Commons Sense

House of Commons · Westminster Hall

SEND Provision: Hertfordshire and Central Bedfordshire

04 September 2024 · 7 other contributors · 5,285 words

Opened by Alistair Strathern Lab Hitchin

Responding minister: Catherine McKinnell

Children & Families

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

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Alistair Strathern raised concerns about send provision: hertfordshire and central bedfordshire in Westminster Hall. A government minister responded.

Key points

  • The system for special educational needs and disability provision in Hertfordshire and Central Bedfordshire is failing young people due to long wait times for assessments and placements.
  • Parents are incurring significant financial costs and fighting the appeals process to secure necessary support for their children.
  • The Government is urged to improve funding and address workforce shortages in near-London rural areas.

Key requests to Government

The Government is urged to improve the funding formula to match local needs better, especially in rural areas. The Minister should also address workforce shortages by creating a national strategy with consideration for near-London authorities' challenges. Furthermore, there is a need to reform the appeals system and ensure mediation is used exhaustively before cases reach this stage.

How the debate unfolded

MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said.

Opened the debate

Alistair Strathern Lab Hitchin

The system for special educational needs and disability provision in Hertfordshire and Central Bedfordshire is failing young people, with long wait times for assessments, school placements, and necessary support. Parents are forced to fight the appeals process and often incur significant financial costs, while teachers struggle to meet students' needs without adequate resources. The hon. Member highlighted personal stories of families and children affected by these issues, such as James who was out of school for years waiting for a place and Alice whose mental health deteriorated due to lack of support.

Other contributors (7)
  • Andrew Lewin Lab Welwyn Hatfield

    When discussing SEND provision with families in Hertfordshire, people describe their experience as a fight or battle, spending months or years pushing the system to secure support and care for their children at significant personal and financial cost.

  • Blake Stephenson Con Mid Bedfordshire

    Supports cross-party working to move forward on solving challenges for children with special needs and expresses willingness to work together.

  • Daisy Cooper Lib Dem St Albans

    Thanks the hon. Member for securing the debate and notes recent progress since a damning Ofsted report but criticises previous Conservative refusals to invest in SEND services. The hon. Member for St Albans highlighted the need for local partnerships to be held accountable regardless of national contexts, emphasising that complacency in performance is unacceptable.

  • David Taylor Lab Hemel Hempstead

    Shares a story of Jane, whose son has not received an academic education for six years due to the local authority's refusal to provide necessary support.

  • Jim Shannon DUP Strangford

    Commends securing the debate and highlights that without more trained staff, facilities, and funding, not only SEND children but everyone in classrooms will struggle. Suggests long-term funding is needed for all. The hon. Member from Strangford pointed out that every day a child lacks the support they need to thrive at school is a day's potential wasted, stressing the collective responsibility for addressing this issue.

  • Kevin Bonavia Lab Stevenage

    Kevin Bonavia highlighted several harrowing stories of constituents struggling with the SEND diagnosis and EHCP process in Hertfordshire. He mentioned a constituent undiagnosed for over two decades, a councillor's son on a long waiting list for an appropriate SEN school, and a mother whose child was excluded before completing his EHCP application and left without formal education for five years due to lack of funding support.

  • Lewis Cocking Con Broxbourne

    Declares interest as Hertfordshire county councillor and highlights the need for increased funding, especially in workforce capacity issues. Emphasises personal connection to the topic due to siblings with special educational needs.

Government Response

Catherine McKinnell

It is a pleasure to serve under you as Chair, Dr Huq. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin (Alistair Strathern) on securing this debate on an incredibly important subject. His excellent speech set out in great detail the challenges that far too many face in his local area. More than 1.6 million children and young people in England have special educational needs, with confidence in the SEND system being low, tribunal rates increasing, and long waits for support. Just one in four pupils achieved the expected standard at the end of primary school. Effective early identification and intervention can reduce the impact that a special educational need or disability may have in the long term. The Government announced in July that funding for the 11,100 schools registered for the Nuffield early language intervention programme will continue for the year 2024-25. Before the parliamentary recess, we also announced a new core schools budget grant providing special and alternative provision schools with over £140 million of extra funding in the 6th financial year to help with the extra costs of the teachers' pay award and support staff negotiations. Department for Education budgets have not yet been set for 2025-26, but we are listening to the challenges being set out today and working across Government to announce next year's allocations as soon as possible. Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission inspections in November 2019 and July 2023 found significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children with special educational needs and disabilities. The Department continues to monitor these issues and work alongside NHS England advisers, meeting every six months with local leaders and representatives from schools and colleges. I am keen to write to my hon. Friend with more details of the ongoing work in order to reassure him that many of the issues he raised are being tackled.

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