Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase (a) the number of people being trained to be educational psychologists and (b) the number of assessments of children with undiagnosed SEND.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.

The SEND code of practice is clear that meeting the needs of a child with special educational needs (SEN) does not require a diagnostic label or test. It is the responsibility of teachers to monitor the progress of all pupils and put support in place where needed. This may include arranging diagnostic tests where appropriate. Where a child who has SEN requires more support than the school they are in can usually provide, parents or carers can ask the local authority to carry out an education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment, irrespective of whether their child has a diagnosis or not.

The department recognises the critical role of educational psychologists within the SEND system, including in their statutory contribution to EHC assessments. To support this, the department is investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists from this year. This builds on the £10 million currently being invested in a cohort of over 200 trainees who began their training in September 2023. As these trainees complete their studies, they will join the workforce to support the capacity of local authority educational psychology services, including in delivering assessments.