Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government which (1) disability, and (2) student groups were consulted ahead of changes to the technology packages available to students in receipt of Disabled Students Allowance.

The department engaged with disability experts who support disabled students to gather their feedback and insights on the decision to remove non-specialist spelling and grammar software from Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) funding.

The department does not expect that students will be negatively impacted by the changes, because specific technology packages will no longer be funded where free-to-access versions, with the required functionality, are available to meet students’ disability-related support needs. Specialist spelling and grammar software will continue to be funded where a robust disability-related justification is provided. Assistive technology training and aftercare support for any non-specialist basic spelling and grammar software agreed in a student’s needs assessment report will continue to be funded through the DSA.