Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish the terms of reference of the Department’s SEND Development Group.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Development Group was launched as part of the period of co-creation, which was announced in December 2025. The group is an informal engagement group led by myself, as Minister for Schools, to bring together a wider group of SEND stakeholders.

The group’s objectives are:

• To input into the co-creation process by reviewing the department’s evidence and policy questions in line with SEND principles for reform.

• To provide feedback, policy ideas, and suggestions from a wide range of stakeholders.

• To ensure diverse perspectives, including those of parents, practitioners, campaign organisations, and strategic partners, are considered in SEND policy development.

The group is attended by myself and our expert advisors Dame Christine Lenehan and Tom Rees. External attendees include representatives from the Council for Disabled Children (CDC), the Disabled Children’s Partnership (DCP), the National Network of Parents Carers Forums (NNPCF), the National Association for Special Educational Needs (NASEN), The Difference, Dingley’s Promise, The Athelstan Trust, Let Us Learn Too, The Global Black Maternal Health Institute, Aylsham Learning Federation, and the SEND Sanctuary. The group has recently been expanded to include the following.

SEND representative stakeholders:

• CDC
• NASEN

Local authorities:

• Haringey

Alternative Provision:

• Olive Academies

Early Years:

• Dingley’s Promise

Post-16:

• Heart of Worcestershire College

Individual voices from teacher workforce:

• Athelstan Trust
• Eden Academy Trust
• Aylsham High School

Parent and carer groups:

• DCP
• Let Us Learn Too
• Global Child and Maternal Health
• The Difference
• Changing Realities
• NNPCF
• Parentkind

Departmental advisors such as Christine Lenehan and Andrew O'Neil are also invited to this group, as are representatives from the Independent Panel.

Alongside the Development Group, I have set up the Complex Needs Group to expand stakeholder conversations in the department. This group consists of the following.

Parent voices:

• Parent carer representatives (NNPCF)
• Cause Communications

Departmental SEN advisers:

• Tom Rees
• Christine Lenehan

National disability charities:

• The Children’s Trust
• The SEND Sanctuary
• Ambitious About Autism
• Speak and Language UK
• Sense
• WellChild
• Contact
• Mencap
• Syndrome Association
• Together for Short Lives
• Challenging Behaviour Foundation
• Kids
• CDC

Teacher workforce:

• West Kirby Educational Trust
• Children’s Hospital School
• Natspec
• Sunningdale School

Local authorities:

• Leicestershire
• Rochdale

Health:

• National Health Service England

Academic:

• Autism Studies at University of Birmingham

Departmental advisors such as Tom Rees, Christine Lenehan and Andrew O’Neil are invited to this group.

The members of these groups all have independent positions outside of their contributions to the group and engage separately outside.

Both of these groups will meet monthly during the consultation period.

The National Conversation on SEND reached over 8,000 people to help shape the future of support for children and young people. The dates of the meetings are available in the published quarterly returns on Ministerial meetings: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dfe-ministers-quarterly-returns.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish the full list of members of her Department’s SEND Development Group, the criteria for membership of this group and the dates on which the group has met.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Development Group was launched as part of the period of co-creation, which was announced in December 2025. The group is an informal engagement group led by myself, as Minister for Schools, to bring together a wider group of SEND stakeholders.

The group’s objectives are:

• To input into the co-creation process by reviewing the department’s evidence and policy questions in line with SEND principles for reform.

• To provide feedback, policy ideas, and suggestions from a wide range of stakeholders.

• To ensure diverse perspectives, including those of parents, practitioners, campaign organisations, and strategic partners, are considered in SEND policy development.

The group is attended by myself and our expert advisors Dame Christine Lenehan and Tom Rees. External attendees include representatives from the Council for Disabled Children (CDC), the Disabled Children’s Partnership (DCP), the National Network of Parents Carers Forums (NNPCF), the National Association for Special Educational Needs (NASEN), The Difference, Dingley’s Promise, The Athelstan Trust, Let Us Learn Too, The Global Black Maternal Health Institute, Aylsham Learning Federation, and the SEND Sanctuary. The group has recently been expanded to include the following.

SEND representative stakeholders:

• CDC
• NASEN

Local authorities:

• Haringey

Alternative Provision:

• Olive Academies

Early Years:

• Dingley’s Promise

Post-16:

• Heart of Worcestershire College

Individual voices from teacher workforce:

• Athelstan Trust
• Eden Academy Trust
• Aylsham High School

Parent and carer groups:

• DCP
• Let Us Learn Too
• Global Child and Maternal Health
• The Difference
• Changing Realities
• NNPCF
• Parentkind

Departmental advisors such as Christine Lenehan and Andrew O'Neil are also invited to this group, as are representatives from the Independent Panel.

Alongside the Development Group, I have set up the Complex Needs Group to expand stakeholder conversations in the department. This group consists of the following.

Parent voices:

• Parent carer representatives (NNPCF)
• Cause Communications

Departmental SEN advisers:

• Tom Rees
• Christine Lenehan

National disability charities:

• The Children’s Trust
• The SEND Sanctuary
• Ambitious About Autism
• Speak and Language UK
• Sense
• WellChild
• Contact
• Mencap
• Syndrome Association
• Together for Short Lives
• Challenging Behaviour Foundation
• Kids
• CDC

Teacher workforce:

• West Kirby Educational Trust
• Children’s Hospital School
• Natspec
• Sunningdale School

Local authorities:

• Leicestershire
• Rochdale

Health:

• National Health Service England

Academic:

• Autism Studies at University of Birmingham

Departmental advisors such as Tom Rees, Christine Lenehan and Andrew O’Neil are invited to this group.

The members of these groups all have independent positions outside of their contributions to the group and engage separately outside.

Both of these groups will meet monthly during the consultation period.

The National Conversation on SEND reached over 8,000 people to help shape the future of support for children and young people. The dates of the meetings are available in the published quarterly returns on Ministerial meetings: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dfe-ministers-quarterly-returns.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she intends to provide further funding to the Metropolitan Police's Operation Martello programme.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Hotspots policing is a key, evidence-based tactic that should be embedded in mainstream activity, forming a central component of the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee (NPG). As a result, we are transitioning hotspot activity from a grant funded programme into mainstream practice.

To support this transition to mainstream activity, the wider reforms being taken forward by this government will put 13,000 more neighbourhood officers into roles by the end of this Parliament to tackle local crime and increase patrolling. Total funding to police forces in England and Wales will be up to £18.4 billion in 2026-27, an increase of up to £834 million compared to the 2025-26 police funding settlement. This equates to a 4.7% cash increase and a 2.7% real terms increase in funding. The Metropolitan Police will receive up to £3,991.2m of funding, an increase of £184.1 million compared to 2025-26. The additional officers being delivered through the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee will support this shift, and we will continue working with forces this year on the practicalities of mainstreaming hotspot activity.

As we mainstream hotspot patrolling, we are also continuing to drive efforts to halve knife crime in a decade by focusing on tackling the worst affected areas via the Knife Crime Concentrations Fund (KCCF), directing investment where it will reduce knife crime most effectively.

As announced in Protecting lives, building hope: a plan to halve knife crime, this fund will be £26.25m in FY 2026-27, with allocations directed to those force areas with the highest knife crime volumes over the last three years and which together make up 90% of total knife crime across England and Wales. The Metropolitan Police Service has been allocated £8,185,952 through the KCCF in 2026-27.

Found: From the Chair Helen Hayes MP House of Commons Palace of Westminster London SW1A 0AA

Found: Westminster London SW1P 3BT tel: 0370 000 2288 www.education.gov.uk/contactus/dfe Helen Hayes

Found: Josh MacAlister OBE MP Minister for Children and Families OFFICIAL OFFICIAL Helen Hayes

Found: educom@parliament.uk Website: www.parliament.uk/education-committee Twitter: @CommonsEd From Helen Hayes

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Helen Hayes (Chair); Dr Caroline Johnson; Manuela Perteghella; Peter

Found: Current membership Helen Hayes (Labour; Dulwich and West Norwood) (Chair) Jess Asato (Labour; Lowestoft

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Debbie Abrahams (Chair); Helen Hayes (Chair); Rushanara Ali; David

Found: Westminster London SW1P 3BT tel: 0370 000 2288 www.education.gov.uk/contactus/dfe Helen Hayes

Found: Education Georgia Gould OBE MP Minister for School Standards OFFICIAL OFFICIAL Helen Hayes

Found: Helen Hayes MP Chair of the Education Committee House of Commons London SW1A 0AA CC: Layla

Found: www.imohub.org.uk Children’s Commissioner’s office 11th Floor, 64 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6QP Helen Hayes

Found: Helen Hayes MP Chair Education Committee House of Commons London SW1A 0AA By email 20 March

Found: Paffey MP House of Commons Education Committee By email: darren.paffey.mp@parliament.uk CC: Helen Hayes

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Helen Hayes (Chair); Jess Asato; Sureena Brackenridge; Darren Paffey

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Helen Hayes (Chair); Jess Asato; Sureena Brackenridge; Darren Paffey

Found: While the Director of JGH Developments was Mrs Helen Hayes, in reality this was part of the group of

Found: Sefton Council Stacey Haydock Social Worker, Lancashire County Council (between 2019 and 2021) Helen Hayes