Oral Answers to Questions

Liz McInnes Excerpts

Monday 24th June 2019 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Jones (Croydon Central) (Lab)]

17. What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.

[Liz McInnes (Heywood and Middleton) (Lab)]

21. What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.

[Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)]

22. What steps he is taking to support children with special educational needs and disabilities in their education.

--- Later in debate ---

[Nadhim Zahawi]

The hon. Lady would have been fair if she had also acknowledged that we launched a review of school exclusions, led by Edward Timpson. The Children and Families Act 2014 secures the presumption in law that children and young people with SEND should receive mainstream education—of course, 98.7% of them are educated in the mainstream. We have put £4 million into innovation funding to improve alternative provision as well.

[Liz McInnes]

The Local Government Association has said that councils are facing a national special needs emergency and require more funding to meet colossal demand. Does the Minister agree?

[Nadhim Zahawi]

There are clearly funding pressures on the system, which is why we have announced £250 million in additional funding to take the funding to £6.3 billion. We are in the middle of a spending review and I will be putting my best foot forward to make sure that we get the funding in place.