Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps he has taken to ensure that pupils with autism and other special educational needs and disabilities are adequately supported while schools are closed during the January 2021 covid-19 lockdown period.

During this period of national lockdown, primary schools, secondary schools, further education (FE) colleges, alternative provision and special settings will remain open to vulnerable children and young people, including those with education, health and care plans (EHCPs).

Where, for any reason, it is not possible for a child or young person with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) – including children both with an EHCP and those who are supported through SEND support – to attend their education setting during this period, they should receive remote education and support. The legal duty on schools and FE colleges to use their best endeavours to meet the special educational needs of their pupils and students, including those supported through SEND support, remains unchanged, whether they are attending school or FE college or are at home for any period.

To support remote learning, the department has made £4.84 million available for Oak National Academy, both for the summer term of the academic year 2019-20, and then for the 2020-21 academic year, to provide video lessons in a broad range of subjects for Reception up to year 11. This includes specialist content for pupils with SEND, along with therapy-based lessons and resources across occupational therapy, physical therapy, sensory therapy and speech and language therapy. A link to the Oak National Academy’s specialist resources can be found here: https://classroom.thenational.academy/specialist.

To support schools to make up for lost learning time, the department has also provided a £1 billion package of support. This includes a £650 million catch up premium directly allocated to schools, with additional weighting for specialist settings, recognising the significantly higher per-pupil costs that they face. The package also includes a £350 million National Tutoring Programme, which will increase access to high-quality tuition for disadvantaged pupils, helping to accelerate their academic progress and tackling the attainment gap between them and their peers.

To specifically support children and young people with autism, the department has funded the Autism Education Trust (AET) since 2011 to deliver autism awareness training to staff in early years settings, schools and colleges. To date, the AET has trained more than 287,000 people – promoting a whole-school approach to support for pupils with autism. Resources and training via the AET have been available throughout the COVID-19 outbreak.