Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to increase the level of high needs block funding.

Last December we announced an additional high needs funding for those with more complex needs, amounting to £250 million. This brings the total high needs funding to £6.3 billion in 2019-20. We understand that local authorities and schools are experiencing pressures on their budgets because of increasing costs. The department is looking carefully at how much funding will be needed in future years as we approach the next Spending Review.