Children with Genetic Conditions: Specialist Support

Lord Wigley Excerpts

Tuesday 15th June 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, we work closely with them because of the nature of the work involved in EHCPs, and we cannot underestimate the effects of this period. During Mental Health Awareness Week, we announced £17 million that should allow 7,800 schools to have a lead mental health practitioner within the school to provide the kind of support needed. By making school places available during lockdown, we allowed school leaders to identify vulnerable children who needed to come into school for all kinds of reasons, including mental health issues.

[Lord Wigley (PC) [V]]

My Lords, I draw attention to my registered links with Mencap. The Disabled Children’s Partnership, which has been mentioned, has estimated that almost half of disabled children have lost confidence in communicating because of a disruption or delay to speech and language therapy during Covid, a factor not adequately addressed in the Government’s education recovery plan. Will the Government, as a matter of urgency, please adjust the plan to meet the complex needs of such children and their families?

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Lord is correct that early years and language development were greatly affected during the lockdowns. That is one reason why early-years settings were kept open—because of the nature of that education provision. We have allocated £18 million to early-years language development, including £8 million to the Nuffield Early Language Intervention, and I believe that the majority of primary schools have signed up for that. We are funding the initiatives that we help believe can help those children to catch up.