Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the (a) technical guidance and (b) assessment process for disabled students' allowance is meeting the needs of students with vision impairment.

Disabled Students’ Allowances’ (DSAs) guidance is updated annually and available for all students applying for DSAs. The guidance is available at: https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/media/1646/1819-guidance-dsa-new-students-from-ay-201617.pdf.

A student eligible for DSAs will undertake a DSAs Study Needs Assessment at one of approximately 200 accredited UK assessment centres. A needs assessor will then identify what type of support is essential to enable the student to undertake their chosen course. Potential support for students with vision impairment includes sighted guides, specialist note takers and specialist equipment. DSAs assessment centres are required to comply with the service standards set out in the DSAs Quality Assurance Group’s Quality Assurance Framework, available at:

https://dsa-qag.org.uk/application/files/3415/3874/0719/Assessment_Centre_QAF_18_19_v7.0.pdf.