Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to introduce a national dyslexia strategy.

The department is committed to improving support for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with dyslexia.

The SEND code of practice makes it clear that meeting the needs of a child with special educational needs does not require a diagnostic label, such as dyslexia. Instead, we expect teachers to monitor the progress of all pupils and put support in place where needed. In keeping with this, the department has no current intentions to pursue a condition-specific approach.

However, we recognise that the early identification of need and support is critical to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND, including those with dyslexia. There are already a number of measures to help teachers do this, including the phonics screening check and statutory assessments at the end of key stage 2.

Measures have also been introduced to support the effective teaching of reading, including for those at risk of falling behind. This includes the English Hubs programme, the publication of the reading framework and an updated list of high quality systematic synthetic phonics programmes for schools.

The English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on supporting children making the slowest progress in reading. As part of the continuous professional development provided by the English Hubs, the Reading Ambition for All programme has been launched to improve outcomes for children who need additional support with reading, including those with SEND.