Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure children with disabilities are able to participate in appropriate physical activity whilst they are not at school during the covid-19 lockdown.

The department has worked closely with early years settings, schools and physical activity experts to ensure that there is advice and resources to support everyone to participate in regular exercise. The department has published online educational resources approved by subject experts for schools and parents to help children to learn at home. These resources include those for PE, which are available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-online-education-resources/online-science-pe-wellbeing-and-send-resources-for-home-education.

On 19 May 2020, we announced £37 million for the Family Fund, which will provide grants to families on low incomes with disabled and critically ill children. £10 million of that funding has been committed specifically in response to the unique difficulties presented by the COVID-19 outbreak for over 75,000 families, helping parents educate and look after children who are staying at home more than usual. Details of the announcement have been published here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/37-million-to-support-children-with-complex-needs.

The government has provided £3.2 billion of additional to support local authorities to address any pressures they are facing in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including in children’s social care and for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services. We have also announced £750 million funding to support front line charities during the outbreak, including those supporting vulnerable children.