Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the growth of the learning disability workforce, including addressing the reduction in the number of learning disability nurses, as part of the Government's reforms for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision for children and young people.

The Government wants every child to have the best start in life, with help available earlier and locally when families need it. As set out in the King’s Speech, the Government is committed to raising standards in schools and introducing generational reform to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system. These reforms will be brought forward in legislation through the upcoming Education for All Bill.

The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England have worked closely with the Department for Education on the reforms. Continued close partnership between health, social care, and education will be needed to realise the opportunity created by these crucial reforms.

To supplement the student loans which are the main support for all students in England, the Department of Health and Social Care provides eligible healthcare students with a non-repayable grant of at least £5,000 per academic year via the NHS Learning Support Fund. Students undertaking priority specialisms such as mental health nursing and learning disability nursing can receive an additional incentive payment.

The Government is also investing over £40 million in the specialist workforce to support children and young people with SEND, including learning disability. This includes £26 million to train more educational psychologists and £15 million to enable more speech and language therapists to work in education settings.