PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Special Educational Needs: Coronavirus (6 September 2021)

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps his Department has taken to ensure that children with special educational needs and disabilities (a) recover their lost learning and (b) are in receipt of adequate (i) wellbeing, (ii) development and (iii) education services in response to the covid-19 outbreak.

Asked by:
Feryal Clark (Labour)

We are committed to helping all pupils, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in all education settings, make up education lost as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. We recognise that extended school and college restrictions have had a substantial impact on children and young people’s learning, health and wellbeing, particularly for those with SEND. We are committed to supporting them and their families.

Since June 2020, we have announced more than £3 billion to support education recovery in schools, 16-19 providers, and early years settings, and this will have a material impact in closing gaps that have emerged.

We have consistently prioritised children who attend specialist settings by providing additional uplifts both in the Catch-up Premium in the 2020/21 academic year and now the Recovery Premium in the 2021/22 academic year, in recognition of the significantly higher per pupil costs they face. In mainstream settings, school leaders are able to target these initiatives to vulnerable children and are able to use the Recovery Premium to meet wider non-academic needs. Funding announced for school-led tutoring will also provide greater flexibility to schools and we anticipate that this will especially benefit children and young people with SEND in all settings, where tutors familiar to these children can support them to realise the benefits of tuition. Specialist settings were given an uplift to deliver summer schools, at 3 times the normal rate.

The government is committed to an ambitious, long-term education recovery plan. The next stage will include a review of time spent in school and 16-19 education and the impact this could have on children and young people’s attainment and wellbeing. The findings of the review will inform the Spending Review. We will continue to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on education and consider what more needs to be done to help children and young people, including those with SEND, catch up.

In addition to summer schools this year, a broader programme of summer enrichment activities, including the Holiday Activities and Food programme, ran to support children and young people, and their families.

For pupils and students with SEND in mainstream settings we are investing over £42 million in 2021/22 to continue funding projects that support them.

Answered by:
Vicky Ford (Conservative)
14 September 2021