Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reasons her Department has withdrawn funding for non-specialist disabled students' allowance software.

The department made the decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar software from the disabled students’ allowance (DSA) funding on the grounds that there are now free-to-access versions available with the required functionality to meet students’ disability-related support needs. It is therefore not an effective use of public money to continue to fund this type of software through the DSA. Full details of the policy change are available at: https://www.practitioners.slc.co.uk/media/2070/ssin-spelling-and-grammar-software.pdf.

The department conducted an equality impact assessment prior to the decision, which is attached to this response.