Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to support transition out of education for young college leavers with complex special educational needs or disabilities; and what steps she plans to take to help improve collaboration between education, adult social care and health for those young people.

Well-planned transitions are key to setting children and young people up for success. On 2 March 2023, the department published the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, in response to the SEND and AP Green Paper published in March last year. The Plan outlines the government’s mission for the SEND and AP system to fulfil children and young people’s potential, build parent’s trust, and provide financial sustainability.

The department has committed to developing good practice guidance to support consistent, timely and high-quality transitions for children and young people with SEND and in AP. This will ultimately look at transitions between all stages of education from early years and will focus initially on transitions into and out of post-16 settings, including transitions into employment and adult services.

We are working closely with colleagues from the Department of Health and Social Care as we develop this guidance, in order to improve collaboration between services and smooth transitions. This is also in line with the commitments set out in the Building the Right Support action plan.

The SEND Code of Practice is clear that all children and young people with SEND should be prepared for adulthood and supported with that transition. Further education providers must use their best endeavours to secure the special educational provision called for by the student’s special educational needs.