Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, in the context of the proposed expansion of the educational psychologist workforce set out in The Schools White Paper 2026, what consideration has she given to the potential merits of measures to improve the recruitment and retention of educational psychologists in local authority services.

The department is investing £26 million to train at least 200 educational psychologists per year from 2026/27, with further investment to train more over the following three years, subject to future spending reviews. This is in addition to the £31 million already invested since 2023.

Upon graduating, trainees who have had their training funded by the department are required to remain in local authority employment for a minimum period, which is three years for trainees starting from 2024. This is to ensure that children and young people, schools and families are benefitting from the investment of public money in their training.

The department is also investing around £1.8 billion for local area partnerships, including local authorities and integrated care boards, to develop a new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer, which will provide access to support from key services, including educational psychologists and trainees.