Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to issue guidance on the (a) roles and (b) responsibilities of (i) health, (ii) education, (iii) social care, (iv) education services and (v) the charitable sector for the provision of specialist equipment for disabled children.

The integrated care boards (ICBs) in England are responsible for commissioning services to meet the health needs of their local population. NHS England Specialised Commissioning commissions complex disability equipment services, including communication aids, environmental controls, and prosthetics.

We expect ICBs to follow guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). In 2022, NICE published the guidance, Disabled children and young people up to 25 with severe complex needs: integrated service delivery and organisation across health, social care and education, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng213/chapter/Recommendations-on-service-organisation-integration-and-commissioning

The Children and Families Act 2014 requires that education, health, and social care services must work together to meet the needs of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Local authorities are responsible for providing social care services for disabled children, which can include specialist equipment. The guidance on supporting disabled children and their carers is available at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/669e7501ab418ab055592a7b/Working_together_to_safeguard_children_2023.pdf

Further guidance on the roles and responsibilities of different organisations in meeting the needs of children with SEND can be found in the SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25

Since July 2015, NHS England has collected data quarterly from clinical commissioning groups, now ICBs, on wheelchair provision. This data looks at waiting times across the pathway to enable targeted action if improvement is required. NHS England is taking several steps to reduce regional variation in the quality and provision of National Health Service wheelchairs, and to support ICBs to reduce delays in people receiving timely intervention and wheelchair equipment.

Data on the length of time taken to provide other equipment for disabled children is not collected centrally.