Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, is she will publish a timeline of when all local authorities will deliver their Experts at Hand services in full.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government has set out national expectations for the development and delivery of Experts at Hand offers in published guidance. Local authorities and integrated care boards are responsible for planning and delivering their local offers within this framework. Local areas have set out milestones and delivery trajectories in their Local Area SEND Reform Plans, reflecting their different starting points, local needs and workforce capacity. The government will continue to monitor data on the relevant health and education specialist workforces.
Our expectation for Year 1 has been that areas would develop a clear commissioning and implementation approach for an Experts at Hand offer accessible to all mainstream settings in the 2026/27 financial year. Areas should also have begun to deliver elements of their offer from September 2026. Further guidance setting out the expectations for Year 2 will be published at the end of this financial year.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many local authorities have established full Experts at Hand services.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government has set out national expectations for the development and delivery of Experts at Hand offers in published guidance. Local authorities and integrated care boards are responsible for planning and delivering their local offers within this framework. Local areas have set out milestones and delivery trajectories in their Local Area SEND Reform Plans, reflecting their different starting points, local needs and workforce capacity. The government will continue to monitor data on the relevant health and education specialist workforces.
Our expectation for Year 1 has been that areas would develop a clear commissioning and implementation approach for an Experts at Hand offer accessible to all mainstream settings in the 2026/27 financial year. Areas should also have begun to deliver elements of their offer from September 2026. Further guidance setting out the expectations for Year 2 will be published at the end of this financial year.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish an update on the recruitment of specialists needed to deliver the Experts at Hand model.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
We have invested £429 million in the first year of Experts at Hand to enable local authorities and integrated care boards to develop and deliver an offer that reflects local needs. Local areas will determine the specialist workforce needed to deliver their offer, taking account of existing capacity, and use this funding to support recruitment where additional expertise is required.
Alongside this locally led approach, the department is considering the workforce implications of Experts at Hand as part of wider, long‑term workforce planning, including joint work with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England on wider priorities such as the 10 Year Workforce Plan.
To help build specialist capacity needed for delivery, we are investing over £40 million in the specialist workforce. Of this funding, £26 million will go towards training at least 200 educational psychologists per year in 2026 and 2027. This will be followed by further investment to train more from 2028, subject to future spending review decisions. The remaining £15 million will be invested to establish new speech and language therapist advanced practitioners in every integrated care board geographical area, to get more speech and language therapists working in education settings.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of rural and coastal local authorities’ capacity to deliver Experts at Hand services.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is investing around £1.8 billion over the next three years in Experts at Hand to improve mainstream settings’ access to specialist education and health expertise, including in rural and coastal communities.
The offer is being developed locally, so that areas can make the best use of available specialist capacity and tailor support to local geography and need. This may include specialists supporting groups of settings through training and advice, with supervised trainees, assistants and support workers helping to extend capacity and reach. We are working closely with colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care to ensure that there are no cold spots and that every single mainstream setting has access to essential support.
Alongside this we will continue to support nationally to build specialist capacity needed for delivery, by investing over £40 million in the specialist workforce. Of this funding, £26 million will go towards training at least 200 educational psychologists per year in 2026/27. This will be followed by further investment to train more from 2028, subject to future spending review decisions. The remaining £15 million will be invested to establish new speech and language therapist advanced practitioners in every integrated care board geographical area, to get more speech and language therapists working in education settings.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish a response to the consultation on upfront SEND funding for mainstream schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Local authorities were invited to submit proposals to the department’s consultation, ‘Upfront funding for mainstream schools: creating a ‘local SEND inclusion formula’, by 30 September and we are carefully considering all responses. The consultation is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/upfront-funding-for-mainstream-schools-creating-a-local-send-inclusion-formula. The department will publish a response in November.
Upon review of the submissions, the department may follow up with the local authorities in question to understand or refine each proposal.
The government will confirm which local authorities have been invited to participate in the ‘test and learn’ approach to providing whole-school, upfront funding to mainstream schools.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many local authorities have agreed to trial upfront SEND funding for mainstream schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Local authorities were invited to submit proposals to the department’s consultation, ‘Upfront funding for mainstream schools: creating a ‘local SEND inclusion formula’, by 30 September and we are carefully considering all responses. The consultation is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/upfront-funding-for-mainstream-schools-creating-a-local-send-inclusion-formula. The department will publish a response in November.
Upon review of the submissions, the department may follow up with the local authorities in question to understand or refine each proposal.
The government will confirm which local authorities have been invited to participate in the ‘test and learn’ approach to providing whole-school, upfront funding to mainstream schools.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment Ofsted has made of the effectiveness of its anticipatory duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments for disabled pupils regarding its pupil survey.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
These are matters for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver. I have asked him to write to the hon. Member for Meriden and Solihull East, and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what accessible versions of its online pupil survey Ofsted provides for disabled pupils, including versions using symbol-supported text.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
These are matters for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver. I have asked him to write to the hon. Member for Meriden and Solihull East, and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure any revised SEND Code of Practice explicitly mandates the publication of school information on SEND in plain English.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has not made a specific assessment of the merits of commissioning research into the readability of information on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) published by schools. However, responses to our consultation have highlighted the importance of clearer, more accessible and transparent information for children, young people and their families.
As part of our legislative reforms, we propose requiring schools to prepare and publish an Inclusion Strategy which will replace SEN Information Reports. This will strengthen accountability and transparency, and help parents better understand a setting’s offer of inclusive practice and support designed to meet a range of needs.
The revised SEND code of practice will set out how schools should ensure that their Inclusion Strategy is accessible to children, young people and families. This will include using clear and accessible language, explaining technical terms and providing information in alternative formats where necessary.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of commissioning research into the readability of information on SEND that is published by schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has not made a specific assessment of the merits of commissioning research into the readability of information on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) published by schools. However, responses to our consultation have highlighted the importance of clearer, more accessible and transparent information for children, young people and their families.
As part of our legislative reforms, we propose requiring schools to prepare and publish an Inclusion Strategy which will replace SEN Information Reports. This will strengthen accountability and transparency, and help parents better understand a setting’s offer of inclusive practice and support designed to meet a range of needs.
The revised SEND code of practice will set out how schools should ensure that their Inclusion Strategy is accessible to children, young people and families. This will include using clear and accessible language, explaining technical terms and providing information in alternative formats where necessary.