Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the progress that has been made since the publication of the SEND and AP Improvement Plan; how many additional education psychologists have been employed by local authorities and; how many additional teachers have undertaken SENCO training since the publication of that plan.

Children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) frequently require access to additional support from a broad specialist workforce across education, health and care. To support this, the department has completed the following:

• Since May 2022, the department has supported 135,000 professionals to access autism awareness training developed by the Autism Education Trust through the £12 million Universal services training programme.
• In January 2024, the department announced a new initial teacher training and early career framework that includes new and updated content on SEND to ensure teachers have the skills and confidence to support all children.

• The department is providing free training to up to 7,000 early years Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) to boost understanding of SEND in early years, and increase early identification and collaborative working with parents, carers, and other professionals. As of December 2023, 5,200 people had already registered for their training.
• The department is investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists from September 2024. This builds on the £10 million currently being invested in the training of over 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.

• In August 2023, the department confirmed that a new National Professional Qualification for SENCOs will replace the existing National Award for Special Educational Needs Coordinators (NASENCO) qualification from Autumn 2024. This will ensure SENCOs receive consistent high quality, evidence-based training. The department does not hold data regarding the number of professionals who have undertaken the NASENCO qualification since March 2023.