Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the press release entitled 'Thousands of children with SEND to benefit from assistive tech', published 27 June 2025, if she will confirm the change in EHCPs for children under the age of 8 in the same period as the data referred to in the press release.

The June 2025 press release announced the department’s investment of over £1.6 million in an assistive technology lending library pilot through the ‘SEND and alternative provision change programme’. The press release referenced that the number of children with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) had increased by 11% to 638,700, referring to the data from the 2024 to 2025 academic year.

For the same period, the number of EHCPs specifically for children under the age of 8 at the start of the academic year increased by 14%, rising to 124,148.

The government is committed to ensuring that children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities receive appropriate support at the earliest opportunity, and that local authorities and education settings have the expertise and resources needed to meet their needs effectively. As part of this work, the pilot enabled up to 3,800 mainstream settings across 30 local authorities to borrow and trial assistive technology before making purchasing decisions.