Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to meet the National Deaf Children’s Society to discuss its report Deaf children across England fall an entire grade behind at GCSE, published on 20 August.

The department values the perspective of the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) reports and officials are in regular contact with NDCS to discuss their concerns.

For 2020-21, the department has announced more than £700 million of additional high needs funding. This will fund children with more complex special educational needs and disabilities, including hearing impairment. This represents an increase of 11% compared to 2019-20, leading to a total of over £7 billion. This will help local authorities to manage the pressures that they will face next year.

The Whole School SEND Consortium, led by nasen, are currently delivering a £3.9 million 2-year programme of work to equip schools to identify and meet their training needs in relation to special educational needs and disability (SEND) and to build the specialist workforce in mainstream and special schools, including support for pupils with hearing impairment. The National Sensory Impairment Partnership, the membership of which includes NDCS, are key partners in the delivery of that programme of work.