Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department taken to help West Midlands secondary schools provide extra support to dyslexic students.

The department is acting to improve early identification and intervention for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), such as dyslexia, through the reforms outlined in the Schools White Paper and the SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper. These build on measures already in place to identify pupils who are facing challenges, including with literacy and reading, to help teachers understand how best to support them.

The department has introduced a new National Professional Qualification for Leading Literacy to drive up standards of literacy teaching and improve literacy and language outcomes for every child, including those who are struggling.

Next year, the department will publish the Reading framework Part 2, which will provide evidence based non-statutory guidance on teaching reading for later key stages, and supporting children who are struggling to read, including those with special educational needs.

This builds on the excellent support already available to primary school pupils in the West Midlands via two English Hubs, St John Bosco Catholic Primary School in Sandwell, and Little Sutton Primary School in Birmingham. English Hubs offer targeted support to local schools, academies and free schools to improve the teaching of phonics, early language and reading in Reception and Year 1.