Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the finding by the National Autistic Society’s report of 7 September 2020, Left stranded, that seven in 10 children were unable to complete school work during the covid-19 lockdown; and if he will make a statement.

The government recognises the significant challenges that the COVID-19 outbreak has presented for children and young people and their families. Supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with autism, continues to be a priority for this government, and their wellbeing has been central to our response throughout the outbreak.

As my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, made clear in his statement of 31 October 2020, our priority remains keeping all early years settings, schools and colleges open to all children and young people during the lockdown period commencing from 5 November. Schools and colleges should continue to ensure that children and young people with autism receive the education, therapeutic or specialist support and reasonable adjustments required to enable them to successfully engage with school or college.

To support those children who cannot attend school for any reason, we have invested over £195 million to support remote education and access to online social care, delivering over 220,000 laptops and tablets during the summer term for disadvantaged children who would not otherwise have access to a digital device. We are also providing support by making over 340,000 additional laptops and tablets available in the autumn term to support disadvantaged children that might face disruption to their education. Since September, over 100,000 of these have been delivered to schools.

To support the hard work of schools in delivering remote education, Oak National Academy was very quickly brought together by over 40 teachers, their schools and other education organisations. The department has made £4.84 million available for Oak National Academy to provide video lessons in a broad range of subjects for reception up to year 11. The department also funds the Autism Education Trust (AET) to deliver training to education professionals and embed good autism practice in schools and colleges across England. AET has developed a hub of guidance and resources for families, teachers and other professionals aimed at supporting children and young people during the COVID-19 outbreak, which is available here: https://www.autismeducationtrust.org.uk/?s=covid.