Oral QuestionDepartment of Health and Social Care

What steps his Department is taking with Cabinet colleagues to increase access to assessments for Special Educational Needs.

Tabled: 5 February 2025Answered: 11 February 2025

Asked by

Charlotte Cane

Liberal DemocratEly and East Cambridgeshire

Answering Minister

the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Answer from Hansard

The Minister for Care (Stephen Kinnock)

Children and young people with special educational needs are waiting too long for the NHS services that they need, in large part because local authorities have been hollowed out by 14 years of austerity. We are supporting earlier intervention through the partnerships for inclusion of neurodiversity in schools—PINS—programme, which is backed by £13 million of funding. NHS England has also launched a taskforce to look at how support can be improved for people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. We look forward to its report later this year.