Asked by: James Berry (Conservative - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to reform special educational needs and disability provision.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The special educational needs and disability (SEND) reforms which came into effect in September 2014 represent the biggest change to the SEND system in a generation. They are transforming the support available to children and young people with SEND by joining up services across education, health and social care and by focusing on positive outcomes for education, employment, housing, health and community participation.
Since September 2014, our reforms have seen the introduction of:
o published ‘local offers’ for each local area, setting out the SEND services that are available;
o new Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans for those with more complex needs - replacing statements of SEN and post-16 Learning Difficulty Assessments (LDAs);
o a new legal requirement on local authorities to take the views of families fully into account when deciding what provision to offer;
o new statutory protections for 16-25 year olds in further education - including the right to request the educational institution of their choice;
o new duties for health to deliver the agreed health elements of EHC plans;
o the option of a personal budget for families and young people with an EHC plan;
o a review of disagreement resolution arrangements; and
o new arrangements for supporting young offenders with SEND.