Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides to schools and local authorities on recognising and supporting pupils with a Pathological Demand Avoidance profile when developing an Education, Health and Care Plan.

All children will benefit from a strengthened universal offer of high quality, inclusive teaching in every mainstream setting, with early identification of needs and evidence-based support as standard. On top of the universal offer, we propose that there will be three flexible layers of support for those that need it. These layers are Targeted, Targeted Plus and Specialist. These layers will be guided by the National Inclusion Standards, which will provide evidence-informed tools and strategies for identifying and supporting children’s needs, including for children with profiles of need such as Pathological Demand Avoidance. Children in early years settings, mainstream schools and colleges will benefit from access to education and support from health professionals without long waits for assessments.

Children will not need a statutory education, health and care (EHC) plan to receive Targeted or Targeted Plus support, as there will be a duty on schools and funding to provide it. Settings will have a statutory duty to record and monitor special educational needs and provision in an Individual Support Plan for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

For those with complex needs, we are developing new Specialist Provision Packages (SPPs), designed with independent experts and tested with parents, and intended to each include a description of the need profile it is designed to support. SPPs will underpin the right to the educational provision set out in an EHC plan, and we propose that only those children and young people who need an SPP will have an EHC plan in future.