Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support early speech and language interventions in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.

The department’s vision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), is the same as it is for all children and young people. We want them to receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.

The department is funding support for 11,100 schools registered for the Nuffield Early Language Intervention programme. The majority of these are schools with the highest levels of disadvantage, as defined by the percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals. As of January 2024, we estimate over 211,000 reception age children so far have received this extra support.

In partnership with NHS England, we are funding the Early Language and Support for Every Child (ELSEC) pathfinder programme, to trial new ways of working to earlier identify and support children with SLCN in early years and primary schools, utilising Therapy Support Assistants and a variation of identification tools across the pathfinders.

In further partnership with NHS England and the Department for Health and Social Care, this department is funding the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) programme. PINS will build teacher and staff capacity to identify and meet the needs of neurodiverse children, including those with SLCN, through whole school interventions.

The department funds a range of materials, to which all local areas are signposted, hosted on the Nasen website. This website is an online portal offering education professionals free, easy access to high quality information, resources and training for meeting the needs of children with SEND. It can be accessed here: https://www.wholeschoolsend.org.uk/page/universal-send-services. We have funded the creation of a suite of condition specific videos to provide helpful pointers, techniques and advice on inclusive teaching strategies, which includes materials for schools to use for children and young people with SLCN. These videos can be accessed at: https://www.sendgateway.org.uk/resources?title=condition-specific. We also offer free training on speech language and communication, which is available here: https://www.wholeschoolsend.org.uk/page/online-cpd-units.

The department will consider how best to use learnings and insights from these programmes to improve support for children with SLCNs, including consistency of support provided across different geographies.