Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure young carers with neurodiverse learning needs are able to access additional support at school.

Every child deserves a high quality, inclusive education establishment in their community, including young carers with neurodiverse learning needs.

We have now announced plans to reform the special educational needs and disabilities system, with further information available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/every-child-achieving-and-thriving.

The department will introduce a new universal offer, ensuring all children receive the right support in mainstream schools. For all those with additional needs there will be layers of targeted support that remove barriers to learning, with schools working alongside parents and local partnerships.

Regional improvements for standards and excellence has made a universal offer to equip mainstream schools with the expertise, evidence and networks they need to embed consistently high quality, inclusive practice and improve outcomes for every child, including young carers. Ofsted’s renewed inspection framework, introduced in November 2025, focuses explicitly on inclusion and their inspection toolkit is clear that inspectors will consider the impact of a school’s work to improve the attendance, behaviour, inclusive personal development and wellbeing of young carers.

Furthermore, this government is preparing a cross-government action plan for unpaid carers of all ages which it plans to publish later this year. This will include actions to strengthen the support that is provided to young carers.