Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support pupils with Special Education Needs in the Borough of Havering.

The department is committed to ensuring that children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in all areas receive the support they need to realise their potential.

More than £45 million of targeted support for families and parents of children and young people with SEND will be allocated over the next three financial years.

High needs funding, specifically for supporting children with more complex SEND, will increase by £1 billion in the 2022/23 financial year, bringing the overall total of funding for high needs to £9.1 billion. Of this, Havering London Borough Council will receive £37 million, an increase of 13.6% per head of their population aged 2 to 18 years old. This increase, of 13% nationally, comes on top of the £1.5 billion increase over the last two years and will continue to support the local authorities and schools with the increasing costs they are facing.

The department is also investing £2.6 billion between 2022 and 2025 to deliver new places and improve existing provision for pupils with SEND or who require alternative provision. This funding represents a significant, transformational investment in new high needs provision and will help deliver tens of thousands of new places.