Oral Answers to Questions

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Excerpts

Wednesday 8th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Michelle Donelan]

Conservative Members believe in free speech and the right to have a view, but of course we want all people to aspire to go into their chosen careers, including in STEM.

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

7. What steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for Education to improve classroom support for children with autism.

[The Minister for Higher and Further Education (Michelle Donelan)]

The SEND—special educational needs and disabilities—and alternative provision Green Paper aims to create a more inclusive education system to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND. We are providing nearly £12 million to help the schools and further education workforce to support children with SEND, including autism, ensuring that their needs are met early and effectively.

[Mr Dhesi]

After a decade of per-pupil funding cuts and with staff workloads soaring, mainstream schools are too often unable to provide places for children with special educational needs and disabilities, including children in my constituency who are unable to access speech and language therapy sessions. Does the Minister think that is acceptable, and what is she going to do about it?

[Michelle Donelan]

This Government are investing £74 million in the first year alone of our autism strategy to promote a straightforward route to diagnosis and the correct support, and we will shortly be detailing our implementation plan for year two. The Department has been funding the Autism Education Trust since 2011.

--- Later in debate ---

[Elizabeth Truss]

We are absolutely determined to bring down the cost of childcare and to fix the regulations that make the costs so high. We will be bringing forward proposals very shortly.

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

T7. The Government promised that a comprehensive women’s health strategy would be published last year, but we are still waiting. Meanwhile, waiting lists continue to soar. Given that the number of women on waiting lists for gynaecological services is in excess of 570,000—a 60% increase on pre-pandemic levels—is it not time that the Government stopped constantly trying to protect the job of a lame duck Prime Minister and got on with resolving the day-to-day issues affecting women in our country?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Maria Caulfield)]

As I have said in answer to many questions this morning, the women’s health strategy will be published shortly. We had over 100,000 responses, we published our vision document in December and we will be publishing the women’s health strategy in the coming weeks. [Interruption.]