Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the number of specialist staff that will be required to implement the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan; and whether his Department has this number of specialist staff as of 22 November 2022.

We have made no specific assessment. The ‘SEND review: right support, right place, right time’ green paper sets out proposals to commission analysis to ensure that the health needs of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are supported through effective workforce planning. We plan to work with Health Education England, NHS England and the Department for Education to complement existing evidence and understand the demand for support for children and young people with SEND from the therapy and diagnostic workforce.