CONSERVATIVE
New Forest East

EDUCATION – SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS & DISABILITIES (SEND) DIAGNOSIS - 06 March 2023

EDUCATION – SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS & DISABILITIES (SEND) DIAGNOSIS - 06 March 2023

Sir Julian Lewis: How closely is the Department for Education working with the Department of Health and Social Care? In Westminster Hall on 6 February, as my hon. Friend may be aware, there was a very constructive debate about ADHD at which it emerged that a bottleneck is being caused by a lack of psychiatrists to make the initial diagnosis. Will she say a little more about the resources that may be made available on the health side for her educational project?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Claire Coutinho): We are working so closely with the health Department that it has jointly published the report with us. We will also be working with it on a joint steering group. My right hon. Friend is absolutely right about diagnosis, which is why we are increasing the number of educational psychologists in the system. I know that the health Department takes the matter seriously, including by looking at what can be done to improve autism diagnostic pathways.

On Thursday, we published the “Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan” jointly with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.]