Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help support families caring for disabled children.

It is the responsibility of local authorities, schools, and further education settings to commission appropriately qualified staff to support the education of children and young people in their area.

The department’s reforms, as set out in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan and the Children’s Social Care Implementation strategy, detail the department’s commitments for providing stronger support for disabled children, including:

• a Law Commission review of children’s social care legislation for disabled children
• non-stigmatising and easier to access family help
• a stronger focus on disabled children in Working Together
• new metrics that track the experiences of disabled children through the system
• strengthened language to encourage areas to adopt Designated Social Care Officers
• a £30 million investment in innovative approaches to short breaks for disabled children.