Children: Disability

(asked on 7th March 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings in the report by the Disabled Children’s Partnership and Let Us Learn Too, The SEND Money Survey, that 33 per cent of parents and carers said that they could not afford to spend money on speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and physiotherapy in the last five years, that 26 per cent of parents and carers said that they had spent between £1,000 and £5,000 on those therapies and that 11 per cent said that had spent between £5,000 and £10,000 on those therapies.


Answered by
Will Quince Portrait
Will Quince
This question was answered on 15th March 2022

The government recognises that the current special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system does not consistently deliver the outcomes we want and expect for children and young people with SEND, their families or the people and services who support them, as highlighted by the SEND Money Survey conducted by Let Us Learn Too and the Disabled Children’s Partnership.

We are conducting a Review of the SEND system and looking at ways to make sure the system is more consistent, high quality, and integrated across education, health, and care. The outcome of that Review will be published as a green paper for full public consultation by the end of March 2022.

Throughout the Review, we have engaged with people and organisations, including representatives from Let Us Learn Too and the Disabled Children’s Partnership. We will continue to do so through a full, public consultation following publication.

We know that COVID-19 has impacted on services and, as a result, many specialist services have adjusted their delivery models during their recovery. As services resume, we are keen to ensure the right support is available and that children and young people are given access to therapies and equipment. We continue to work closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to look at ways to improve therapies access. In support of this, we issued joint guidance in September 2021 for education and health providers, working with a cross-sector group including the Royal Colleges and professional organisations. This guidance sets out the expectations for the delivery of specialist support for children and young people, and is available here: https://councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/about-cdc/media-centre/news-opinion/delivery-specialist-11-and-group-interventions-children-and.

Education policy is a devolved matter, so arrangements covering SEND policy and provision in Wales are a matter for the Welsh Government.

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