Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the status is of the advisory groups with young people that were established in his Department in 2010.

In May 2012, the department made a commitment to engage with disabled children and young people and those with special educational needs.

This led to the creation of Equality, Participation, Influencing, Change (EPIC). EPIC’s remit was to involve children and young people (CYP) with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in shaping government policy in this area – in particular, the implementation of the reforms set out in the green paper: “Support and aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability”.

When the department’s focus moved from policy development to implementation of the SEND reforms, it gave way to the creation of another young people’s group to advise and support the government. In 2016, a new CYP advisory group was set up - FLARE (Friendship, Learning, Achieve, Reach, Empower).

The department has recently committed to funding this work until March 2020, through a contract worth £1.9 million per year with Contact, the Council for Disabled Children and KIDS.