Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Anne Marie Morris and Nadhim Zahawi

Monday 25th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Anne Marie Morris (Newton Abbot) (Con)]

1. What steps he is taking to ensure that children with special educational needs are able to access support services that are close to home.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Nadhim Zahawi)]

Children and young people should receive the right support to meet their special educational needs. In most cases, that can be provided close to home through the schools and services in their local area. Services must be jointly commissioned, with a published local offer kept under regular review.

[Anne Marie Morris]

Yet 41% of pupils attending special schools in Devon have to travel more than 10 miles to reach their school. How will the Minister support those children in Devon, to ensure that SEN provision is locally available and of a high quality?

[Nadhim Zahawi]

I thank my hon. Friend for her question. If a local authority identifies a shortage of special school places, resulting in a significant number of children with special educational needs and disabilities having to travel a long way, they need to consider creating or expanding specialist provision. We announced £50 million of funding in May this year, and Devon will receive £2.8 million from 2018 to 2021.