Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government when the terms of reference for the Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group will be announced on the Department for Education webpages; and whether there will be expert representation of all Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, in particular dyscalculia, in both the Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group and in the Expert Advisory Group on Inclusion.

The terms of reference for both the Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group and Expert Advisory Group have now been published on GOV.UK along with the associated membership lists. These terms of reference are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/neurodivergence-task-and-finish-group and https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/send-inclusion-in-education-expert-group.

The Neurodivergence Task and Finish group consists of academics, scientists, clinicians, sector charities and education experts. The members of the Expert Advisory Group for Inclusion have a range of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) specialist knowledge and expertise. They are all well-established and trusted voices within the SEND and wider education sector.

In both cases, we have kept the group’s membership small to allow them to be focused, but we expect both groups and the department’s new Strategic Advisor for SEND, Dame Christine Lenehan, to collaborate with other sector experts and stakeholders in order to enrich the input into the groups and ensure appropriate coverage of all neurodivergent conditions, including dyscalculia. Together, the groups aim to inform and challenge the governments thinking on how to best improve mainstream education for all children and young people with special educational needs.