SEND Provision: East of England

Debate between Jim Shannon and Jess Asato

Tuesday 8th October 2024 Westminster Hall

[Jess Asato (Lowestoft) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered SEND provision in the East of England.

Thank you, Sir Mark, for the pleasure of serving under your chairmanship. I thank colleagues from across the region and beyond for attending today’s debate.

I have a personal interest in this discussion: one of my children has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and, like other Members, I have first-hand experience of the problems of our system. I am sure that other Members have been contacted by many constituents who continue to be failed by the special educational needs and disabilities system. It is not right that constituents come to me in tears after being unable to get their child into a school that can support them, fearful for their child’s future and completely tied down by the need to care for them all day, often without support.

We seem to have a particular problem in the east of England. Nationally, half of all education, health and care plans were issued within the 20-week statutory period in 2023, but in the east the figure was just 34%. That is a low number, but it also masks inequalities in the region: 90% of EHCPs were issued within the time limit in Bedford, but in Suffolk—my county—it was only 4%, and in Essex it was only 1%. It is shameful that two thirds of children in need of support in our region, and 96% in my county, are being left without it, and in many cases are forced out of the education system entirely during some of the most formative years of their lives.

The rate of severe absences for SEND pupils is triple that for other students. Long waits that keep children out of school compound other problems relating to mental health, social development and life outcomes. I have a constituent who is still waiting for a school to send their child to and is extremely concerned about the behavioural changes she has begun to witness due to a lack of structured learning.

Absences further divide those with and without SEND. They isolate the children most in need and hamper their development. I am also concerned about the overly punitive way in which we deal with absences, particularly for parents of SEND children. Given my background of working with vulnerable women and children, I was alarmed to find out from the charity Advance that the majority of parents imprisoned for truancy are women. It is of course hugely important that children are in school, but for that to happen we have to support children and their parents, rather than simply add fines or the threat of prison to the already traumatic situation.

We seem to forget that education is a right, as well as a legal requirement. Where is the right to education for children with SEND? Where is the legal imperative to provide a decent education for all children, particularly our most vulnerable? The delays parents experience serve only as a “how high can you jump?” barrier, and send the signal that children with SEND are second- class citizens.

The SEND system is creaking at the seams: there has been an explosion in demand, and the supply has not caught up. Even for parents and children who have waited and received an EHCP, life does not get much easier. I have a constituent whose daughter experiences a range of health conditions and, despite having an EHCP, is forced by council delays to stay in her mainstream school, where she has been repeatedly held back a year. Another constituent’s son’s transition from school to college, and from disability living allowance to personal independence payments, was complicated by errors introduced by the county in his EHCP.

The SEND system is broken, but we knew that: it was highlighted by the SEND review published under the previous Government in 2022. Parents and children have been asked their views again and again, but very little has changed. What would first steps look like for the Government? First, delays to the issuance of EHCPs require work to combat the national shortage of educational psychologists. Indeed, solving that issue and being able to invest in those professionals can also save us money. The Association of Educational Psychologists has found that, on average, an EP costs £234 per day, whereas agency and locum staff cost £600. Secondly, preventive programmes are key, which is why I welcome the Government’s swift announcement to extend the Nuffield early language intervention into next year. That is particularly important, given that children with speech and language challenges make up the single biggest group within SEND. Thirdly, it is my hope that the Government look to extend the funding for the early years SEND partnership led by the Council for Disabled Children, which comes to an end in March next year. I also hope the Government work to ensure that health visitors have adequate training around the ELIM—the early language identification measure—as part of the two to two-and-a-half-year review.

The Government’s new core schools budget grant for special and alternative provision schools and the announcement that the Department is looking into the national funding formula are to be welcomed. After 14 years of Conservative Government cuts, the system needs to be rebalanced towards prevention and early intervention, which is more cost-effective in the long term.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Member for Lowestoft (Jess Asato) for introducing the debate. The number of people in the Chamber is an indication of the importance of the subject, which is an issue in the hon. Lady’s constituency.

I have six grandchildren and three of them are in need of speech therapy. One of those had an early diagnosis and today that young boy has advanced incredibly well. The other two needed that early diagnosis, but the families had to go and get a diagnosis done privately so they could get the assessment and move forward. Does the hon. Lady agree that when it comes to SEND issues, the knock-on effect for SEND provision starts when a child is first diagnosed and that more must be done to ensure children’s health services get more children the assessments they need, meeting efficient timescales and thereby giving a child a better life?