Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many eye care professionals are delivering NHS Special School Eye Care Service under Primary Ophthalmic Service contracts as of March 2025; and how many special schools are in receipt of that service as of March 2025.

NHS England published a range of documents to support the commissioning of sight testing in special educational settings on 25 March 2025, and integrated care boards will now be in the process of planning to procure local services. The scale of the roll out will be dependent on educational establishments choosing to host a service.

There are currently 22 proof-of-concept contractors continuing to deliver the sight testing and dispensing service in 83 day and residential special schools. Data on the number of practitioners delivering the National Health Service special schools eye care service within those contracts is not held centrally.