Special Educational Needs

(asked on 13th May 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 27 April 2022 to Question 156423 on special educational needs, if his Department will take steps to (a) intervene when service providers do not meet their legal duties to families with disabled children and (b) provide redress in those cases to affected families.


Answered by
Will Quince Portrait
Will Quince
This question was answered on 23rd May 2022

Children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are a priority and where a local area is deemed to be underperforming, either by way of inspection or concerns raised, the department will not hesitate to intervene in cases of systemic and/or persistent failure. For example, we may issue a formal improvement notice or use powers under Section 497A of the Education Act 1996 to issue a statutory direction directing the council to take any further actions we deem necessary, which may include requiring the responsible local authority to work with a SEND commissioner.

Where families wish to seek redress or otherwise resolve disagreements about Education, Health and Care needs assessments or plans, they have the option to do so via disagreement resolution, mediation, or by registering an appeal with the first-tier tribunal (SEND). The department is currently consulting on proposals to strengthen this system in the SEND and AP Green Paper.

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