I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Washington and Gateshead South on 14 October 2024 to Question 5963.

NHS Audiology services, including support for non-hearing children, are locally commissioned, and the responsibility for meeting the needs of non-hearing children lies with local National Health Service commissioners.

NHS England is supporting the integrated care boards (ICBs) to make informed decisions about the provision of audiology services so that they can provide consistent, high quality, and integrated care to non-hearing children. In 2019, NHS England, with input from the National Deaf Children’s Society, produced a guide for commissioners and health and local authority providers which supports non-hearing children and young people, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/what-works-chswg-guide.pdf

The Department recognises the need to improve access to therapies generally. Since September 2020, all eligible allied health profession students have received a non-repayable training grant of a minimum of £5,000 per academic year. NHS England and the Department for Education are also working in partnership to co-fund £10 million for nine Early Language Support for Every Child pathfinder sites over two years, starting from September 2023, to provide early identification, targeted, and universal support for children with speech, language, and communication needs in both early years and primary school settings, and more timely referrals for specialist support if required.

NHS England met with Auditory Verbal UK (AVUK) last year and discussed the need for more higher-level research evidence for the intervention and to develop evaluations of impact. AVUK was also invited to join the Chief Scientific Officer’s Audiology stakeholder group.

NHS Audiology services, including support for non-hearing children, are locally commissioned, and the responsibility for meeting the needs of non-hearing children lies with local National Health Service commissioners.

NHS England is supporting the integrated care boards (ICBs) to make informed decisions about the provision of audiology services so that they can provide consistent, high quality, and integrated care to non-hearing children. In 2019, NHS England, with input from the National Deaf Children’s Society, produced a guide for commissioners and health and local authority providers which supports non-hearing children and young people, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/what-works-chswg-guide.pdf

The Department recognises the need to improve access to therapies generally. Since September 2020, all eligible allied health profession students have received a non-repayable training grant of a minimum of £5,000 per academic year. NHS England and the Department for Education are also working in partnership to co-fund £10 million for nine Early Language Support for Every Child pathfinder sites over two years, starting from September 2023, to provide early identification, targeted, and universal support for children with speech, language, and communication needs in both early years and primary school settings, and more timely referrals for specialist support if required.

NHS England met with Auditory Verbal UK (AVUK) last year and discussed the need for more higher-level research evidence for the intervention and to develop evaluations of impact. AVUK was also invited to join the Chief Scientific Officer’s Audiology stakeholder group.

The Department is currently considering the next steps to improve diagnostic assessments and support for autistic people and people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including autism and ADHD services, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines.

On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to help ICBs and the National Health Service to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people, and adults referred to an autism assessment service. The guidance also sets out what support should be available before an assessment and what support should follow a recent diagnosis of autism. In 2024/25, £4.3 million is available nationally to improve services for autistic children and young people, including autism assessment services.

In respect of ADHD, we are supporting a cross-sector taskforce that NHS England has launched into challenges in ADHD service provision, to help provide a joined-up approach in response to concerns around rising demand.

On 22 November 2023, the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Education, and NHS England launched a joint project, Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools. This project had £13 million of funding to test an innovative delivery model to improve access to specialist support in mainstream primary schools, upskilling those settings to meet a range of neurodiverse needs. The programme is ongoing, with delivery due to be completed by 31 March 2025. The programme is being evaluated, and learning will inform future policy development around how schools support neurodiverse children.