Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has considered the merits of introducing a statutory requirement for schools to screen children for dyslexia before the age of 7.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage to the answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 40829.
Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of children in England with undiagnosed dyslexia; and what steps she is taking to help reduce that number.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage to the answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 40829.
Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of early dyslexia screening on literacy outcomes in primary school children.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage to the answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 40829.
Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that teachers are adequately trained on identifying dyslexia in the early years of primary education.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage to the answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 40829.
Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to develop programmes promoting active lifestyles for children and young people as recommended in the article by Sarah MacQuarrie and Alexandra Hennessey entitled Transforming children and young people’s futures through PE, school sport, and physical activity, published on 12 February 2025.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This government values physical education (PE) and sport as a way to improve not only the health, but the wellbeing and lives of all children and young people. Existing government-funded programmes look to address this with the primary PE and sport premium and the School Games Organisers.
To address specific barriers, we have recently launched an open procurement for a new grant programme for up to 3 financial years (from April 2025 to March 2028 at up to £300,000 per year) to develop and deliver a programme that improves and increases PE, school sport and physical activity opportunities for pupils with SEND. The inclusive education hub, funded by the department through the inclusion 2024 programme is an online platform of bespoke resources to help schools make PE and sport more inclusive.
Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the recommendations within the article entitled Transforming children and young people’s futures through PE, school sport, and physical activity, published by the University of Manchester on 12 February 2025.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This government values physical education (PE) and sport as a way to improve not only the health, but the wellbeing and lives of all children and young people. Existing government-funded programmes look to address this with the primary PE and sport premium and the School Games Organisers.
To address specific barriers, we have recently launched an open procurement for a new grant programme for up to 3 financial years (from April 2025 to March 2028 at up to £300,000 per year) to develop and deliver a programme that improves and increases PE, school sport and physical activity opportunities for pupils with SEND. The inclusive education hub, funded by the department through the inclusion 2024 programme is an online platform of bespoke resources to help schools make PE and sport more inclusive.
Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to make funding available for Local Authorities to clear the backlog of young people waiting for their EHCP to be implemented.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision (AP) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.
The department recognises the challenges that families face in accessing support for children and young people as part of the education, health and care plan process and we are considering carefully how to address this situation. We have listened to many parents and those who advise them, local authority colleagues and partners across education, health and social care and we are reflecting on what practice could or should be made consistent nationally.
The department is providing almost £1 billion more for high needs budgets in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding to £11.9 billion. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with complex SEND. The department has also announced £740 million of high needs capital funding for the 2025/26 financial year to invest in places for children and young people with SEND or who require AP.
Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve the value for money of education, health and care plans.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
For too long, the education system has not met the needs of all children, particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), with parents struggling to get their children the support they need and deserve, particularly through long and difficult education, health and care (EHC) plan processes.
The department wants to drive a consistent and inclusive approach to supporting children and young people with SEND through early identification, effective support, high-quality teaching and effective allocation of resources. Our approach will support families and break down the barriers to opportunity for their children.
The department recognises the complex financial challenges facing the existing SEND system and the strain that the rising costs of SEND provision are putting on local government. But this government also understands that more money is not always the answer. What matters is how the money is spent and what behaviours we are incentivising within the system from funding allocations. The government wants to focus on meeting more children’s needs in mainstream which enables children to thrive, provides high value and ensures more families have confidence that their children’s needs will be met without having to pursue an EHC plan. Where EHC plans are needed we will consider what further can be done to deliver these through inclusive mainstream provision.
The Delivering Better Value in SEND programme worked with 51 local authorities to review and improve the way their services are structured so they can support children and young people with SEND more effectively and sustainably. The programme required local authorities to develop action plans that place greater emphasis on early intervention in order to meet children and young people’s needs early.
The department has published an independently-commissioned insight report which showed that if the system improved, 65% of children and young people could have their needs met in a more effective way, and that this could lead to tens of thousands more children having their needs met without an EHC plan, in a mainstream setting, rather than a specialist placement.
The department has published a toolkit to help other local areas learn from the experience of those on the Delivering Better Value in SEND programme.
Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she has taken to improve the inclusivity of mainstream schools for autistic and neurodivergent young people.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government is committed to taking a community-wide approach, improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to children and young people with the most complex needs. The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) code of practice is clear that education settings should put in support to meet the needs of the child or young person when they are identified. All children and young people should be supported within their education setting. All teachers are teachers of SEND, including autism.
To increase understanding of autism the department has a contract with the National Association for Special Educational Needs. This contract funds SEND training and provides support for the school and further education workforce, with over 220,000 professionals having completed autism awareness training since May 2022.
In November 2024 the department brought together a group of leading neurodiversity experts to advise the department on improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream settings in a way that works for neurodivergent children and young people.
The department has also introduced the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) programme, alongside NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care, backed by £13 million funding.
PINS deploys specialists from both health and education workforces to build teacher and staff capacity to identify and meet the needs of neurodiverse children in around 1,600 (10%) mainstream primary schools and supports neurodiverse children at the whole-school level. It is needs led, rather than diagnosis-led, therefore it includes children without a formal diagnosis.
The programme is being evaluated, and the learning will inform future policy development around how schools support neurodiverse children.
Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support schools to (a) understand and (b) support autistic pupils.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The government is committed to taking a community-wide approach, improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to children and young people with the most complex needs. The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) code of practice is clear that education settings should put in support to meet the needs of the child or young person when they are identified. All children and young people should be supported within their education setting. All teachers are teachers of SEND, including autism.
To increase understanding of autism the department has a contract with the National Association for Special Educational Needs. This contract funds SEND training and provides support for the school and further education workforce, with over 220,000 professionals having completed autism awareness training since May 2022.
In November 2024 the department brought together a group of leading neurodiversity experts to advise the department on improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream settings in a way that works for neurodivergent children and young people.
The department has also introduced the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) programme, alongside NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care, backed by £13 million funding.
PINS deploys specialists from both health and education workforces to build teacher and staff capacity to identify and meet the needs of neurodiverse children in around 1,600 (10%) mainstream primary schools and supports neurodiverse children at the whole-school level. It is needs led, rather than diagnosis-led, therefore it includes children without a formal diagnosis.
The programme is being evaluated, and the learning will inform future policy development around how schools support neurodiverse children.