Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that pupils with disabilities are given preferential treatment during the selection of school places to ensure their access needs are met.

The Equality Act 2010 places a duty on all schools to support disabled children and young people. It includes making reasonable adjustments to prevent them from suffering discrimination and supplying additional aids and services to assist with individuals’ disabilities.

Parents of children who do not have education, health and care plan (EHCP) apply for a school place using local school admission arrangements. Each school has an admission authority to set its admission arrangements, which include the criteria that it will use to allocate places in the event that more applications are received than there are places available. Where a school receives more applications than it has places available, places must be allocated in accordance with the school’s published admissions criteria (also known as oversubscription criteria). School admission processes must not discriminate against or disadvantage disabled children, or those with special educational needs. Admission authorities may give priority within their oversubscription criteria to children who have a particular social or medical need to attend their school. They may also prioritise pupils based on the parent’s medical or social needs (for instance, limited mobility and the need to take their infant child to a nearby school). They must set out clearly how they define social and medical need and what supporting evidence will be required, for example a letter from a doctor or social worker.

Furthermore, each local authority must have a fair access protocol to ensure that unplaced and vulnerable children, and those who are having difficulty securing a place in year, are allocated a place as quickly as possible. The School Admissions Code lists children with special educational needs (but without an EHCP), disabilities or medical conditions, as one of the groups of children for whom a place can be sought via the fair access protocols, where necessary.

If the local authority issues an EHCP, it also has a statutory duty to secure the provision specified in the plan. This includes responsibility for securing a place at the school, college or early years setting named on the EHCP. The local authority must consult with the requested school or post-16 institution in order to establish that the placement would meet the needs of the child or young person, would be compatible with the efficient education of others and would be an efficient use of its own resources. If these criteria are all met, the local authority must name that school in the final EHCP and the school or institution will be required to admit the child or young person.