School Admissions: Selective Inclusion

Debate between Baroness Smith of Malvern and Lord Isaac

Monday 8th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

I welcome the noble Baroness to her new role, and I am looking forward to working with her. The answer to ensuring that parents have the choice they want and deserve is to enable all schools to be the type of good schools that any of us who have or have had children would want our children to go to. That means ensuring that we have more teachers in our schools, which we are focused on; ensuring that all schools follow a revised national curriculum; and investing properly in them. These are all things that this Government have focused on, and we will continue to do so to ensure that every parent has the choice of a good school for their child.

[Lord Isaac (Lab)]

My Lords, it is excellent to hear the Minister identify that there will be more resources to reduce the barriers for children with SEND. But in the Sutton Trust report there were specific recommendations to increase the number of teaching assistants and to promote a fair access review. Will she give us some reassurance that that is part of what the Government are considering?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

As well as the investment we are putting in, particularly for children with special educational needs and disabilities, we will consult on changes to the School Admissions Code to support fairness for all families, particularly the most disadvantaged. That will include improvements to how fair access protocols are managed by local authorities, requiring schools to give parents more information about decisions on in-year admission and, where they operate, making the operation of banding arrangements clear. Certainly, the first two of those will be very important for supporting parents in thinking about children with special educational needs and disabilities, and enabling them to get into the good schools that they would choose for them.