In Parliament, Munira asked the Equalities Minister how the Government plan to provide continued access to both care and education for children with disabilities and special educational needs.
For many families during the pandemic, their access to support for their children has stopped. In many cases, there has also been a lack of specific support for their child’s remote learning needs. Munira pressed the point that these children must not be overlooked.
Munira said:
“In the last lockdown, we know that over half of families with disabled children found that their essential care support was stopped, with a third of parents reporting no specific support for their child’s remote learning needs, and that left many families in crisis with no respite.
So what steps are Ministers taking to ensure that both care and access to learning is made a priority for disabled children during this lockdown?”
The Minister replied:
“I thank the Honourable Lady for that.
The pandemic has been extremely challenging for families and children with special educational needs and supporting them is a priority for this Government, and their well-being remains central to our response.
We have our £37.3 million family fund to help over 75,000 low income families raising children, and she’ll note the Children’s Minister and Families Minister is partaking in this session and I’m sure she’ll be keen to update the Honourable Member further.”