Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

James Wild Excerpts

Thursday 24th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[James Wild (North West Norfolk) (Con)]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson) for securing this urgent question.

The Opposition welcome the NAO report. Every hon. Member will regularly be dealing with constituents’ SEND cases. The growing demand is why we put major increases in funding in place to ensure that children get the support they need. The last Government worked with the sector on comprehensive reforms, but since the election we have heard very little from this Government about their plans for reform. We look for more clarity, and we certainly support greater inclusivity. With too much variation in the system and parents often having to battle for support, do the Government plan to continue with the Conservatives’ national standards and bring forward a standardised approach to EHCPs?

More than 100,000 pupils with special educational needs are educated at independent schools without EHCPs. How does the Minister think hitting those pupils with a 20% education tax, with more pupils moving into the state sector as a result, will help pressures on schools? What assessment has she made of the increase in EHCP applications that that will generate, putting further burdens on local authorities? Can she confirm that the axe that the Education Secretary is holding above free schools does not apply to free special schools? Finally, council budgets are under huge pressure, so is the Minister making the argument to the Treasury to extend the statutory override beyond March 2026 or not?

[Catherine McKinnell]

As I have said, one of the first acts of the Education Secretary was to reorganise the Department to make sure that the SEND team sits within our school team and is not separate from it. That speaks to the vision that we have for reform: a vision for our whole education system, to create the inclusive mainstream education that we know will provide the best opportunities for the maximum number of children and, as far as possible, keep children with special educational needs and disabilities within the mainstream system with their friends. That is why we have launched the curriculum assessment review.

We need to look closely at the key challenges to attainment for young people and the barriers holding them back from accessing the current mainstream education system. We are working with Ofsted to introduce report cards to look at how inclusion can be reflected as part of how schools are monitored by Ofsted. We are also increasing training for early years providers. We have extended the Nuffield early language intervention programme to make sure that no child’s needs are missed out and that every child can find their voice. We have been very clear: full reform will take time, but nothing is off the table to make sure that every child with SEND can achieve and thrive in mainstream schools. We have also started legislative change: the children’s wellbeing Bill will be introduced in the coming months.

The shadow Minister made a point about private schools. Ending tax breaks on private schools will help to raise the revenue to fund our educational priorities for next year, including recruiting 6,500 new teachers. As he knows, the Treasury is consulting on plans to enable those changes to come into force in January and on how to design those plans to make sure that no child with special educational needs on an education, health and care plan will be adversely affected.

On the question of free schools, the review announced this week relates only to mainstream free schools. We are starting a process with local authorities and trusts with the mainstream schools that are in scope, with a strong focus on assessing that need to make sure that school places are in the local area, where they should be, and that they align with our vision for mainstream inclusive education for every child who needs it.