Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Disabled Children’s Partnerships Left Behind report, what progress has been made on ensuring that every disabled child can access (a) physiotherapy, (b) occupational and speech and language and (c) other therapies therapies they need; and what steps he is taking to ensure that disabled children are able to catch-up on the therapies they missed during the covid-19 outbreak.

As part of COVID-19 recovery planning we are working with the Department for Education and NHS England and NHS Improvement to improve the provision of health services, including therapies, to disabled children. In 2020, NHS England and NHS Improvement published guidance making clear that restoration of essential community services, including therapeutic support, must be prioritised for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities aged up to 25 years old and who have an Education Health and Care Plan in place or are going through an assessment for one.

We have invested £6.6 billion from March to September 2021 to help National Health Service recovery and asked that systems ensure health inequalities are tackled in their recovery plans. We have also provided an additional £1 billion in 2021-22 to reduce waiting times for patients, including disabled children, to access NHS services.