Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the impact of reductions in the number of (a) teaching assistants, (b) support staff and (c) teachers on (i) pupils with special educational needs and disabilities and (ii) other pupils requiring additional learning support.

As part of our Plan for Change, we are committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across secondary and special schools, and colleges, over the course of this Parliament.

We are already making good progress. The teaching workforce has grown by 2,346 full-time equivalent (FTE) between 2023/24 and 2024/25 in secondary and special schools, the schools where they are needed most.

The number of FTE school support staff has increased by 7,100 (1.4%) since 2023/24, which is mainly due to an increase of 5,900 teaching assistants.

Our recent ‘Every child achieving and thriving’ white paper sets out the government’s vision for reforms to the schools and special educational needs and disabilities systems in England to ensure that every child can achieve and thrive.