Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Helen Hayes(1 week, 1 day ago)
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Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab)
There are children with special educational needs and disabilities in every school across the country. Often, they face unacceptable barriers to participation, including school buildings that are not inclusive or fully accessible. What is the Minister doing, as part of the Government’s welcome commitment to inclusive mainstream schools, to ensure that all expenditure by the Department for Education on new school buildings and building refurbishments helps to make schools more inclusive?
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Helen Hayes(1 month, 3 weeks ago)
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Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab)
We know that good quality early years education can play a significant role in closing the disadvantage gap, yet the Government have inherited a situation in which families who live in disadvantaged areas are the least likely to be able to access good quality childcare. How will the Secretary of State ensure that access to good quality childcare and early years education is at the heart of the Government’s child poverty strategy?
Children’s Social Care
Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Helen Hayes(2 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab)
I welcome the action that the Government have announced today to improve children’s social care. The Secretary of State will know that families from the poorest neighbourhoods are 14 times more likely to be referred to children’s social care than those from the richest areas, and that there is a growing body of evidence linking child poverty to the rise in children entering the care system. How will she ensure that the upcoming child poverty strategy delivers more stability and safety for children and ensures that fewer families enter the kind of crises that result in their children being removed from their care?
Bridget Phillipson
My hon. Friend has long championed this cause and brings considerable expertise to the role that she now undertakes as Chair of the Select Committee. I look forward to discussing these issues with her and her Committee in due course. She is right to identify that child poverty is a significant issue in this area. That is why we got the work of the child poverty taskforce under way in August; we know that that work is crucial. What she has set out today is something that I have heard from parents the length and breadth of the country as part of the work that we are undertaking. It is important that, alongside tackling child poverty, we ensure that all families have early support and early intervention to ensure that they can thrive, and that, as she says, problems do not escalate in the way that they currently do.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Helen Hayes(3 months ago)
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Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab)
The additional £1 billion in the Budget for SEND support is very welcome, but the Minister will know that local authorities remain anxious about the forthcoming end to the statutory override of dedicated schools grant deficits in March 2026. What discussions is the Minister having with the Treasury and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on a plan to prevent the end of the statutory override from becoming a cliff-edge financial calamity for local authorities and children with SEND?
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Helen Hayes(3 months, 1 week ago)
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab)
The National Audit Office report could not be clearer: children and young people and their families are being failed by a SEND system that cannot meet their needs, and local authorities are being driven to the edge of a financial precipice by a £3.4 billion funding gap. This Government have inherited an appalling legacy. The Government are clear that their focus is on the early identification of need and the inclusivity of mainstream schools, but the report notes that there is currently no process or funding to support early identification, and no specific funding or Ofsted measure on SEND support or inclusivity. Can the Minister say more about how the Government will provide the resources and the levers of accountability to address the scale of the crisis?
Mr Speaker
Order. Can Members please all look to the Chair? You are speaking to me, not the Minister. Look to the Chair, so I can hear, and then I can help. Minister, you can be a good example for everybody.