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Written question asked by Chris Coghlan (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 9 October 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 13 October 2026. It was answered by Georgia Gould (Labour) on Monday, 19 October 2026 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Teachers and Experts at Hand: Developmental Language Disorder

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that (a) teachers receive adequate training to identify and support children with Developmental Language Disorder within mainstream classrooms and (b) there are adequate numbers of Experts at Hand to provide essential specialist support and training within schools.

Answer

The department is investing around £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships, including local authorities and Integrated Care Boards, to develop a new Experts at Hand (EaH) offer. Alongside the National Inclusion Standards and a new £200 million special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Continuing Professional Development programme, this will help ensure staff have the knowledge, skills and support needed to identify and respond to speech and language needs, including developmental language disorder.

This will support schools to identify needs earlier and put appropriate support in place, informed by specialist advice, while helping specialist professionals focus their time on children and young people who require more intensive support. This approach builds on evidenced learning of what works from programmes such as Early Language Support for Every Child, which has informed the development of the EaH offer and can be used to inform and strengthen the wider offer.

To support delivery, the department is investing over £40 million in the specialist workforce, including £26 million to train more educational psychologists and £15 million over three years to support more speech and language therapists to work in education settings.

Local areas are responsible for planning and monitoring delivery of their EaH offer, reflecting local need and workforce capacity. The department will continue to monitor data on the growth of the relevant health and education specialist workforces.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
33476
Session
2026-27
Subjects
Teachers Training Developmental language disorder Experts at Hand
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk