Baroness Massey of Darwen – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Massey of Darwen on 2016-01-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what funding exists to provide early years education for children who cannot attend school because of health needs.

Lord Nash

The Department funds local authorities for high needs provision through the Dedicated Schools Grant. Local authorities have reported that they are planning to spend £11.62 million from this grant on children in their early years and £72.48 million on hospital education. Local authorities are able to allocate some of this funding to children who cannot attend school because of health needs.

We are not able to provide a response with an amount allocated specifically to these children as the needs of children varies amongst different local authorities, and therefore it is right that decision making on allocation of funding for special educational needs and disabilities is made at a local level.