Local Government Finance

Vikki Slade Excerpts

Wednesday 17th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

I welcome the Government’s announcement of a cap on social care placements, but some special schools are making unreasonable charges. One school in my area that is offering places to neurodiverse children who are struggling in mainstream education but are otherwise without disabilities charges more than £100,000 a year in fees plus transport, while state-maintained alternatives are doing it for £25,000 for the same cohort. Will the Minister commit herself to working with the Department for Education to introduce a cap on charges and profits for specialist schools now? Councils will have collapsed by 2028 and taxpayers will lose out, so this really needs to be addressed before then.

[Alison McGovern]

The hon. Lady has made precisely the case that I was trying to make in my statement. We must fund councils properly, but if we do not get a grip on escalating costs it will do no good; we will still have unsustainable councils. I am already working with colleagues in the Department for Education, and if the hon. Lady would like to send me details of the case that she mentioned, I will be happy to investigate it.