Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help improve the support available for children and young people with Auditory Processing Disorder as part of the planned SEND reforms.

All children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, including those with Auditory Processing Disorder, deserve the best possible educational experience.

The department will develop National Inclusion Standards that set out evidence-informed tools, strategies and approaches for educators to draw on to identify and support children and young people with additional needs, before those needs escalate. Schools cannot deliver inclusion alone, and the department is working with the NHS to expand access to expert interventions and therapies by making better use of the specialist workforce. We are providing £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships, including local authorities and Integrated Care Boards, to work together to develop a new Experts at Hand offer in every local area. Through Experts at Hand, schools will have direct access to support, advice, training and specialist expertise from professionals such as speech and language therapists and specialist teachers.

For children and young people with complex needs, we are developing Specialist Provision Packages, which will deliver comprehensive, evidence-based support for children, across a range of needs, recognising where children and young people need more specialist provision. These packages will be developed by sector experts and tested with parents and professionals to provide a consistent, high-quality special educational needs and disabilities offer for children and young people.