SEND Provision: East of England

Sam Carling Excerpts

Tuesday 8th October 2024 Westminster Hall

[Sam Carling (North West Cambridgeshire) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure, Sir Mark, to have you in the Chair today. Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities make up well over one in 10 of all pupils, and that number is growing. In the east, nearly 34,000 children have complex disabilities. Most of those pupils are in mainstream schools, and they need support in mainstream schools.

One of my greatest frustrations with the constant discussions from Opposition Members about our policy of VAT on private schools is this: the majority of children with SEND are not in private schools but mainstream schools. That is where the support is needed. It is not fair in any way to expect parents to send children with a special educational need or disability to a private school, and pay all of the fees associated with that. It is completely unacceptable.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Lowestoft (Jess Asato) mentioned earlier, in our region there is a particular problem with education, health and care plans not being issued within statutory guidelines. Nationally, around 50% are; in our region, the figure is much lower so we have a particular regional issue. Demand for support is currently outstripping supply and, as a result, many children with SEND have been forced to leave school altogether. In a SEND debate in March, the issue of non-elective home education was highlighted: parents feel they have no choice but to take their children out of school to meet their needs.

[Alison Hume (Scarborough and Whitby) (Lab)]

The report issued last December for SEND provision in Scarborough and Whitby will chime with other Members: a 40% increase in the number of requests for EHCPs compared with the previous year, and an increase of nearly 30% in the number of suspensions. Charities such as Closer Communities in Scarborough are now supporting families looking after children whose needs are not being met in school. Does my hon. Friend agree that as we go forward we must not simply pay lip service to those charities, but actively include them as we make plans to improve provision?

[Sam Carling]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. I am about to mention a charity in my own constituency that is doing amazing work in this space and encountering some difficulties. We need to support them.

I was speaking about non-elective home education. For years, the Education Committee has criticised the lack of clarity on the numbers of parents taking their children out of school for this reason, or indeed on the number of home-educated children overall. I therefore welcome the Children’s Wellbeing Bill, announced in the King’s Speech, that includes provisions to require local authorities to set up and maintain “children not in school” registers. Knowing the scale of the challenge will be critical to addressing it and allow us to provide much needed support to parents.

Family Voice Peterborough, a charity in my constituency that seeks to improve services for young people with disabilities, is having particular problems—it is not just the crisis within the sector, but the crisis around the economy, that is worsening things in many ways. It is having problems with energy bills, for example; it paid about £8,000 before the pandemic, and the figure is now about £40,000. Its work is impacted by the damage there. The needs of such charities are so important for understanding the needs of local areas. Family Voice has revealed concerning SEND trends in Peterborough, a large part of which I represent, with increased strain on the system and a more difficult experience for parent carers.

Like all children, those with SEND have the right to an education provided by the state. That right has been gutted by previous Governments, but we will clean up the mess that has been made and restore certainty and trust in SEND provision, to make education accessible for all.

--- Later in debate ---

[James Wild]

My hon. Friend makes an interesting point. We need to track the outcomes and the support that children get, so that is a thoughtful comment.

When I spoke on a panel at the Conservative party conference in Birmingham last week, a representative of the Association of School and College Leaders said that there is enough money in the system, but the problem is that there is too much bureaucracy. Clearly, demand continues to rise and funding is a challenge. Council expenditure has tripled over the past decade. Councils are looking for more clarity on the statutory override, which the previous Government put in place to help local authorities to deal with deficits—I think they are now above £3 billion. Only last week, the NASUWT urged the Chancellor in a letter to extend the period that local authorities have to address their SEND deficits. Perhaps the Minister will be able to give a bit more clarity on that very pressing issue for local authorities.

The hon. Member for Waveney Valley (Adrian Ramsay) referred to the pressures in respect of school transport. In Norfolk alone, that budget is £60 million, of which 80% is used to move pupils with SEN around and outside the county. That is money spent on journeys, not education.

I will touch briefly on VAT on independent schools, although a debate about that is going on in the main Chamber. It is clear that this tax on learning will disrupt children’s education. Reference was made to pupils with EHCPs, but 10,000 pupils with special educational needs at independent schools in the east of England will be hit by those fees, and their education will be disrupted. The Government have not even published an impact assessment, even though the Minister in the earlier debate referred to analysis that had been done. It is extraordinary that that has not been shared with the House. I hope the Minister, even at this point, will listen to parents, pupils, local authorities and others, and will delay those plans. I look forward to having an opportunity shortly to vote to do exactly that.

[Sam Carling]

Is the shadow Minister suggesting that it is fair that parents who have children with special educational needs or a disability should have to send their children to a private school and pay all the associated fees? Is that really the best solution we can come up with?

[James Wild]

No; the point I am making is that there are children in schools who will be hit with a very unfair tax of 20%—a charge that their parents will have to pay. That seems to be completely disregarded by the Labour party, which is disappointing, to say the least.

To conclude, the last Government set out a comprehensive package of reform, after a lot of work with the sector. During a debate here in September, the Minister said that the Labour Government were determined to fix the SEND system—alleluia to that. I hope that we will hear much more today about the Minister’s plans for practical action to be taken, rather than her talking about the last 14 years.

The Minister also referred on that occasion to the importance of working together. I will abuse my position to remind her of an invitation that has gone to her and the Education Secretary to join Norfolk MPs and members of Norfolk County Council who are coming to Westminster tomorrow, specifically to talk about SEND. I helped to push for that meeting and I hope that the Minister might be able to come along, even briefly, to hear about some of the challenges that we face. Ultimately, every Member here wants to ensure that children and families in their constituency get the support to realise their potential. I look forward to hearing her comments.