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

This government will not tolerate antisemitism in our educational institutions. We are investing £7 million to tackle antisemitism in education and are committed to ensuring all teachers and pupils are safe and supported inside and outside of the classroom.

This funding will support scholarship programmes for education staff on building confidence in identifying and tackling antisemitism. A new Innovation Fund will also invite creative approaches to working with children and young people on the issue of antisemitism.

The department’s Educate Against Hate website continues to provide a range of resources to support education staff, governors, and parents in promoting tolerance and helping young people understand antisemitism and its historical context, in order to reduce children’s susceptibility to hateful narratives.

Schools are subject to statutory duties regarding political impartiality under Sections 406 and 407 of the Equality Act 1996. This means schools must not promote partisan political views and should ensure that pupils are provided with a balanced treatment of political issues.

In 2022, the department published comprehensive guidance to support schools to meet their duties on political impartiality. This guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/political-impartiality-in-schools.

The guidance is clear that all schools should take full responsibility for ensuring lessons and materials are age appropriate, suitable, and politically impartial.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

Too many families still tell the government that the cost of school uniform remains a financial burden. That is why we are legislating to limit the number of expensive branded items of uniform and physical education kit that schools can require.

Based on previous department surveys of parents, we estimate that the aggregate savings of the new limit on compulsory branded items to parents with children in primary school is around £21 million per year, and for those with children in secondary school is around £52 million per year. We estimate that some families will save over £50 per child on the back to school shop.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

As set out in HM Treasury’s government response to the technical note on applying VAT to private school fees and removing the business rates charitable rate relief, the government estimates that approximately 3,000 pupils will move from private schools to state schools in the 2024/25 academic year. The response can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-on-private-school-fees-removing-the-charitable-rates-relief-for-private-schools.

The government predicts that in the long-term steady state, 37,000 pupils will leave or never enter the UK private school sector as a result of the removal of the VAT exemption applied to school fees. This represents around 6% of the current private school population.

Of those leaving or never entering the private sector, the government estimates an increase of 35,000 pupils in the state sector in the steady state following the VAT policy taking effect, with the other 2,000 either being international pupils who do not move into the UK state system, or domestic pupils moving into homeschooling. This state sector increase represents less than 0.5% of total UK state school pupils, of which there are over 9 million. This movement is expected to take place over several years. Additionally, the government expects approximately 2,900 pupils will move into state schools in England following the business rates policy taking effect.

As such, the impact on the state education system as a whole is expected to be very small.

Local authorities, devolved governments and schools have processes in place to support pupils moving between schools. Children move between and within the private sector and the state-funded sector every year, for a range of reasons.

Every year, the department uses the schools national funding formula (NFF) to distribute core funding for 5 to 16-year-old pupils (reception to year 11) in respect of mainstream state-funded schools in England. The NFF determines how much funding will be available for schools in each local area. The precise sum received by an individual school is then determined by the local formula set by the appropriate local authority.

In the current NFF, the vast majority of funding is distributed on the basis of pupil numbers and pupils’ characteristics. In 2025/26, 74.2% (£36.0 billion) of the schools NFF has been allocated through basic entitlement funding, which every pupil attracts. A further 17.8% (£8.6 billion) of all funding has been allocated through additional needs factors based on deprivation, low prior attainment, English as an additional language and mobility. Therefore, the amount of additional funding a school attracts through the NFF for each additional pupil depends on the characteristics of that pupil. For example, in 2025/26, every primary age pupil attracts £3,847 in basic entitlement funding but would also attract an additional £495 if they were entitled to free school meals. The factor values for 2025/26 are attached and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-funding-formula-for-schools-and-high-needs-2025-to-2026.

Through the dedicated schools grant, we are allocating a national average of £6,466 per pupil in 2025/26 in mainstream schools, compared to £6,330 in 2024/25 (including premises and growth funding). This represents a 2.15% increase per pupil on average in 2025/26 compared to 2024/25.