Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the upcoming Comprehensive Spending Review will prioritise funding services for disabled children and implement the Disabled Children's Partnership's proposal for an early intervention and family resilience scheme.

Long-term funding for local government services, including children’s services, will be considered at this year’s Spending Review. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced that - assuming a Brexit deal is agreed over the next few weeks – he will launch the Spending Review (from 2020-21 to 2022-23) before the summer recess, to conclude alongside Budget in the autumn. The department has already begun work to be well prepared.

The government is committed to ensuring all disabled children and their families lead safe, fulfilling lives, and appreciates the ongoing work of the Disabled Children’s Partnership in this respect.

‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ sets out how local authorities should provide effective, evidence-based services to protect and promote the welfare of children, including disabled children. The guidance was updated on 04 July 2018 and states that it is better to provide services addressing needs early, rather than reacting later. The statutory duty to provide short breaks, introduced in 2011, falls on local authorities.