PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
SEND Provision - 23 October 2023 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

In March, we published our improvement plan to transform support for children with special educational needs, and last month we launched nine regional change programme partnerships to drive reform. By 2024-25, we will have increased high needs funding by 60% since 2019-20, and we have approved the opening of 78 special free schools.

Local authorities have spent nearly a quarter of a billion pounds fighting parents at SEND tribunals since 2014, yet they have a failure rate of over 90%. What steps is the Department taking to overhaul that process, which has caused SEND parents in Northampton South unnecessary distress?

My hon. Friend is right to say that tribunals are costly and stressful, but it is important to say that most education, health and care needs assessments and plans are concluded without a tribunal hearing. We will be introducing new national standards, strengthened mediation and greater system-wide accountability to give families the support they need earlier and reduce the number of tribunals.

I was one of 31 MPs from across the Chamber who signed the f40 letter to my right hon. Friend the Chancellor urging significant investment in SEN. Will my hon. Friend, behind the scenes at least, endorse that campaign and also look at how we can reduce the reliance on education, health and care plans, which are a barrier to so many young people getting the education they need?

It is probably worth saying that I am an f40 MP myself, and I met the group just last week to hear its concerns. On my hon. Friend’s point about EHCPs, through the reform plan we are working to get parents the support they need for their child at an earlier stage so that they do not always need an EHCP to get that support.

There is a crisis in funding for SEND in Walsall South. In Old Church Primary, 78 pupils have special needs, which is 19% of the school total. How can the Minister target the funding to the schools that really need it? Does he agree that when Ofsted inspects, it should take into account children with special needs in schools such as Old Church so that these are mitigating factors?

The right hon. Lady makes an important point about the role of Ofsted and ensuring that it assesses that provision. It is worth saying that there will have been a 36% per-head increase in Walsall between 2021-22 and 2024-25, but I would be happy to meet her to discuss the issue further.

Thanks to Government support, local Conservatives in the London Borough of Bexley have secured an incredible £39.5 million to expand and improve SEND provision in our borough. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is vital that local authorities, charities, schools and families work closely together to maximise the educational impact of this Government-backed funding?

My hon. Friend makes an important point, and I pay tribute to his campaigning on this issue and to the work of Bexley council. It is absolutely the case that people should be engaging not just with schools and families but with local charities, which are often best placed to understand the needs of families and their children.

Families in Selby and Ainsty have been waiting nearly half a decade for spades in the ground at a new SEND school for the Selby area. Will the Minister meet me to ensure that there are no further delays to this vital project?

The hon. Gentleman and I have exchanged letters about this matter. We remain absolutely committed to the school and I would be happy to meet him to discuss it further.

The SEND crisis extends to Devon, and my postbag is full of correspondence from parents trying to get their children the educational provision they need. It has got so bad that in some cases children are being taught in school cupboards, and Devon has appointed a SEND champion to its cabinet. What steps is the Department taking to help boost SEND services in rural areas such as mine?

There has been a 30% increase in the per-head funding to schools in Devon for their special educational needs provision, and the whole thrust of our reform plan is to make the system work better for parents and families and get the support for their children at the stage when they need it.[Official Report, 25 October 2023, Vol. 738, c. 6MC.]

We now come to the shadow Minister.

“Lose, lose, lose”, costing a “fortune” and not providing “the right service”. Those are not my words but those of the Secretary of State describing the SEND system over which her Government have been presiding for the last 13 years. Will the Minister tell the House when he expects the plans that the Government have announced for SEND to make a difference to the long waiting times and lack of support experienced by so many families across the country?

We have already begun the reform programme and have just launched the nine change partnerships, which are already starting to make a difference to the provision. I would just say to the hon. Lady that this is yet another area where the Labour party has absolutely no policies whatsoever.[Official Report, 25 October 2023, Vol. 738, c. 7MC.]