Oral Answers to Questions

Robert Buckland Excerpts

Monday 18th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con)]

8. What steps he is taking to improve provision for children and young people with special educational needs.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

10. What steps he is taking to improve provision for children and young people with special educational needs.

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Sarah Teather)]

In a written ministerial statement issued on 15 May, I published our plans to reform the current system for identifying, assessing and supporting children and young people who are disabled or have special educational needs from birth into adulthood, independent living and the world of work. We are testing our plans with 20 pathfinders across 31 local authorities and their primary care trust partners in readiness for introducing changes from 2014.

[Mr Buckland]

Uplands special school in Swindon, which has an excellent track record of providing education for young people from 11 upwards, is actively considering how to extend its provision in line with the Government’s policy of allowing extensions to 25. What measures will the Government take to encourage such excellent initiatives?

[Sarah Teather]

This is a very interesting idea. There are several practical matters to work through, but in principle the Government support this type of innovative thinking. Of course, the key is that any provision is not only about children staying on in school but about preparing them for independent living and ensuring that it is appropriate as young people move into adulthood. Our changes to funding for high-needs pupils should enable this kind of innovative thinking to take place.