Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

SEND Provision

Monday 9 September 2024 · 14 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 3 Partly answered 9 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Ministerial commitment to listen to and work with families to deliver reform in SEND services.
  • Agreement to share more detail on SEND transport needs based on lived experiences of parents and children.
  • Commitment to consider a fairer funding settlement for SEND provision in specific areas like Hertfordshire.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Joe Morris Lab Hexham
Children & Families
Context

The government's provision of SEND services has been criticised for not working adequately for many children and families.

Question

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the provision of SEND services. Does she commit to listening to and working with families to deliver reform?

Answer from Bridget Phillipson

The Conservatives left a trail of devastation across education. The system is not working for many children and families. I give my personal commitment to hon. Members that the Government will listen to and work with families to deliver reform, improving inclusivity in mainstream schools and ensuring special schools are able to help those with complex needs.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not provide specific details on how or when reforms will be implemented

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Q2 Allison Gardner Lab Stoke-on-Trent South
Children & Families
Context

Issues with SEND transport have been reported, such as a single working mother needing to give up her job because she does not get the necessary transport.

Question

Does the Secretary of State agree that SEND transport needs a service rethink—one centred and built on the lived experience of the parents and children who use that service? Does he agree to share more detail with me if I provide him with some specific examples?

Answer from Bridget Phillipson

My hon. Friend is right to stress the need to listen to children, families and all those working in the system. If she can share some more detail with me, I will happily take a look.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not commit to specific reforms or changes based on lived experiences

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Q3 Kevin Bonavia Lab Stevenage
Education Children & Families
Context

There are many heartbreaking experiences faced by children and young people in Stevenage, with waiting times for SEND services much higher than the national average.

Question

Will the Secretary of State consider a fairer funding settlement for SEND provision in Hertfordshire when she is next able to do so?

Answer from Bridget Phillipson

My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to the significant interest in the Westminster Hall debate and the importance of getting this issue right. I agree that it is important that there is a fair education funding system that directs funding where it is most needed, including looking carefully at changes required, including in Hertfordshire.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not commit to specific changes or timelines for the funding settlement

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Q4 Sadik Al-Hassan Lab North Somerset
Education Children & Families
Context

There is a big workforce challenge in recruiting SEND professionals, affecting schools' ability to deal with education, health and care plans.

Question

What are the Department's plans to help solve the recruitment problem for SEND professionals?

Answer from Bridget Phillipson

There is a big workforce challenge. Making sure that we have specialists in critical areas is crucial. Labour will reinstate the school support staff negotiating body and invest over £21 million this year to train 400 more educational psychologists.

Answered
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Q5 Luke Murphy Lab Basingstoke
Education Children & Families
Context

Families in Basingstoke face obstacles just to have the barest acknowledgement of their child's needs and further hurdles for assessments and support.

Question

Can the Secretary of State offer families in Basingstoke some hope that they can expect better in future?

Answer from Bridget Phillipson

I can give him the commitment. The system left behind was described as “lose-lose-lose”. We are determined to turn that around, which is why we have already restructured the Department for Education with much more focus on support for children with SEND.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not provide specific steps or timeline for improvement

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Q6 Deirdre Costigan Lab Ealing Southall
Children & Families
Context

Families in Ealing Southall have experienced the lack of priority given to speech and language support, leading to difficulties like a young son not being able to communicate pain.

Question

What steps will the Secretary of State take to ensure that children receive the speech and language support they need?

Answer from Bridget Phillipson

My hon. Friend is right to highlight the importance of strong speech and language skills. This Government will roll out early language interventions, including extending the Nuffield early language intervention for this academic year.

Answered
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Q7 Joe Morris Lab Hexham
Education Children & Families
Context

People in Hexham face significant challenges in enabling their children to access the support they need and are entitled to.

Question

Will the Secretary of State or one of her Ministers meet with me to discuss the challenges of accessing SEND education in such a rural constituency?

Answer from Bridget Phillipson

I would be more than happy to meet with him—or my hon. Friend the Minister for School Standards will meet with him—to discuss this important concern.

Answered
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Q8 Graham Stuart Con Beverley and Holderness
Children & Families
Context

The East Riding has the lowest high-needs block allocation of any local authority in England, leading to concerns about fair funding distribution.

Question

I thank the Secretary of State for her answer, and for her personal commitment to creating a fairer funding system for children with special educational needs. In that light, she will forgive me if I mention that the East Riding has the lowest high-needs block allocation of any local authority in England. So many people have been genuinely committed to a fairer system in the past. Will the Secretary of State set out how she will achieve that? It is easy to support it in principle, but it is very hard to find a way of delivering it in practice.

Answer from Bridget Phillipson

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his question, and will make sure that officials engage with him on that point. If there is anything further he would like to share, I will happily look at it. He is right: this is a difficult area, and we need to make sure we get it right. I am determined to deliver a system where all children and young people have every chance and opportunity.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specific details on achieving fairer funding were not provided; only general commitment was given

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Q9 Richard Tice Reform Boston and Skegness
Economy
Context

Independent schools are facing a capacity crisis due to the Government's VAT policy, affecting children's education options.

Question

What is the Secretary of State going to do about the capacity crisis that is rapidly emerging as tens of thousands of children are being forced out of independent schools by this Government's deeply misguided VAT policy? I have a list of 20 schools in Buckinghamshire with no places whatsoever, and Bristol city council is considering buying places from an independent school to put back in that school, at taxpayers' expense, a child who recently left that school at the parents' expense.

Answer from Bridget Phillipson

We were elected on a manifesto of driving high and rising standards in our state schools. The public back our policy. We think it is right that we prioritise investment in our state schools where the vast majority of our children go to school, including the vast majority of children in the hon. Gentleman's constituency. I suggest that he spends a bit more time thinking about their interests.

Not addressed: The question on VAT policy impact was not directly answered; instead, emphasis was placed on state school investment.

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Q10 John Glen Con Salisbury
Education Children & Families
Context

Many families seek provision ahead of formal assessments in independent schools to meet special educational needs.

Question

I welcome the Secretary of State's commitment to improve the provision of SEND services in schools, but does she recognise that many ordinary, hard-working families make extraordinary efforts to find provision ahead of a formal assessment in independent schools as well? Will she commit to making an assessment of what levels of provision currently exist within the independent sector to satisfy special educational needs, because it will be material to the solution she will need to develop?

Answer from Bridget Phillipson

As the Under-Secretary of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth South (Stephen Morgan), has set out, we will make sure that, where children have an education, health and care plan, the VAT on fees policy change will not affect those children. I recognise the point the right hon. Member makes and I believe that parents have a right to choose where their children go to school, but the vast majority of parents in our country who send their children to state school are also ambitious and aspirational for their children.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specific commitment on conducting an assessment was not provided; only general acknowledgment of parental choice given

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Q11 Helen Morgan Lib Dem North Shropshire
Education Children & Families
Context

Shropshire is facing significant challenges in providing special educational needs support, with a constituent's son having been without full-time education due to lack of placement.

Question

Maria, in my constituency, has a son who was in a specialist placement, and in October last year that school said it could no longer meet his need. Since then, he has not been back in full-time education, while another headteacher keeps telling me that special needs provision in Shropshire is decades behind elsewhere in the country. If the Secretary of State aspires for all children in the country to have their special needs met, how is she going to ensure that happens in places that are struggling so much with funding, such as Shropshire?

Answer from Bridget Phillipson

I recognise the challenge the hon. Lady sets out, and part of it is making sure that our mainstream schools are better able to cater for children with a wide range of needs. I am very sorry to hear about the experience of her constituent, and I am sure my hon. Friend the Minister for School Standards will be happy to meet her or to look into that further to see if any action can be taken to support the family.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specific measures for addressing Shropshire's challenges were not detailed; only general commitment given

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Q12 Luke Evans Con Hinckley and Bosworth
Children & Families
Context

Leicestershire is one of the trailblazers for new methods to improve special educational needs services, with some progress seen.

Question

In Leicestershire, special educational needs has been a real problem that I have seen in my constituency. The last Government made it one of the trailblazers to come together and trial some of the new things that could be done in special educational needs, and we started to see some progress in that. Will the Secretary of State meet me and the other Leicestershire MPs to discuss how we can take that forward, so we can get better provision for Hinckley and Bosworth and for Leicestershire?

Answer from Bridget Phillipson

The hon. Gentleman is right to draw attention to any emerging evidence that shows new ways of doing things. As a new Government, we are keen to do precisely what he describes to make sure, particularly when it comes to a better join-up between health and education, that we see faster improvement. I would be happy to meet him and Leicestershire colleagues, although my hon. Friend the Minister might be able to step in.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Commitment to meeting was vague; specific actions or timeline not provided

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Q13 Josh Babarinde Lib Dem Eastbourne
Education Children & Families
Context

Parents in Eastbourne face difficulties in securing appropriate education placements for their children with special educational needs.

Question

Too many Eastbourne parents, my mum included, are forced to relentlessly fight to get their children into the school that can best meet their children's special educational needs. That is so often down to a lack of funding, so will the Secretary of State commit to meeting Eastbourne families, Eastbourne school leaders and me to hear about the SEND landscape locally, and provide the funding that local children with special educational needs need and deserve?

Answer from Bridget Phillipson

The hon. Member is right in his characterisation of a system that is adversarial and where so many parents have to fight to get a good education and support for their children. I would be happy to do so, or perhaps my hon. Friend the Minister might take that meeting.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Commitment to meeting was vague; specific funding details not provided

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Q14 James Wild Con North West Norfolk
Children & Families
Context

The statutory override protecting local authorities from SEND-related budget deficits is set to expire in 2026, raising concerns about future funding stability.

Question

It was in response to growing demand that the last Conservative Government increased the high-needs budget to £10.5 billion and put in place a statutory override so that SEND-related deficits did not overwhelm council budgets. With that set to expire in 2026, what is the Secretary of State's message to local authorities: is she pushing the Chancellor to extend that protection or for deficits to be written off?

Answer from Bridget Phillipson

I am genuinely surprised that the hon. Gentleman thinks that question is a source of strength. It represents significant failure over 14 years that we have ended up in such a desperate position facing our councils. We will of course look closely at all of this but, after 14 years when he will have heard that families have been terribly let down by the last Government, a period of reflection on his part might be in hand.

Not addressed: Specific measures or stance were not provided; criticism of previous government was emphasized instead

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