Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether there is a standardised procedure for ensuring that young offenders are assessed for an EHCP.

The Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0-25 Years (2015), sets out that local authorities must promote the education of each child and young person while they are in custody and on their release, whether they have an education, health and care (EHC) plan or not.

Each child or young person entering custody will undergo an educational assessment, including an assessment of literacy, numeracy and, where necessary, a screening to identify whether further assessments to identify special educational needs (SEN) are required. If the child or young person already has an EHC plan, the home local authority must send it to the Youth Offending Team, the person in charge of the relevant youth accommodation, and the child or young person’s health commissioner, within five working days of becoming aware of the detention.

Where a child or young person does not already have an EHC plan, the parent, young person or the person in charge of the relevant youth accommodation can request an assessment of the child or young person’s post-detention EHC needs from the home local authority.

Anyone else, including Youth Offending Teams and the education provider in custody, has a right to bring the child or young person to the notice of the home local authority as someone who may have SEN and the local authority must consider whether an assessment of their post-detention EHC needs is necessary.