Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that teachers are supported and resourced to support children with dyslexia, and to support their increased focus on inclusion for learners with SEND.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

On 16th January, we announced a new training package, backed by £200 million of new funding, to ensure that all teachers, educators, teaching assistants, support staff and leaders across early years, schools and post-16 settings can be trained to support pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with dyslexia.

We value the hard work of teachers and educators up and down the country and we have specifically designed our new continuing professional development courses to be flexible to work around their schedules.

In February, we announced £500 million per financial year over the next three years through the Inclusive Mainstream Fund to support schools, colleges and early years settings with upfront funding to help them move towards becoming more inclusive by design.

We will also introduce National Inclusion Standards, which will set out what ordinarily available provision should be in every setting across the 0 to 25 system, as well as the evidence-based tools, strategies and approaches for educators to draw on to identify and support children and young people with SEND, including those with dyslexia.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government how the "Experts at Hand" service will support classroom teachers to use evidence-based strategies to identify and support pupils with dyslexia.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The department is investing around £1.8 billion over three years to develop a new Experts at Hand offer, giving mainstream settings access to specialist support from key health and education professionals, including speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, educational psychologists (and assistants) and specialist teachers.

Experts at Hand will support mainstream settings to better identify and meet the needs of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with dyslexia, through dedicated professional expertise delivered alongside setting staff. It will support earlier identification of need, strengthen workforce confidence and capability, and provide timely, evidence-based support within everyday learning environments. Specialists will work with teachers through observation, light-touch assessment and advise on effective strategies, helping to embed evidence-informed practice and inclusive support.

Beyond this we are supporting all teachers with continuing professional development through the launch of a new landmark training package on inclusion, with an investment of over £200 million over three years.