Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to (a) improve SEND provision and (b) recruit more educational psychologists.

The department recognises that the current special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system is not working and that, for far too long, too many children and families have been failed by it. This government is determined to address the problems and restore parents’ trust that their children will get the support they need. The department has been restructured so that SEND is now treated as part of mainstream schooling, but the government knows that this is only a small step on the road to fixing the system. The department will listen to, and work with, families to fix the foundations and deliver long-term renewal.

The department understands the critical role educational psychologists play in the support available to children and young people, including those with SEND. Whilst it is the responsibility of local authorities, as employers, to recruit to their educational psychology services, the department is taking measures to support these services by investing in building the training pipeline.

​The department is investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists from this year. This builds on the £10 million currently being invested in a cohort of over 200 trainees who began their training in September 2023.

​Following graduation, trainees who have had their training funded by the department are required to remain in local authority employment for a minimum period. To support local authority services to recruit and retain their educational psychology workforce, this requirement will increase to three years for those trainees beginning their course this year. This will allow local authority services to benefit from the public investment in training, and support their delivery of statutory assessments and wider work.