Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government plans to take to ensure that steering groups include an assessment of the provision of support for disabled students in final area-based review reports; and what steps it plans to take where such provision is not covered in those reports.

The Joint Area Review Delivery Unit which supports the individual reviews and works with the local steering groups, including local authorities as commissioners, oversee the reviews to make sure that the learning needs of all residents, including those with additional learning needs or disabilities are considered. A summary of the steering group consideration is included in each report. We will amend all of the published reports where required to properly reflect that disability as well as additional learning needs has been considered in each of the reviews.

In some cases the consideration of need may result in recommendations for the development of additional learning provision or structural change and this will be reflected in the reports.