There is nothing more important than ensuring that everyone in our country, regardless of need, gets the very best education possible. Our special educational needs and alternative provision improvement plan will ensure that all children get the support they need to reach their potential. We have opened 108 special free schools, including 15 since September, and launched a £70 million change programme to test and refine our systemic reforms, benefiting every region in England.

I would agree that there has been an absolute increase in special educational needs in the past five, six or seven years, largely because we know more, but also because covid has added some pressure on the system. We have expanded the system and want to ensure that all children with special educational needs get the help they need. We have an improvement plan in place which was published in March 2023.

We have been trying to increase the number of places within both mainstream and special educational needs and alternative provision settings. We have 108 more special educational needs schools already built and 76 more approved. We have worked with many local authorities, including in rural areas, to make sure they get the provision they need.

The high-needs budget is up by over 60% in the past four years, reaching £10.5 billion in 2024-25. We support local authorities with financial deficits through the safety valve and delivering better-value programmes.

Our plan to introduce national consistency and standards will be published in 2025. We will deliver it through local partnerships, digitise records for transparency, improve early language support, work with integrated care boards to support neurodiversity in schools.

Early identification is key, and we have many schemes to ensure local authorities have financing to improve the number of places in mainstream schools and special educational needs schools.

We have put £2.6 billion into increasing the number of places and launched a £70 million change programme to ensure the improvement plan goes from paper to implementation on the ground.

We are implementing high-quality teacher training reforms. A review of initial teacher training core content framework and early career framework will identify how to equip new teachers with skills. There will be more investment, including another 400 educational psychologists and 7,000 SENCOs.

There is a golden thread of high-quality teacher training reforms, including revised framework working with providers. The additional 7,000 SENCOs will be trained in the coming years.

There are 2,408 independent schools providing support for children with special educational needs. Increased taxation would make provision more difficult.

Initial teacher training must equip trainees with understanding of pupils' needs, including those with autism. A new standard on autism is being developed through an improvement plan.