Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many deaf children reached their age related reading score for their year 1 phonic screening check assessment in the last five years for which figures are available.

The department publishes data on the attainment of pupils recorded as having a hearing impairment in the phonics screening check within the ‘Key Stage 1 and phonics screening check attainment’ statistics publication, which is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/key-stage-1-and-phonics-screening-check-attainment/2021-22.

The attached table includes the number of pupils recorded as having a hearing impairment who met the expected standard in Year 1 in the phonics screening check between 2016 and 2022. In addition, the number of such pupils eligible to take the check and the number and proportion working towards the standard, were absent or disapplied from the check are included to provide context. Data for 2020 and 2021 is not available due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

These statistics include pupils with special educational needs in state-funded schools where hearing impairment was recorded as their primary type of need on the school census. Therefore, these statistics will not capture all pupils in Year 1 with a hearing impairment.