Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the number of (a) teachers and (b) therapists employed in special educational needs schools in London; and what steps he is taking to help increase the number of (a) teachers and (b) therapists employed in those schools.

In November 2021, there were 3,423 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded special schools in London, which is 1,057, or 45% higher than in 2010.

The department’s priority is to ensure that we continue to attract, retain, and develop the highly skilled teachers that we need, as set out in the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy, published in 2019.

Children and young people may access therapists through a number of different routes, one of which may be directly through their school. In November 2021, there were 169 staff contracts in state-funded special schools based in London, with the main role reported as therapist. These figures will not include therapists working in schools on contracts that last for fewer than 28 days.

The further increases in school funding next year mean that high needs funding for children with more complex needs in England, including those in London special schools, is increasing by £1.65 billion over two years, between the 2021/22 and 202324 financial years. This is an increase of 21% and will bring total high needs funding to over £9.7 billion by 2023/24.

Decisions about how funding is used locally, including for the employment of specialist teachers and other specialist services, are made by local authorities and schools.