Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase access to assessments for Special Educational Needs.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.

Through a graduated approach, it is the responsibility of teachers to monitor the progress of all pupils and put support in place where needed. Where a child who has special educational needs requires more support than the school they are in can usually provide, schools, parents or carers can ask the local authority to carry out an education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment.

The department recognises the critical role of educational psychologists within the SEND system, including in their statutory contribution to EHC assessments. To support this, the department is investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists from 2024. This builds on the £10 million currently being invested in a cohort of over 200 trainees who began their training in September 2023. As these trainees complete their studies, they will join the workforce to support the capacity of local authority educational psychology services, including in delivering assessments.