Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support deaf children’s education in the upcoming Spending Review.

Our ambition for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including hearing impairments, is exactly the same as for every other child and young person, to achieve well in school and college, find employment and go on to live happy and fulfilled lives.

Over 90% of children identified with hearing impairment as their primary type of need are in mainstream schools. Overall school funding is over £43.5 billion this year. This includes £6.3 billion of high needs funding for children and young people with the most complex SEND, up from £5 billion in 2013.

However, we are well aware that local authorities and schools are facing challenges in managing their budgets in the context of increasing costs and rising levels of demand. We are looking carefully at how much funding for education will be needed in future years, as we approach the next Spending Review.