Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help support schools in meeting the needs of children awaiting neurodevelopmental assessments who are experiencing escalating difficulties.

Access to educational support should not be dependent on a child or young person having a diagnosis.

We are developing National Inclusion Standards to set out what ordinarily available provision should be in every setting across the 0 to 25 system, as well as the evidence-based tools, strategies and approaches for educators to draw on to identify and support children and young people with additional needs.

We are investing £4 billion over three years, including £1.8 billion so every mainstream setting will have access to health and education experts at hand, £1.6 billion going directly to schools for early intervention, and over £200 million to train education staff. We are also making an additional capital investment of £3.7 billion between 2025 and 2030 to create 60,000 specialist places.

It is the responsibility of integrated care boards in England to make appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including providing access to ADHD and autism assessments. This should be in line with relevant NICE guidelines and comply with the NHS Standard Contract and the legal Right to Choose.