Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the number of deaf children that achieve spoken language skills; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of early intervention programmes, including Auditory Verbal therapy, on educational outcomes for deaf children.

The department is committed to ensuring that children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with hearing impairment, receive the support they need to succeed in their early years, at school and at college. We recognise the importance of spoken language skills and the particular challenges that deaf children face.

The newborn hearing screening programme is offered to parents of all babies. It plays a key role in the early identification of children with hearing impairment and then in providing their parents with the right help to develop their spoken and wider communication skills. Health visitors and specialist local authority teachers provide families with advice and support to maximise the development of such skills in the early years. In addition, the Early Years Foundation Stage framework, which all early years providers follow, has a strong focus on developing communication and language.

The department also has a comprehensive system for identifying where children have SEND and putting in place the right support for them, but we recognise that too often the experiences and outcomes of these children are poor. That is why earlier this year we consulted on the green paper, SEND Review: Right support, right place, right time, which set out proposals to improve the outcomes of children and young people. These proposals for strengthening the SEND system included commitments on early intervention, given the proven effectiveness of this approach. Further details can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/send-review-right-support-right-place-right-time.