Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that every school pupil with a medical condition has an individual healthcare plan.

Current guidance is clear that governing bodies should ensure that a school’s policy covers individual healthcare plans, and who is responsible for their development, to support pupils at school with medical conditions. The governing body should also ensure that plans are reviewed at least annually, or earlier if evidence is presented that the child’s needs have changed. Healthcare plans should be developed with the child’s best interests in mind; they should be developed to ensure that the school assesses and manages risks to the child’s education, health and social wellbeing, as well as ensuring that disruption is minimised.

In the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, which was published in March 2023 in response to the Green Paper, the department outlined its ambition to build a consistent national SEND and AP system that enables children, young people, and their families to access the support they need consistently.

The consultation on the Green Paper received a very small number of specific responses related to medical conditions in schools. The department will factor these into further policy development and will consider updating the statutory guidance when making decisions on wider reforms.