Children with SEND: Assessments and Support

Debate between Georgia Gould and Tom Gordon

Monday 15th September 2025 Westminster Hall

[Georgia Gould]

Siouxsie gave me a flag by which to remember young people with speech and language issues. That will be in my office, and I will think about those young people every day in this job. I am grateful to all the organisations and parents who have met me. I am also grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft), who hosted a really powerful roundtable and drop-in earlier so that I could hear from amazing schools that are leading inclusive practice, want to do this work and want to work with the Government.

I ran a council for seven years and spent 14 years in local government. I met so many parents in my own borough and many others who told me the problems with the system, which we have heard about really powerfully today. I met parents who could see that issues were starting early but were not listened to and had to fight for support. I met parents who found that there was no support available until there was a diagnosis. We heard so many stories of the months, and sometimes years, that parents and young people have had to wait. I met parents who found that not only education but wider services, such as playgrounds and youth services, were not set up for their children, or were living in very overcrowded housing and found it difficult to manage their children’s needs. I met parents who could not find local schools that could meet their children’s needs and parents—we heard examples of this today—who had had to give up work to be able to support their children.

I have met children who do not feel comfortable going to school because of their experiences when they were younger; one talked to me earlier about the trauma she had from having to go to a school that was not set up to meet her needs.

[Tom Gordon]

Will the Minister give way?

[Georgia Gould]

I will make some progress as we do not have much time and there were so many different comments.

I have heard from young people who found when applying for college that their EHCP had not been updated since they were very young and colleges said they could not meet their needs. Some of the stories that are hardest to hear are those of people who have had to fight every single year, whose child is now 18, and who can see all the missed opportunities and feel so deeply let down, and of children have lost confidence in the support available.

Too many parents feel they have to arm up for battle when interacting with the system. They do not want to resort to the tribunal, but sometimes feel that is the only way to get support. My hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield (Steve Yemm) said that parents are exhausted. So many parents say that they are exhausted by having to fight and, heartbreakingly, that they feel broken by the system. I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Walthamstow (Ms Creasy), who criticised the comments by the Reform leadership attacking parents who are just fighting for their children to get the support that they need. I know parents will never give up, because they want to support their children.

We cannot start this discussion without acknowledging how many children and families have been badly let down by the system. Many within the system are also struggling: teachers who do not feel like they have the right training or support to meet need in the classroom, as we heard from so many Members today; schools that want more specialist support, such as speech and language therapy, for their children but do not have access to it; and local authorities that did not get the investment they needed to build a local offer and so are paying for expensive private provision far away from communities.