National Deaf Children's Society.

Thank you for contacting me about the National Deaf Children’s Society.

We all want every child to have the best start in life. It is important that young people with disabilities can access the services they need for a good education. Helping children with sensory impairments to reach their potential is a priority. I am encouraged that the Department for Education has provided £2.25 million of funding to a partnership of sensory impairment charities to improve outcomes for children and young people with sensory impairment. The Department for Education also works with charities such as the National Deaf Children's Society to produce resources such as the 'Supporting the achievement of deaf children' pack. This is a comprehensive set of guides on how teachers can support children and young people with hearing impairment.

The system for identifying and meeting the needs of all children with special educational needs and disabilities is designed to deliver the right support for all children, so that they can achieve their potential and their education prepares them well for fulfilling adult lives.

Local authorities use the local funding formula to estimate the number of children with special education needs a school is likely to have. They are required to allocate sufficient funds to schools to enable them to meet the additional cost of pupils with SEN, up to £6,000 per pupil per year. If the additional costs required exceed this amount the local authorities can allocate top-up funding from its high needs budget. Local authorities can also allocate additional funding from its high needs budget to schools that have a disproportionate number of SEN children.

I welcome that every local authority will see a minimum increase of 0.5 per cent per head in 2018-19 and 1 per cent per head in 2019-20. Underfunded local authorities will receive up to 3 per cent per head gains a year for the next two years and overall, local authorities will gain 4.6 per cent on average on their high needs budgets.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.