Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will make an assessment of the adequacy of the availability of educational psychologists in Gloucester constituency.

Educational psychologists play a critical role in the support available to children and young people, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This is why the department has already invested more than £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists over two cohorts, starting their studies in 2024 and 2025. This is in addition to the £10 million invested in training more than 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.

As these trainees complete their studies, they will join the workforce to support local authority educational psychology services for a minimum period of three years.

Following a Joint Area SEND inspection in Gloucestershire in December 2023, leaders in the local area have developed a local strategy to improve access to educational psychologists, including a virtual service. Officials and SEND advisors from both the department and NHS England meet regularly with Gloucestershire local area leaders to monitor progress.