Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional support her Department plans to provide for local authorities that have not received full gain allocation for high needs in the academic years 2018-19 and 2019-20 so that they are able fully to discharge statutory duties in relation to SEND.

Under the national funding formula, every local authority will receive a minimum increase of 0.5% per head in 2018-19 and 1% per head in 2019-20 over their 2017-18 spending baseline. We will also provide gains of up to 3% per head in 2018-19 and a further 3% per head in 2019-20 to enable underfunded local authorities to move towards their high needs national funding formula allocation.

We have also distributed a high needs strategic planning fund of £23 million, and have published a benchmarking tool and guidance to support local authorities in reviewing their special educational needs and disability provision, and in planning ahead to discharge their statutory responsibilities with available resources.