Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the average waiting time for children with disabilities to receive an occupational therapy home safety assessment from local authority Children's Social Care teams.

The department has not made an estimate of the average waiting time for children with disabilities to receive an occupational therapy home safety assessment from local authority children's social care teams.

Responsibility for assessing and meeting the needs of disabled children rests with local authorities, which determine local arrangements for the provision of occupational therapy assessments and support. The department does not collect data on waiting times for occupational therapy home safety assessments delivered by local authority children's social care teams, NHS England publishes waiting-list and waiting-time data for community health services, including children's occupational therapy services. This data does not identify waiting times for local authority children's social care occupational therapy assessments specifically.

Statutory guidance is clear that children's social care assessments should be undertaken in a timely manner, with the pace of assessment determined by the child's individual needs and circumstances.