Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that secondary school students with learning difficulties receive adequate support while working from home.

The department is committed to ensuring that all pupils and students, including those with learning difficulties, are able to access the educational support they need while at home. We have an experienced, expert workforce of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) professionals assisting with designing home learning and support for children and young people with SEND.

While educational settings remain responsible for education provision, we have worked to provide additional support to students with SEND. We have published a list of specialist high quality online educational resources to support home learning which was developed with a specific focus on accessibility and inclusivity. The list was collated and quality assessed with the support of SEND subject matter experts and special school teachers and covers a broad range of SEND needs. This list of resources is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-online-education-resources/coronavirus-covid-19-list-of-online-education-resources-for-home-education#special-educational-needs-and-disabilities-send.

In addition, to support the hard work of schools in delivering remote education, the Oak National Academy launched its SEND Specialist Curriculum on 4 May. This is providing educational support to children and young people with more profound needs who would normally receive their education in specialist settings. More details are available here:
https://www.thenational.academy/online-classroom/specialist/#subjects.

Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, we have asked local authorities, educational settings and parents to consider whether moving either equipment or services into the homes of children or young people with SEND would enable them to be better supported there and to provide additional assistance to parents. However, we know that some students may still not able to access the equipment they need, which is why we have provided Family Fund this year with £37 million, including an additional £10 million in response to the outbreak, to help low-income families of children and young people with complex needs and disabilities. This funding is expected to help more than 75,000 families, including helping to buy specialist equipment and devices. More details can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/37-million-to-support-children-with-complex-needs.