Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the accuracy of the statement by Warwickshire County Council in its document, Teaching Children & Young People with Literacy Difficulties Practice Guidance February 2018, on advice to parents in relation to the status of dyslexia as a disability that is not fully recognised in UK law.

The department have not made any formal assessment of this report. We are continuing to improve standards on literacy and to support schools and parents on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) including dyslexia.

Schools are required under the Children and Families Act (2014) and the accompanying SEND Code of Practice to identify and address the special educational needs (SEN) of the pupils or students they support. Maintained schools are given notional SEN budgets and should use this to pay for support to children with dyslexia where required. Schools must use their best endeavours to make sure that a child with SEN gets the support they need - this means doing everything they can to meet children and young people’s SEN.

The Equality Act (2010) is clear that a person (P) has a disability if - (a) P has a physical or mental impairment, and (b) the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on P's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. All schools have duties under the Equality Act (2010) towards individual disabled children and young people.