Peter Lamb

It is important that, where required, education, health and care (EHC) plan assessments are progressed promptly and, if needed, plans are issued as quickly as possible so that children and young people can access the support they need.

The department knows that local authorities have seen an increase in the number of assessment requests and that more needs to be done to ensure that some local areas deliver more effective and timely services. This includes better communication with schools and families.

The last local area special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission for West Sussex was in November 2023, which found inconsistent experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND. Five areas for improvement were identified in the inspection report, including an area specific to the timeliness and quality of EHC plans:

1. To identify and address ‘waiting well’ arrangements and gaps in service provision to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND.
2. To ensure children identified as at high risk for aspiration are fully assessed and have access to video-fluoroscopy.
3. To develop a strategy to improve the processes, quality and the timeliness of EHC plans.
4. To implement oversight and commissioning arrangements of suitable specialist school places and alternative provision.
5. To strengthen their strategic approach to preparation for adulthood.

The department’s regional team has put in place systems to track outcomes against these areas for improvement and the progress made by children and young people with SEND. To assist the local area, the department has deployed a SEND advisor to offer support and advice. The advisor’s work has included monthly meetings with the local authority to review their statutory progress and to discuss their action plan, analysis of EHC plan data and trends, facilitation of best practice exchange with other local areas, and providing advice and guidance to enhance the quality of EHC plans.

We recognise the financial pressures which local authorities are experiencing. MHCLG are increasing funding for homelessness services from next year by £233 million compared to this year (2024/25). Levels of Housing Benefit subsidy for temporary accommodation are kept under review and future decisions will be taken in the context of the government’s missions, goals on housing and the current fiscal context.

There are currently no plans to make ormeloxifene available. It is critical that medicines used in the United Kingdom are safe and effective and as such, medicines cannot be marketed in the UK without a marketing authorisation. These are granted by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which assesses all medicines with regard to their quality, safety, and effectiveness. Ormeloxifene has not been licensed by the MHRA. It is the responsibility of the company to apply to the MHRA for a marketing authorisation. Should an application for it be received, the MHRA will consider this accordingly.

In England, most new licensed medicines are appraised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to determine whether they represent a clinically and cost-effective use of National Health Service resources. If the manufacturer of ormeloxifene seeks a licence from the MHRA, then it may be considered for evaluation by the NICE.

We know that waits for mental health services are far too long, including for children and young people. That is why we will recruit 8,500 additional mental health workers across child and adult mental health services, and introduce a specialist mental health professional in every school.

We will set out our timeline for introducing access to specialist mental health professionals in due course. It is a minimum for a specialist mental health professional to have at least a level three vocational qualification, or equivalent level of relevant study.

Ministers and officials will continue to regularly engage with members of the Chagossian community on a range of issues, including on the implementation of the agreement reached between the United Kingdom and Mauritius. We recognise the importance of the islands to Chagossians and have worked to ensure this agreement reflects their interests.

The government are giving careful consideration to the recommendations of the report in question as part of our ongoing commitment to support local authorities facing Housing Revenue Account financial pressures.

The Government is committed to ensuring that the treasured historic and ceremonial rights and privileges of local communities will be protected through the local government reorganisation process. General regulations governing unitarisation exercises provide that honorary freemen and aldermen of predecessor local authorities retain their status for the relevant successor unitary authorities.

After reorganisation, parish councils may make ceremonial appointments for their area. Where there is no such parish, at the request of the council involved, we can establish charter trustees for the areas of predecessor borough or city areas to preserve their historic rights and privileges, including the ability to appoint a mayor, deputy mayor, and honorary freemen and aldermen. We recognise this as an important issue for areas and if there will be a need for legislation to establish charter trustees this will be discussed with the area in advance of reorganisation.

We are currently reviewing the role of Office for Local Government and we will announce the outcome shortly. Scrutiny of council spending is clearly important, and that is why we are committed to overhauling the broken local audit system we inherited.

We have already taken decisive action to help clear the significant backlog of unaudited accounts and will shortly set out longer-term plans to fix local audit.