Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps she has taken to fund services for deaf learners in Lincolnshire.

High needs funding for children and young people with complex needs is continuing at an increased level of over £12 billion in the 2026/27 financial year, following an increase of 11% in 2025/26. Of that total, Lincolnshire Council is being allocated over £150 million through the high needs funding block of their 2026/27 Dedicated Schools Grant.

The department is also investing around £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships, including local authorities and Integrated Care Boards, to develop a new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer. This offer is designed to strengthen the capability of mainstream education settings by providing access to support from key services and health and specialist education practitioners.

For deaf children and young people in mainstream settings, this includes access to specialist teachers, such as teachers of the deaf, to support settings to identify and meet needs through timely, targeted approaches and adaptations to teaching.