Disability: Children
(asked on 30th June 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department provides to NHS and local authority professionals on responsibility for commissioning specialist night-time safety equipment for children with complex developmental disabilities.
The Children and Families Act 2014 requires that education, health, and social care services must work together to meet the needs of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services to meet the health needs of their local population, and responsibility for providing equipment to disabled people typically falls to the National Health Service and local authorities (LAs).
We expect ICBs to follow guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). In 2022, NICE published guidance on Disabled children and young people up to 25 with severe complex needs, which is available at the following link:
This guidance encourages education, health, and social care services to work together and provide more coordinated support to children and young people.
In May 2023, NHS England issued statutory guidance setting out the requirement for ICBs to have an executive lead for SEND, who will lead on supporting the chief executive and the board to ensure the ICB performs its functions effectively in the interests of children and young people with SEND.
LAs in England have a statutory duty under various legislations, including the Care Act 2014, and the Children and Families Act 2014, to make arrangements for the provision of disability aids and community equipment, and to meet the assessed eligible needs of individuals who are resident in their area. Types of support include equipment to enable people to live more independently, such as grab rails, walking aids, and wheelchairs for short-term use.
Some LAs deliver this themselves but a significant number have external contracts for integrated community equipment services. Responsibility for managing the market for these services, including commissioning and oversight of delivery, rests with LAs.