Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of developing a joint workforce plan with the Department for Health and Social Care to support sustainability of Experts at Hand service.

The department is working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reforms, including delivery of the Experts at Hand offer, strengthening joint workforce planning and commissioning at a local level between education and health partners.

We are investing around £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships, including local authorities and integrated care boards to develop a new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer, strengthening mainstream education through access to health and specialist education support.

To support delivery, we are investing over £40 million in the specialist workforce, including £26 million to increase educational psychologists and £15 million to grow the speech and language therapy workforce.

Local area partnerships will develop and deliver their own Experts at Hand, tailored to local population needs and supported by strong national oversight. The government will set the overall framework, provide guidance and tools, and work closely with local areas to ensure consistent quality.