Disability: Children and Young People

(asked on 17th March 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Disabled Children's Partnership’s report, The Longest Lockdown, published in February 2021, if she will make it her policy to work with Cabinet colleagues to implement a cross-departmental covid-19 catch-up plan for disabled children and their families to implement the recommendations from that report to deliver (a) a therapies catch-up plan to address where children have regressed or plateaued in their development, (b) respite for families of disabled children suffering from exhaustion, (c) flexibility to extend or allow repeat funding for disabled young people in further education and (d) additional support for disabled children and young people at key transition points; and if she will make a statement.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 25th March 2021

Supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families is a priority for this government, and their educational, physical and mental wellbeing remains central to our cross-government response to the COVID-19 outbreak. That is why education settings have remained open for those children and young people with an education, health and care (EHC) plan throughout.

Regarding therapies, our guidance is clear that where children and young people with an EHC plan are in receipt of health provision, settings should be working collaboratively with their local authority, clinical commissioning group and health providers to agree appropriate support in view of the latest and current local public health guidance. Therapists and other professionals may continue to visit education settings to provide therapies and support, where this is reasonably necessary. However, we recognise that the COVID-19 outbreak has been particularly challenging for these families and children and young people with SEND will need targeted support as part of the recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak.

Regarding wider education recovery, Sir Kevan Collins has been appointed as the Education Recovery Commissioner. He is considering how schools and the system can more effectively target resources and support at pupils in greatest need.

Already, the government has announced specific targeted support for children and young people with SEND, which includes a new one-off Recovery Premium for state primary and secondary schools, building on the £650 million catch-up premium for the 2020/21 academic year, which will be provided to schools to use as they see best to support disadvantaged students. This can include, for example, speech and language therapies or pastoral support for mental wellbeing. This funding can also be used to lay on additional clubs or activities or for other evidence-based approaches for supporting the most disadvantaged pupils, including those with SEND. The Recovery Premium will be allocated to schools based on the same methodology as the pupil premium, including an additional weighting to specialist settings, recognising the significantly higher per pupil costs they face.

The National Tutoring Programme has been expanded, which will increase access to high-quality tuition for disadvantaged pupils, helping to accelerate their progress and tackling the attainment gap between them and their peers. In addition, 16-19 tuition fund providers are asked to have regard to the needs of students with SEND when prioritising students that would benefit most from small group tuition.

Furthermore, the proposals to support early language and literacy catch up will benefit all children including those with SEND. The Reception Year Nuffield Early Language Intervention catch-up programme is suitable for many children with SEND. It is not designed as specialist provision to replace Speech and Language Therapy interventions, but can supplement these.

£200 million will also be available to all secondary schools, including specialist settings, to deliver face-to-face summer schools. Schools will be able to target provision based on pupils’ needs, such as those at key transition points. The size and shape of the summer schools will be decided by school leaders who know best what a most effective summer school will look like for their pupils, allowing them to tailor support for pupils with SEND.

Regarding respite support, we also recognise the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on families raising disabled children. We continue to encourage local authorities to prioritise respite support for disabled children, and to consider flexible and pragmatic options to deliver that support including using Direct Payments. The government provided £4.6 billion of funding to support councils through the COVID-19 outbreak, including to deliver services to support vulnerable children.

In addition, we have expanded the Holiday Activities and Food programme, which has provided healthy food and enriching activities to disadvantaged children since 2018. From 2021, the programme will cover the Easter, Summer and Christmas school holidays at a cost of up to £220 million. It will be available to children in every local authority in England, building on previous programmes and we are working to ensure that the programme is fully inclusive and accessible for children with SEND.

Regarding flexibility around transition support and additional funding for those in Further Education, arrangements under an EHC plan can continue up to age 25 for those young people who need to take longer to complete their education or training. Local authorities will need to make a judgement, in consultation with parents and the young person, about whether or not agreed outcomes have been met, and the young person has been prepared and enabled to make a successful transition to adulthood. However, in every case the local authority needs to consider whether it is in the best interests of an individual to stay in education.

We have recently agreed that those young people with an EHC plan on a supported internship (a work-focused study programme for those with complex needs) who were not able to meet the core aim of their internship in the 2020-21 academic year may continue their internship into the 2021-22 academic year. It is not envisaged that all supported interns will need to extend their internship for a full year. Providers should determine the length of time that a learner will require based on the needs of the individual, and in agreement with the local authority, noting that the legislative and funding arrangements for EHC plans do not allow for a plan to be extended beyond the age of 25.

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