Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to introduce a multi-sensory impairment education fund for all schools in England.

The department is firmly committed to ensuring that children with special education needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with multi-sensory impairments, receive the support they need to succeed in their early years, at school, and at college.

This government continues to deliver year on year, real terms per pupil increases to school funding. The total core schools budget is increasing to £56.8 billion by the 2024/25 financial year. This represents a £7 billion cash increase, compared with the 2021/22 financial year.

Within that overall budget, the department is increasing high needs funding for children and young people with the most complex SEND, including those with multi-sensory impairment, by £1 billion in the financial year 2022-23, to a total of £9.1 billion.

Decisions around funding for SEND provision are taken locally. School leaders and local authorities have the flexibility to make their own decisions on how to prioritise their spending to invest in a range of resources and activities that will best support their pupils.