Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report from Ofsted, Alternative provision for primary-age pupils in England: a long-term ‘destination’ or a ‘temporary solution'?’ published on 8 November 2022, what steps she is taking to respond to the findings that a) schools need more specialist help for primary age children with additional needs and b) limited access to professional help, such as speech and language therapists or educational psychology services, could be leading to more Alternative Provision referrals and potentially more permanent exclusions.

The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper, published on 29 March 2022, set out a new vision and delivery model to make AP an integral part of the SEND system. The reforms will enable local areas to ensure that children and young people with additional needs get the right support, in the right setting, at the right time.

The proposals include a greater focus on early intervention, with AP schools providing specialist support to children and young people in mainstream schools to help address their behavioural and health needs. Over time, this will reduce the number of preventable exclusions and long-term placements and improve the experiences, wellbeing, and outcomes of children and young people.

In addition, the department is taking steps to increase the capacity across the whole of the specialist workforce. Since 2020, there has been an increase in the number of educational psychologist trainees that are funded by the department, from 160 to over 200 per annum. We have also invested £30 million to train three more cohorts for the 2020/21, 2021/22, and 2022/23 academic years. Earlier this year a further investment of over £10 million was announced to train over 200 more educational psychologists, beginning their courses in September 2023.

Since September 2020, all eligible nursing, midwifery and allied health profession students have been able to apply for a non-repayable training grant of a minimum of £5,000 per academic year, with further financial support available for childcare, accommodation, and travel costs. This aims to support the supply of more speech and language therapists and occupational therapists to the NHS.

The green paper consultation closed on 22 July 2022. The department is currently reviewing the feedback and using this, along with continued engagement with the system, to inform the next stage of delivering improvements for children, young people and their families.