Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Levelling Up White Paper published on 2 February 2022, if he will publish details of the provisions that will made available for pupils with special educational needs as a result of Kirklees having been included in an Educational Investment Area.

We are making over £100 million of funding available to support Education Investment Areas over the course of the Spending Review period. The Levelling Up White Paper, published on 2 February 2022, set out some of the support that will be available to schools in these areas.

In these new Education Investment Areas, the department will offer retention payments to help schools keep the best teachers in the highest priority subjects.

To drive up standards rapidly, schools in these areas that have been judged less than Good in successive Ofsted inspections could be moved into strong multi-academy trusts, to attract more support and the best teachers. This will be subject to a consultation in the spring.

Our Schools White Paper will set out further details on the funding available to Education Investment Areas, as well our plans to make a wider programme of support available to a priority subset of these areas.

The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Review will set out our plan to improve provision for children with SEND across England. It will be published in the first 3 months of 2022.