Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparative estimate he has made of the number of school children with dyslexia who were subject to (a) education, health and care plans and (b) statements under the previous SEN and learning difficulties assessments in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
We publish the number and proportion of pupils with special educational needs (SEN), including the type of need in the annual ‘Special educational needs in England’ statistical release. This is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen.
SEN pupils are recorded according to their primary type of need. The current types of need do not include a specific breakdown for autism alone. These cases are expected to be recorded under ‘Autistic Spectrum Disorder’. No estimates of the number of children with autism within this category have been made.
The current types of need do not include a specific breakdown for dyslexia alone. These cases are expected to be recorded under ‘Specific Learning Difficulty’. No estimates of the number of children with dyslexia within this category have been made.
The table below shows a breakdown of the number of pupils by each primary type of need available for the last five years (as at January each year).
Statements of SEN (and EHC plans from 2015) | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
Specific Learning Difficulty | 10,480 | 10,045 | 9,665 | 8,938 | 8,390 |
Moderate Learning Difficulty | 33,455 | 32,410 | 31,155 | 29,650 | 28,564 |
Severe Learning Difficulty | 27,540 | 28,330 | 28,940 | 29,001 | 29,120 |
Profound & Multiple Learning Difficulty | 9,715 | 9,810 | 10,010 | 9,955 | 10,010 |
Behaviour, Emotional & Social Difficulties | 29,960 | 30,035 |
|
| |
Social, Emotional and Mental Health |
|
| 28,135 | 27,259 | 28,007 |
Speech, Language and Communications Needs | 29,565 | 30,035 | 30,880 | 30,942 | 32,292 |
Hearing Impairment | 6,285 | 6,180 | 6,100 | 5,937 | 5,985 |
Visual Impairment | 3,540 | 3,490 | 3,450 | 3,330 | 3,239 |
Multi- Sensory Impairment | 525 | 550 | 610 | 631 | 686 |
Physical Disability | 13,345 | 13,080 | 13,025 | 12,873 | 12,742 |
Autistic Spectrum Disorder | 47,225 | 49,975 | 54,245 | 57,211 | 60,832 |
Other Difficulty/Disability | 4,395 | 4,540 | 5,150 | 5,228 | 5,727 |
SEN Support but no specialist assessment |
|
| 285 | 268 | 359 |
Total | 216,030 | 218,475 | 221,650 | 221,223 | 225,953 |
Note: The figures provided have been rounded in line with their presentation in the statistics publication 'Special educational needs in England'. Figures are rounded to the nearest five for year 2013 to 2015. No rounding is applied for 2016 onwards.
Source: School Census
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparative estimate he has made of the number of school children with Autism who were subject to (a) education, health and care plans and (b) statements under the previous SEN and learning difficulties assessments in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
We publish the number and proportion of pupils with special educational needs (SEN), including the type of need in the annual ‘Special educational needs in England’ statistical release. This is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen.
SEN pupils are recorded according to their primary type of need. The current types of need do not include a specific breakdown for autism alone. These cases are expected to be recorded under ‘Autistic Spectrum Disorder’. No estimates of the number of children with autism within this category have been made.
The current types of need do not include a specific breakdown for dyslexia alone. These cases are expected to be recorded under ‘Specific Learning Difficulty’. No estimates of the number of children with dyslexia within this category have been made.
The table below shows a breakdown of the number of pupils by each primary type of need available for the last five years (as at January each year).
Statements of SEN (and EHC plans from 2015) | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
Specific Learning Difficulty | 10,480 | 10,045 | 9,665 | 8,938 | 8,390 |
Moderate Learning Difficulty | 33,455 | 32,410 | 31,155 | 29,650 | 28,564 |
Severe Learning Difficulty | 27,540 | 28,330 | 28,940 | 29,001 | 29,120 |
Profound & Multiple Learning Difficulty | 9,715 | 9,810 | 10,010 | 9,955 | 10,010 |
Behaviour, Emotional & Social Difficulties | 29,960 | 30,035 |
|
| |
Social, Emotional and Mental Health |
|
| 28,135 | 27,259 | 28,007 |
Speech, Language and Communications Needs | 29,565 | 30,035 | 30,880 | 30,942 | 32,292 |
Hearing Impairment | 6,285 | 6,180 | 6,100 | 5,937 | 5,985 |
Visual Impairment | 3,540 | 3,490 | 3,450 | 3,330 | 3,239 |
Multi- Sensory Impairment | 525 | 550 | 610 | 631 | 686 |
Physical Disability | 13,345 | 13,080 | 13,025 | 12,873 | 12,742 |
Autistic Spectrum Disorder | 47,225 | 49,975 | 54,245 | 57,211 | 60,832 |
Other Difficulty/Disability | 4,395 | 4,540 | 5,150 | 5,228 | 5,727 |
SEN Support but no specialist assessment |
|
| 285 | 268 | 359 |
Total | 216,030 | 218,475 | 221,650 | 221,223 | 225,953 |
Note: The figures provided have been rounded in line with their presentation in the statistics publication 'Special educational needs in England'. Figures are rounded to the nearest five for year 2013 to 2015. No rounding is applied for 2016 onwards.
Source: School Census
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many child defendants with (a) speech and language difficulties (b) cognitive difficulties and (c) other vulnerabilities have been produced in court by video link in each year since 2010.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
While data on usage of video link is collected centrally by HM Courts & Tribunals Service, we are not able to break down this data by age, court appearance type or to identify any specific needs of the child defendant.
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost by examining individual case records.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of how many and what proportion of young offenders in young offenders institutes have speech, language and communications difficulties; what proportion of such offenders are receiving support services; and what proportion of those not receiving such support services are in a waiting list to receive them.
Answered by Phillip Lee
There are high numbers of young people with special educational needs including speech, language and communication needs in youth custody.
Data collected to inform the custody placement decision for young people shows that 32% were recorded as having ‘learning disability or difficulty concerns’ between April 2014 and March 2016.
Both health and education partners fulfil key roles in meeting the needs of young people with speech language and communication needs but we do not collect assessment data centrally.
NHS England screen and assess every child and young person that enters the secure estate using the Comprehensive Health Assessment Tool (CHAT) that assesses any neurodisabilities. Following this assessment individual care plans for all children and young people are put in place.
Education providers are also required to assess the educational needs of young people and their contracts require them to provide support services for young people with special educational needs or disabilities.
We are committed to strengthening health services and special needs support as part of youth justice reforms. Reforms include implementing the NHS-led Secure Stairs project, an integrated framework of care for the Secure Estate for Children and Young People and investing in Enhanced Support Units, smaller units to provide specialist interventions, mental health and psychological support, in under-18 YOIs.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support his Department provides to women who are (a) expecting and (b) have given birth to a baby with Down's syndrome.
Answered by Philip Dunne
If testing during pregnancy indicates the baby will be born with Down's syndrome, the parents should be offered genetic counselling to allow them to discuss the impact of the diagnosis. They may also be offered an appointment to meet a doctor or other health professional who works with children with Down's syndrome, who can also tell them more about the condition and answer any questions they may have. This may include information on the support available.
We know around 750 babies a year are born with Down’s syndrome. For many this will involve an early intervention programme, which is a special programme that aims to help a child with learning disabilities develop, as well as provide support to the family, from health visitors and midwives.
An early intervention programme can include:
- speech and language therapy – to help with any problems communicating or feeding;
- physiotherapy – to help with any muscle weakness or movement difficulties; and
- individual home teaching programmes.
Related health conditions, such as heart disorders, and thyroid conditions, are supported by paediatric services and other secondary care.
More detailed information for parents is also available from NHS Choices.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to improve the apprenticeship completion rate of disabled young people.
Answered by Nick Boles
Ensuring that apprentices have transferable skills and can progress their career will all help encourage people to complete their apprenticeship.
We encourage the use of a range of available reasonable adjustments so during their learning and at assessment, apprentices with disabilities can demonstrate what they know and can do. Reasonable adjustments include access arrangements such as extra time, use of speech recognition technology, a reader, a sign language interpreter, modified papers (braille, enlarged text).
A Taskforce, led by my hon Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys (Paul Maynard), has been asked to look at issues around apprenticeships for people with learning difficulties. The Taskforce is currently considering its recommendations.
Our far-reaching reforms will further improve the quality of apprenticeships and ensure delivery of the high quality relevant training expected by both employers and apprentices.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to monitor the effectiveness of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency toolkit on the risks of valproate medicines in female patients in ensuring that female patients are better informed about the risks of taking valproate medicines during pregnancy.
Answered by George Freeman
Valproate is an effective treatment for epilepsy and bipolar disorder but should only be used in girls and women of childbearing potential if other treatments are ineffective or not tolerated. For some women there may be no other treatment option. Since it was authorised, valproate was known to have risks in pregnancy. Because of ongoing concerns about women’s awareness of the risks, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has worked with professional bodies, voluntary organisations and patient groups to develop a set of materials to aid communication between health professionals and women and girls.
The valproate toolkit comprises booklets for healthcare professionals, a reminder card and a guide for women, a checklist for prescribers and clear package labelling carrying a prominent warning about use in pregnancy. It was widely disseminated on 8 February 2016 through a Central Alerting System (a web based cascade system for issuing alerts to the National Health Service) and the MHRA’s Drug Safety Update bulletin. Electronic copies of the toolkit are hosted on several websites including the Electronic Medicines Compendium. Letters and hard copies of the toolkit were sent by the marketing authorisation holder directly to general practitioners (GPs), pharmacists and relevant specialists. This included 400,000 patient cards, 81,000 patient guides and 22,000 healthcare professional booklets.
In order to monitor the effectiveness of the valproate toolkit, the MHRA has sought feedback from all stakeholders and will continue to work with the Royal Colleges, professional bodies including the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, patient groups and relevant charities to increase awareness of the toolkit among GPs, pharmacists and patients.This work will include exploring how clinical commissioning groups can help ensure the toolkit materials are being used.
So far, the MHRA has worked with voluntary organisations and patient groups to produce online patient surveys to measure awareness of the risks among patients. Furthermore, MHRA is conducting a study using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink to track changes in prescribing of valproate to women and girls following the communications to healthcare professionals and patients on the risks of valproate in pregnancy. The marketing authorisation holder is conducting Europe-wide studies to measure the changes in patterns of prescribing and awareness of the healthcare professionals of the risks. The available data will be brought together in a regularly updated dashboard that will be used to track the impact of the communications on patient and professional awareness over time.
The Government has great sympathy for those families who have been affected by the use of valproate in pregnancy. There is support available for families with children born with a disability. For many people this will involve an early intervention programme from health visitors and midwives, to help a child develop, as well as provide support to the family. This might include: speech and language therapy – to help with any problems communicating or feeding; physiotherapy – to help with any muscle weakness or movement difficulties, and individual home teaching programmes.
Where a child has a special educational need the local authority must make support available to ensure the child had access to the same educational opportunities as a child without such a need. The Children and Families Act 2014 introduced a new statutory framework for local authorities and to work together to secure services for children and young people – up to the age of 25 – who have special educational needs or disability, across education, health and social care.
The MHRA’s current priority is to work to ensure that women taking valproate are fully aware of the risks in pregnancy. Once this is achieved we will look into the history of the episode and see what lessons have been or could be usefully learnt by examining events.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) clinical commissioning groups and (b) pharmacists are made aware of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency toolkit on the risks of valproate medicines in female patients.
Answered by George Freeman
Valproate is an effective treatment for epilepsy and bipolar disorder but should only be used in girls and women of childbearing potential if other treatments are ineffective or not tolerated. For some women there may be no other treatment option. Since it was authorised, valproate was known to have risks in pregnancy. Because of ongoing concerns about women’s awareness of the risks, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has worked with professional bodies, voluntary organisations and patient groups to develop a set of materials to aid communication between health professionals and women and girls.
The valproate toolkit comprises booklets for healthcare professionals, a reminder card and a guide for women, a checklist for prescribers and clear package labelling carrying a prominent warning about use in pregnancy. It was widely disseminated on 8 February 2016 through a Central Alerting System (a web based cascade system for issuing alerts to the National Health Service) and the MHRA’s Drug Safety Update bulletin. Electronic copies of the toolkit are hosted on several websites including the Electronic Medicines Compendium. Letters and hard copies of the toolkit were sent by the marketing authorisation holder directly to general practitioners (GPs), pharmacists and relevant specialists. This included 400,000 patient cards, 81,000 patient guides and 22,000 healthcare professional booklets.
In order to monitor the effectiveness of the valproate toolkit, the MHRA has sought feedback from all stakeholders and will continue to work with the Royal Colleges, professional bodies including the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, patient groups and relevant charities to increase awareness of the toolkit among GPs, pharmacists and patients.This work will include exploring how clinical commissioning groups can help ensure the toolkit materials are being used.
So far, the MHRA has worked with voluntary organisations and patient groups to produce online patient surveys to measure awareness of the risks among patients. Furthermore, MHRA is conducting a study using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink to track changes in prescribing of valproate to women and girls following the communications to healthcare professionals and patients on the risks of valproate in pregnancy. The marketing authorisation holder is conducting Europe-wide studies to measure the changes in patterns of prescribing and awareness of the healthcare professionals of the risks. The available data will be brought together in a regularly updated dashboard that will be used to track the impact of the communications on patient and professional awareness over time.
The Government has great sympathy for those families who have been affected by the use of valproate in pregnancy. There is support available for families with children born with a disability. For many people this will involve an early intervention programme from health visitors and midwives, to help a child develop, as well as provide support to the family. This might include: speech and language therapy – to help with any problems communicating or feeding; physiotherapy – to help with any muscle weakness or movement difficulties, and individual home teaching programmes.
Where a child has a special educational need the local authority must make support available to ensure the child had access to the same educational opportunities as a child without such a need. The Children and Families Act 2014 introduced a new statutory framework for local authorities and to work together to secure services for children and young people – up to the age of 25 – who have special educational needs or disability, across education, health and social care.
The MHRA’s current priority is to work to ensure that women taking valproate are fully aware of the risks in pregnancy. Once this is achieved we will look into the history of the episode and see what lessons have been or could be usefully learnt by examining events.
Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will conduct an investigation into historical cases of birth defects caused by sodium valproate and the support now required by the families affected.
Answered by George Freeman
Valproate is an effective treatment for epilepsy and bipolar disorder but should only be used in girls and women of childbearing potential if other treatments are ineffective or not tolerated. For some women there may be no other treatment option. Since it was authorised, valproate was known to have risks in pregnancy. Because of ongoing concerns about women’s awareness of the risks, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has worked with professional bodies, voluntary organisations and patient groups to develop a set of materials to aid communication between health professionals and women and girls.
The valproate toolkit comprises booklets for healthcare professionals, a reminder card and a guide for women, a checklist for prescribers and clear package labelling carrying a prominent warning about use in pregnancy. It was widely disseminated on 8 February 2016 through a Central Alerting System (a web based cascade system for issuing alerts to the National Health Service) and the MHRA’s Drug Safety Update bulletin. Electronic copies of the toolkit are hosted on several websites including the Electronic Medicines Compendium. Letters and hard copies of the toolkit were sent by the marketing authorisation holder directly to general practitioners (GPs), pharmacists and relevant specialists. This included 400,000 patient cards, 81,000 patient guides and 22,000 healthcare professional booklets.
In order to monitor the effectiveness of the valproate toolkit, the MHRA has sought feedback from all stakeholders and will continue to work with the Royal Colleges, professional bodies including the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, patient groups and relevant charities to increase awareness of the toolkit among GPs, pharmacists and patients.This work will include exploring how clinical commissioning groups can help ensure the toolkit materials are being used.
So far, the MHRA has worked with voluntary organisations and patient groups to produce online patient surveys to measure awareness of the risks among patients. Furthermore, MHRA is conducting a study using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink to track changes in prescribing of valproate to women and girls following the communications to healthcare professionals and patients on the risks of valproate in pregnancy. The marketing authorisation holder is conducting Europe-wide studies to measure the changes in patterns of prescribing and awareness of the healthcare professionals of the risks. The available data will be brought together in a regularly updated dashboard that will be used to track the impact of the communications on patient and professional awareness over time.
The Government has great sympathy for those families who have been affected by the use of valproate in pregnancy. There is support available for families with children born with a disability. For many people this will involve an early intervention programme from health visitors and midwives, to help a child develop, as well as provide support to the family. This might include: speech and language therapy – to help with any problems communicating or feeding; physiotherapy – to help with any muscle weakness or movement difficulties, and individual home teaching programmes.
Where a child has a special educational need the local authority must make support available to ensure the child had access to the same educational opportunities as a child without such a need. The Children and Families Act 2014 introduced a new statutory framework for local authorities and to work together to secure services for children and young people – up to the age of 25 – who have special educational needs or disability, across education, health and social care.
The MHRA’s current priority is to work to ensure that women taking valproate are fully aware of the risks in pregnancy. Once this is achieved we will look into the history of the episode and see what lessons have been or could be usefully learnt by examining events.
Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what provision is made for people on the high end of the autistic spectrum with speech and language difficulties; or who are non-verbal, in the system for application for UK citizenship; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The Secretary of State may waive the Knowledge of Language and Life in the UK requirement for British citizenship on the basis of a person’s age, physical or mental condition.
A person will normally be exempted from this requirement if they provide evidence from an appropriate medical practitioner that their condition is so severe that it prevents them from being able to learn English or prepare for or sit an English test or the Life in the UK test. Each application is considered on its own merits.
Information cannot be obtained from UKVI data systems to show how many exemption requests were made and granted. This information could only be obtained from looking at individual records at disproportionate cost.