Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the undertaking in the letter from Viscount Younger of Leckie to Lord Addington on 3 December that those diagnosed with dyslexia or specific learning difficulties before the age of 16 will no longer have to undertake a second diagnosis to qualify for the Disabled Students’ Allowance, whether those who have been qualified to carry out this assessment will continue to be so after February 2019.

The department is yet to conclude discussions currently being held with relevant experts, including the British Dyslexia Association, about the qualifications that should be held by those undertaking specific learning difficulty diagnostic assessments that can be used to determine eligibility for Disabled Students’ Allowances. The experts with whom the department is discussing this issue have knowledge and understanding of diagnostic assessment undertaken for school pupils. The department expects to conclude these discussions by the middle of March 2019.