Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the finding of Scope and the Disabled Children’s Partnership’s report, The gap widens, published September 2021, that there is a £1.5 billion funding gap in disabled children’s NHS spending, what estimate his Department has made of the funding gap in disabled children’s health services.

While a specific estimate has not been made, we are working with the Department for Education and NHS England and NHS Improvement to improve the provision of health and care services for disabled children.

The forthcoming Spending Review will set out the Government’s spending plans for health and social care for future years. On 6 September 2021 the Government announced an additional £5.4 billion for the National Health Service to support the COVID-19 response over the next six months, bringing the total Government support to more than £34 billion in 2021/22. This includes £2 billion to reduce waiting times for patients, including disabled children.