Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to assist local authorities in reducing wait times for children with complex disabilities to access specialist respite services.

Under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, local authorities are required to assess the needs of disabled children. Where the assessment identifies that a child is eligible for support, the local authority must provide suitable services.

In addition to this, between 2022 and 2025, the government funded the Short Breaks Innovation Programme, where local authorities were invited to bid for a share of £30 million to fund innovative approaches to short breaks delivery, and to the commissioning of such interventions. Some successful local authorities within the programme focused on reducing wait times. A lesson learned report from the programme is due to be published in autumn 2025.