Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government which groups and individuals they are asking for expert advice for their review of the second assessment for the identification of disabled students wishing to apply for the Disabled Students' Allowance if the first assessment or identification has been carried out before the age of 16.

In February 2018 officials from the Department for Education wrote to the following organisations seeking their views on whether it should still be necessary for students with specific learning difficulties to have a post-16 diagnostic assessment when applying for Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs): The Association of Dyslexia Specialists in Higher Education (ADSHE), The British Dyslexia Association, The British Psychological Society, Dyslexia Action, The Helen Arkell Institute, The National Association of Disability Practitioners, the National Union of Students, the Real Group, the University of Southampton, and The Professional Association for teachers and assessors of students with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD)/the SpLD Assessment Standards Committee.

It is inevitable that some of the organisations whose expert view we have sought for this review will provide diagnostic assessments, training to become diagnostic assessors or accreditation of that training, and will receive payment for those services. We will be mindful of that in reaching a final decision on the review.