Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to publish strategic guidance on Regional Expert Partnerships engaging with local partners when refining proposals in the SEND Improvement plan.

Strategic guidance was issued to all 32 local authorities within the Change Programme Partnerships (CPPs) (formerly Regional Expert Partnerships) on 5 October 2023. The strategic guidance supports the set-up phase of the Change Programme. CPPs will be required to set up a CPP Steering Group which will have representation from all partners including school leaders, Parent Carer Forums, and health leads. Each local authority participating in the Change Programme will also establish a Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Partnership and produce a local area inclusion plan. Both SEND and AP Partnerships and local area inclusion plans will be tested and refined through working with the local authorities in the CPPs.