Supporting Children with SEND 2026-03-02
2026-03-02
TAGS
Response quality
Questions & Answers
Q1
Direct Answer
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Context
The effectiveness of the system for supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities is under scrutiny due to ongoing concerns from families, teachers, and professionals.
What recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the system for supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities. Families, teachers, and professionals are concerned that the system has failed to meet children's needs and has a profound impact on their education and wellbeing.
The Secretary of State for Education has set out ambitious SEND reforms to ensure the system works better for families and children across England. Ofsted is now focused on inclusion and will conduct inspections for multi-academy trusts. The Government wants to hear from young people, parents, teachers, and all those who support them through a consultation.
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Q2
Direct Answer
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Secondary school students with special educational needs face challenges with academy trusts that fail to prioritise inclusion properly.
Secondary school students with special educational needs have told me of their struggles with academy trusts in south Reading and Shinfield that have failed to properly prioritise inclusion. Will the Minister set out how the schools White Paper will address that on the part of multi-academy trusts? Will she consider visiting Hartland high school and Oakbank school in my constituency to see the progress they have made on that front?
Accountability is a key part of the reforms, with Ofsted now focused on inclusion and conducting inspections for multi-academy trusts. The Minister is open to visiting local academies to see best practice and is committed to ensuring that resource and accountability are in place to ensure inclusion everywhere.
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Q3
Direct Answer
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Devon county council's SEND debts have been effectively written off, and there is a need to ensure that schools have the flexibility to support children with special educational needs across different parts of the country.
I thank the Minister for the Government's decision to effectively write off about 90% of Devon county council's SEND debts. Will the Minister tell us how the new school curriculum will give schools the flexibility they need to support children with special educational needs across very different parts of the country, including rural areas such as North Devon?
The Government's curriculum and assessment review sets out a modern curriculum with a breadth of learning and enrichment for young people, but it is important to have the right adaptations and flexibilities to meet children's needs. The Government will ensure that the curriculum meets children's needs and provides the right support everywhere in the country.
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Q4
Direct Answer
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There are concerns about the off-rolling of children with special educational needs and disabilities in the Camborne, Redruth and Hayle constituency.
As the Secretary of State knows, there is much concern in my Camborne, Redruth and Hayle constituency about the off-rolling of children with SEND. Will the Minister elaborate on the reforms in the schools White Paper to ensure that mainstream secondary multi-academy trust exclusions will be measured, and that schools will be incentivised to provide the effective SEND provision that all our children deserve?
Every school has to support children with special educational needs and disabilities. Every teacher has to be trained to be a SEND teacher, and every secondary school will be expected to have an inclusion base. The Department for Education will closely monitor pupil flow, including off-rolling, to ensure that no child falls through the cracks.
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Q5
Direct Answer
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Schools face pressures due to spiralling costs and teacher shortages, and there are concerns about the additional responsibilities placed on schools to create individual support plans for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
I spend a lot of time visiting schools in my constituency and speaking to the hard-working headteachers about the pressures they are under due to spiralling costs and teacher shortages. With the Government's proposed reforms placing an additional responsibility on schools to create individual support plans, alongside an ambition for more children's needs to be met within mainstream schools, how will the Minister ensure that schools do not have to make sacrifices that harm the education of every child?
The Government is investing in a new national digital individual support plan and is putting £4 billion into schools and the services that support them to make individual support plans for every student a reality. This will ensure that children are thriving and that every school has the necessary support.
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Q6
Direct Answer
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The Secretary of State failed to answer a specific question about SEND funding during a statement, and the questioner seeks clarification on whether the £4 billion for SEND announced last week is actually from within the Department's existing spending review settlement.
Last week, I asked the Secretary of State a specific question about SEND funding during her statement, which she failed to answer, so I will try again with the Minister today. The £4 billion for SEND announced last week, to be paid over three years, which the Secretary of State described as “new money”, is actually from within the Department's existing spending review settlement, isn't it?
Yes, the £4 billion for SEND is from within the Department's existing spending review settlement. It is a priority that the Government takes very seriously, and it has been managed to get new investment to support children with special educational needs and disabilities.
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Q7
Partial Answer
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Families with special educational needs feel that their voices are often ignored, leading to mistrust and sometimes tragic outcomes. There is concern that the government's proposals will weaken the tribunals' ability to direct specific provision in a child's best interest, potentially leading to endless disputes with local authorities.
Trust among families with special educational needs is at rock bottom. Their voices have often been ignored—sometimes with tragic consequences—so while many are open to reform, there is real concern that under the Government's proposals tribunals will lose the ability to direct specific provision in a child's best interest, with the risk that families will be trapped in an endless doom loop of dispute with local authorities. If Ministers are serious about tackling that adversarial nature, will the Minister confirm how she will prevent it and protect children's and parents' rights?
We are committed to the tribunal being a backstop for families. We want a much more collaborative system, but we have heard from families how important that backstop of legal rights is, so the tribunal will be there as a backstop if parents are unhappy with the assessment process or the specialist provision package that they have. When it comes to school placement, hon. Members across the House will know that in many cases, places are being named at special schools that are already full and it is just not safe for them to take those children. Parents will still be able to go to the tribunal, which will be able to quash a decision if it is unhappy, and then the local authority will need to look at it again.
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Assessment & feedback
The answerer did not provide specific details on how the adversarial nature will be prevented or how children's and parents' rights will be protected.
Response accuracy