To ask the Minister of Education to detail any cross-departmental work that takes place during the transition process for young people with a statement of special educational needs leaving school at 19 years of age.

Schools, the Education Authority (EA), Health and Social Care Trusts (HSCT) and career advisors (within the Department for Economy (DfE)) are all involved in planning for a child’s transition from education.

The exchange of information, advice and action in this multidisciplinary environment/forum is aimed to help facilitate the young person’s overall transition as part of the Annual Review of their statement from Year 10 onwards.

As part of the End to End Review of Special Educational Needs (SEN) a Transitions Workstream was jointly led by the Department of Education (DE) and Department of Health (DoH) with representatives from the Department for Communities (DfC), Public Health Agency (PHA) and DfE.

The focus of this workstream was to review current transition planning, identifying challenges and strengths, and opportunities for development of a more effective approach from education into adulthood. The workstream also focussed on enhanced inter-agency working between DE, DoH, DfC and DfE with a focus on enhancing collaboration and providing clarification of roles and responsibilities. In addition to this, a project focused on post-school SEN skills and training provision and legislation was announced by the Minister for the Economy in June 2024. Transition at various stages of a learner’s journey is also contained with the SEN Reform Agenda and work will continue in this space on a cross-departmental basis.