Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to respond to the letter of 2 November 2022 from the SEND in The Specialists Coalition on the specialist workforce for children and young people.

The department attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence from Members of Parliament, stakeholders, and the public. It is important that organisations such as the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, the National Deaf Children’s Society, and others, share their experiences.

The department knows that children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities frequently require access to additional support from a broad specialist workforce across education, health, and care. As set out in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper, the department is taking steps to increase the capacity of the specialist workforce.

The department is currently considering the feedback and will be publishing a full response to the Green Paper in an Improvement Plan early this year. A response to the letter of the 2 November will also be sent very shortly.