Paul Davies

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. The department is committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs.

All teachers are teachers of SEND, and high quality teaching is central to ensuring that pupils with SEND are given the best possible opportunity to achieve at school. Consideration of SEND underpins the Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Core Content Framework (CCF) and Early Career Framework (ECF). These frameworks were produced with the support of sector experts and have been designed to support all pupils to succeed, including those identified within the four areas of need set out in the SEND Code of Practice.

All mainstream schools must have a special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) who must be a qualified teacher, or the headteacher, working at the school. On 1 September 2024, the government introduced a new mandatory leadership level National Professional Qualification (NPQ) for SENCOs. The NPQ will play a key role in improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND by ensuring SENCOs consistently receive high quality, evidence-based training. This is crucial given the central role SENCOs play in supporting pupils with SEND.

Universal SEND Services brings together SEND-specific continuing professional development and support for the school and further education workforce. The programme aims to improve outcomes for children and young people, including those with autism. The contract offers autism awareness training and resources. Over 200,000 professionals have received autism training from an Autism Education Trust training partner since the programme launched in May 2022.

For too long the education and care system has not met the needs of all children and young people, particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), with parents struggling to get their children the support they need and deserve.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with SEND receive the right support to succeed in their education and develop the skills they need as they move into adult life. We are committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream settings, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs, restoring parents’ trust that their child will get the support they need.

As part of our commitment to helping children and young people with SEND to develop the skills they need as they move into adult life, the department is investing up to £18 million until 2025 to build capacity in supported internships. We aim to double the number of internships each year to around 4,500, to support more young people with education, health and care (EHC) plans to gain the skills to transition into employment.

The SEND code of practice is clear that all children and young people with SEND should be prepared for adulthood. This includes supporting children and young people to develop independence, contribute to their community, develop positive friendships, be as healthy as possible and, for the majority of young people, prepare them for higher education and/or employment.

For those with an EHC plan, there must be a focus from year 9 onwards on preparing the young person for adulthood as part of their plan’s annual review. This focus must continue until the young person’s EHC plan ceases. Planning for the transition to adulthood should result in clear outcomes being agreed that are ambitious and stretching, and which are tailored to the needs and interests of the young person.

Ofsted undertook a thematic review into ‘Preparation for Adulthood’ this year to find out the extent to which local area partners are working together effectively to prepare children and young people with SEND for adulthood. The report’s findings are expected to be available soon.

For too long the education and care system has not met the needs of all children and young people, particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), with parents struggling to get their children the support they need and deserve.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with SEND receive the right support to succeed in their education and develop the skills they need as they move into adult life. We are committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream settings, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs, restoring parents’ trust that their child will get the support they need.

The department is working closely with experts on reforms and recently appointed Dame Christine Lenehan as Strategic Advisor for SEND. Dame Christine will play a key role in convening and engaging with the sector, including leaders, practitioners, children and families, as the department considers the next steps for the future of SEND reform.

Successful transitions must be well-planned. Poor support for and around transitions was a clear theme in the issues raised when the previous government consulted on the SEND and alternative provision green paper of March 2022.

All local authorities must set out the support available to help children and young people with SEND prepare for and transition to adulthood as part of their local offer. This should be co-produced with children, young people, and their families to ensure it meets local needs.

For children and young people with an education, health, and care (EHC) plan, there must be a focus from year 9 onwards on preparing the young person for adulthood as part of their plan’s annual review. This focus must continue until the young person’s EHC plan ceases. Planning for the transition to adulthood should result in clear outcomes being agreed that are ambitious and stretching, and which are tailored to the needs and interests of the young person.

Ofsted undertook a thematic review into ‘Preparation for Adulthood’ this year to find out the extent to which local area partners are working together effectively to prepare children and young people with SEND for adulthood. The report’s findings are expected to be published soon.

For too long the education and care system has not met the needs of all children and young people, particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), with parents struggling to get their children the support they need and deserve.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with SEND receive the right support to succeed in their education and develop the skills they need as they move into adult life. We are committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream settings, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs, restoring parents’ trust that their child will get the support they need.

The department is working closely with experts on reforms and recently appointed Dame Christine Lenehan as Strategic Advisor for SEND. Dame Christine will play a key role in convening and engaging with the sector, including leaders, practitioners, children and families, as the department considers the next steps for the future of SEND reform.

Successful transitions must be well-planned. Poor support for and around transitions was a clear theme in the issues raised when the previous government consulted on the SEND and alternative provision green paper of March 2022.

All local authorities must set out the support available to help children and young people with SEND prepare for and transition to adulthood as part of their local offer. This should be co-produced with children, young people, and their families to ensure it meets local needs.

For children and young people with an education, health, and care (EHC) plan, there must be a focus from year 9 onwards on preparing the young person for adulthood as part of their plan’s annual review. This focus must continue until the young person’s EHC plan ceases. Planning for the transition to adulthood should result in clear outcomes being agreed that are ambitious and stretching, and which are tailored to the needs and interests of the young person.

Ofsted undertook a thematic review into ‘Preparation for Adulthood’ this year to find out the extent to which local area partners are working together effectively to prepare children and young people with SEND for adulthood. The report’s findings are expected to be published soon.

This government has set a bold ambition to raise the healthiest generation of children in history, giving mental health the same attention as physical health. We are reforming NHS services and have committed to providing access to mental health professionals in every school, removing barriers to opportunity and helping children to thrive. The government will also be putting in place new Young Futures hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and will recruit an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults.

The Office for National Statistics publishes a range of children’s wellbeing measures and the department maintains an ongoing monitoring of the national data landscape and publications regarding children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing to support its policy making.

Schools measuring their pupils’ wellbeing to inform their approach to supporting mental health and wellbeing is encouraged by the department, and as many as 63% of leaders reported in June 2023 that they have either partially or fully embedded this practice in their schools. The government has made no commitment to a national standard measure of children’s wellbeing. However, this is something that the department welcomes exploring further with the education sector and relevant experts.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) assesses the impact gamebird releases have on the likelihood of transmission of avian influenza to wild birds, and between wild birds and kept birds. These risk assessments are available as part of the APHA’s ‘Animal diseases: international and UK monitoring’ collection on GOV.UK.

Fire Operation Groups (FOGs) and similar networks across the country play a vital role in mitigating, preventing and responding to the risks and realities of wildfire. The government applauds the work they do. Defra supports the promotion of shared learning and professional development through its membership of established forums and networks.

Fire Services are responsible for responding to and fighting fires. Defra will not provide training on firefighting equipment beyond the control of managed vegetation fires.

We are committed to protecting our nature-rich habitats, including our moorlands, through promoting sustainable land management and restoration practices. Wetter, healthy-functioning peatlands are more resilient to the impacts of fire.

My Department is committed to improving transport links in West Yorkshire, and across the country. West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) has been allocated £830m of City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements funding over a five-year period, to help transform local transport into an integrated and inclusive network. Included in the investment is £160m set aside for mass transit development in West Yorkshire.

WYCA has also received £13.373m of additional Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding for 2024/2025, helping deliver their vision for better buses in West Yorkshire. The Department’s Buses Bill will support WYCA in their vision to bring buses back under local control, ensuring their networks can meet the needs of the communities who rely on them.

Additionally, as part of improving rail connectivity in West Yorkshire and the rest of the country, we have established Shadow Great British Railways to bring a major overhaul of the rail network, putting passengers first and driving up performance.

The Department has noted the recommendations made in the report, and values Marie Curie as a key stakeholder which engages with us constructively in this area. The primary way the Department supports people nearing the end of life is through special benefit rules which are known as the Special Rules for End of Life (SREL). These enable people who are nearing the end of their lives to get faster, easier access to certain benefits, without needing to attend a medical assessment or serve waiting periods and in most cases, receive the highest rate of benefit.

For many years, the Special Rules applied to people who have 6 months or less to live, they have now been changed so they apply to people who have 12 months or less to live.  Changes to the Special Rules mean that thousands of people nearing the end of life are now able to claim fast-tracked financial support from the benefits system six months earlier than they were able to previously.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

To maximise our potential to be a world leader and develop a more competitive, efficient and accessible clinical research system, the Department is committed to implementing recommendations from the Lord O'Shaughnessy independent review of commercial clinical trials in full.

The Department funds research and research infrastructure, which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research across the United Kingdom, through the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR). For children and young people with cancer, this infrastructure includes the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres, co-funded by the NIHR, Cancer Research UK and the Little Princess Trust, which act as a UK-wide network, bringing together world-leading laboratory and clinical researchers to test new treatments for adults and children with cancer. This includes 12 paediatric phase I/II centres, which function as a single virtual centre to improve patient recruitment and expand geographical access to cancer treatments, tackling some of the barriers to teenagers and young adults accessing cancer clinical trials.

The Department is committed to ensuring clinical trials are people-centred and more accessible, including for teenagers and young adults with cancer. For example, the NIHR provides an online service called 'Be Part of Research' which promotes participation in health and care research by allowing users to search for relevant studies. Young adults aged 18 or over, can consent to be matched to and contacted about relevant studies.

We are committed to getting the National Health Service catching cancer on time, diagnosing it earlier, and treating it faster, so that more patients survive this horrible set of diseases. This includes in relation to children and young people.

NHS England and other NHS organisations, nationally and locally, publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including those that are most common in children. Further information on cancer signs and symptoms is available on the NHS.UK website.

The Department is not currently taking any additional specific action to expand on information of the signs and symptoms of childhood cancers. However, we are committed to improving outcomes for children and young people with cancer and are considering next steps to take forward work in this area through the relaunch of Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce.

As part of the work to develop a 10-Year Health Plan, we will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact teenagers and young adults with cancer, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our partners, as we develop the plan.

We have also launched a significant public engagement process, and we would encourage all those with an interest in the way teenagers and young adults with cancer receive care, and who are aged 16 years old or over, to take part in that process, so that we can fully understand what is not working as well as it should and what the potential solutions are. This can be done via the online portal, which is available at the following link:

https://change.nhs.uk/en-GB/

We plan to run engagement events with children and young people in the new year and are working with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Children’s Commissioner, the National Children’s Bureau, and other partners to ensure we hear from children affected by ill health.

Following publication of the 10-Year Health Plan, the Department will publish a National Cancer Plan. We are committed to ensuring that the needs of children and young people with cancer are carefully considered in the National Cancer Plan, and will set out further details in due course.

In order to maximise our potential to be a world leader and develop a more competitive, efficient and accessible clinical research system, the Department is committed to implementing recommendations from the Lord O'Shaughnessy independent review of commercial clinical trials in full.

As part of the work to develop a 10-Year Health Plan, we will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact teenagers and young adults with cancer, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our partners, as we develop the plan.

We have also launched a significant public engagement process, and we would encourage all those with an interest in the way teenagers and young adults with cancer receive care, and who are aged 16 years old or over, to take part in that process, so that we can fully understand what is not working as well as it should and what the potential solutions are. This can be done via the online portal, which is available at the following link:

https://change.nhs.uk/en-GB/

We plan to run engagement events with children and young people in the new year and are working with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Children’s Commissioner, the National Children’s Bureau, and other partners to ensure we hear from children affected by ill health.

Following publication of the 10-Year Health Plan, the Department will publish a National Cancer Plan. We are committed to ensuring that the needs of children and young people with cancer are carefully considered in the National Cancer Plan, and will set out further details in due course.

In order to maximise our potential to be a world leader and develop a more competitive, efficient and accessible clinical research system, the Department is committed to implementing recommendations from the Lord O'Shaughnessy independent review of commercial clinical trials in full.

As part of the work to develop a 10-Year Health Plan, we will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact teenagers and young adults with cancer, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our partners, as we develop the plan.

We have also launched a significant public engagement process, and we would encourage all those with an interest in the way teenagers and young adults with cancer receive care, and who are aged 16 years old or over, to take part in that process, so that we can fully understand what is not working as well as it should and what the potential solutions are. This can be done via the online portal, which is available at the following link:

https://change.nhs.uk/en-GB/

We plan to run engagement events with children and young people in the new year and are working with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Children’s Commissioner, the National Children’s Bureau, and other partners to ensure we hear from children affected by ill health.

Following publication of the 10-Year Health Plan, the Department will publish a National Cancer Plan. We are committed to ensuring that the needs of children and young people with cancer are carefully considered in the National Cancer Plan, and will set out further details in due course.

In order to maximise our potential to be a world leader and develop a more competitive, efficient and accessible clinical research system, the Department is committed to implementing recommendations from the Lord O'Shaughnessy independent review of commercial clinical trials in full.