Schools White Paper: Every Child Achieving and Thriving

Jen Craft Excerpts

Monday 23rd February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Bridget Phillipson]

I agree that it will be essential for schools and parents—and Government, too—to work together. The White Paper’s vision is of a system in which Government, schools and parents honour our responsibilities, and work together to deliver better outcomes for children. We set out clear expectations in the White Paper about the engagement that schools should be undertaking with parents, but also about parents’ responsibilities to support their child’s school, for example by doing everything they can around attendance. We will continue to do that.

[Jen Craft (Thurrock) (Lab)]

I would like to declare an interest: I have the honour of being a parent of a disabled child who has an EHCP. I very much welcome the Secretary of State’s statement. It is a true reflection of the amount of engagement that she and her Department have had with parents and families of children with SEND, and with the sector. I would welcome clarity on a couple of points. I welcome the move to make the system much less adversarial for parents, and to allow parents to get on with the job of being mum and dad, but I would welcome clarity on where accountability is built into the system, particularly as regards individual support plans. I would welcome clarity on whether health authorities will have more accountability; they often have about 50% of the onus to deliver certain services, but at the moment there is no statutory duty on them to do so. I would also welcome clarity on whether guidance on the reasonable adjustment framework in schools might be strengthened, and how parents can hold schools and settings accountable if they do not meet their duties under the Equality Act 2010 framework.

[Bridget Phillipson]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for all the time she has taken to speak with me and colleagues in the Department to share her experiences as a parent and help us understand the wider shift that we need to see. She asked a number of detailed questions. I will respond briefly, but I am happy to discuss them further. We need to ensure that there is accountability around individual support plans. An independent SEND professional will sit on complaints panels as a part of that. Health authorities must play their full role alongside local authorities in delivering better support. My hon. Friend is right to identify the need for clarity around reasonable adjustments and what that means for schools. We will be setting out further detail on that.