Department for Education written question – answered at on 3 March 2026.
Andy MacNae
Labour, Rossendale and Darwen
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department's planned timeline is for the Online Parenting Interventions project.
Olivia Bailey
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The government is dedicated to widening access to high-quality, evidence-based parenting and home-learning support. This helps ensure that families can benefit from interventions that effectively promote children’s early development and contribute to reducing the attainment gap before they begin school. Our aim is to equip more parents to support their child’s development in communication, language, literacy, social and emotional skills and behaviour.
Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life underlined the importance of offering both digital and in-person parenting support, so that families with a wide range of needs can access help in a way that works for them. This includes plans to develop a national digital parenting offer.
On 23 September 2025, the department issued a contract notice to explore options for centrally procuring a digital parenting programme. Further information will be provided in due course.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
