Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Review

Debate between Nadhim Zahawi and Stephen McPartland

Tuesday 29th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Nadhim Zahawi]

I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s thoughtful question, which the Chair of the Education Committee also raised. Essentially, the Green Paper will make sure that we hold local authorities to account through the new funding agreements, through the local inclusion dashboard, which will provide transparency so that people can see how areas are performing locally, and through the new area inspection. As well as making sure that we do as the Minister for Children and Families did with the written statement of action in Birmingham, we want to learn from the best. Manchester is doing well; Dixons City Academy in Bradford is an excellent example of how this works well; Passmores Academy, a mainstream academy in Harlow, is doing incredible work. We learn from the best and scale it across the system.

[Stephen McPartland (Stevenage) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his commitment to ensure that every child with SEND has the best opportunities and chances in education. Does he agree that many of those children’s needs are met well in mainstream schools by SENCOs and family support workers, but we have to go further and faster to ensure that every teacher has the opportunity, the skills, the support and everything they need to be brilliant teachers of all children with special educational needs?

[Nadhim Zahawi]

I could not have put it better myself—my hon. Friend is absolutely right. Our proposals include the national professional qualification, up to 5,000 SENCOs in early years, and getting early identification in place. The schools White Paper and the parent pledge will also drive the thirst for knowledge to ensure that every teacher is confident in identifying the needs of their students.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nadhim Zahawi and Stephen McPartland

Monday 11th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Stephen McPartland (Stevenage) (Con)]

T2. I am incredibly proud of Peartree Way maintained nursery school in Stevenage. Will the Secretary of State commit to keeping it open for as long as he is Secretary of State?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Nadhim Zahawi)]

I commend Peartree Way maintained nursery school. Maintained nursery schools do a brilliant job because they cater for the most disadvantaged children in our communities. That is why we have provided the additional £24 million that has been mentioned many times today. What happens next obviously depends on the spending review. We are working with the sector, which I want to thank for its hard work in allowing us to understand the additional costs so that we can put our best foot forward in the spending review.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nadhim Zahawi and Stephen McPartland

Monday 29th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Nadhim Zahawi]

We have seen no significant issues with parents gaining places with providers for 30 hours. Of course we keep monitoring the situation, but there are no significant issues. Actually, the numbers are very promising at the moment.

[Stephen McPartland (Stevenage) (Con)]

7. What progress has been made on converting primary schools into academies.