Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to establish joint commissioning arrangements between the Department for Education and the Department for Health and Social Care to ensure that there are a sufficient number of occupational therapists to deliver the Experts at Hand SEND service set out in the Every child achieving and thriving white paper.

We are working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to support the delivery of the Experts at Hand offer, strengthening joint planning and commissioning at a local level between education and health partners.

Over the next three years, £1.8 billion will be made available to local area partnerships to develop and roll out the Experts at Hand offer.

Local area partnerships will design and implement their own Experts at Hand models, tailored to local population needs, existing workforce capacity, and the specific challenges each area faces. As a result, workforce requirements, including for occupational therapists, will vary across the country.

The department recognises that continuing to build the occupational therapy workforce pipeline is essential and is working with DHSC and NHS England to support workforce planning and improve access to community health services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, including occupational therapy input, as part of longer‑term system planning, including through the development of the NHS England 10‑year workforce plan.