Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing health workers to refer young people for Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) assessments.

Health professionals are key partners in identifying, assessing, and meeting the needs of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The responsibility to decide whether a child or young person requires an education, health, and care (EHC) assessment rests with the local authority, but a range of partners can bring any child or young person who they feel may require an EHC assessment to the attention of the local authority. This explicitly includes health professionals. This is set out in paragraph 9.9 of the SEND Code of Practice 2015, which is statutory guidance.