Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment her Department has made of workforce requirements for (a) babies and (b) children with neurodevelopmental conditions.

No recent assessments have been made. We are working closely with the Department for Education to ensure that children and young people with Special Educational Need and Disability (SEND) receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time.

We are taking forward work to better understand the health needs of children and young people with SEND so that these needs can be better met as we plan what workforce we need. A research commission from the National Institute for Health and Care Research to understand the demand for therapists for children with SEND was issued January 2024.

In June 2023, we published the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP) which sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. It will put the workforce on a sustainable footing for the long term. The LTWP applies to all workforce groups, including those working with babies and children with neurodevelopmental conditions.

The modelling NHS England has used in the plan is founded on data, evidence and analysis and provides a set of broad ranges to measure the potential impact of actions over its 15-year timeframe. We have committed to refreshing the modelling that underpins the plan every two years or in line with fiscal events.