Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what role specialist schools, specialist health services and established centres of expertise will play to support the development and delivery of the Experts at Hand programme.

The department is investing around £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships, including local authorities and Integrated Care Boards, to develop a new Experts at Hand offer.

Specialist schools, specialist health services and other local specialist education and health services will play an important role in the development and delivery of local Experts at Hand offers. Local area partnerships will be able to draw on their expertise to help provide advice, coaching, workforce development and targeted support for mainstream settings. This will include specialist expertise from educational psychologists and trainees, speech and language therapists, support workers or assistants, occupational therapists and specialist teachers, including those based in specialist and alternative provision settings.

Through the offer, these practitioners may provide targeted interventions, support earlier identification of needs and help mainstream staff develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to meet the needs of children and young people more effectively.