Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken to ensure that academy schools can respond to competitive tenders from local authorities seeking to place children and young people in schools for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.

Section 38 of the Children and Families Act 2014 strengthens the rights for parents and young people to request that a particular school or post-16 institution be named in an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. If a maintained school, maintained nursery school, Academy, non-maintained special school, FE college or an independent special school or specialist post-16 institution included on the list of providers approved by the Secretary of State under section 41 of the Act is requested, then the local authority must, after consultation with the institution, name the requested school or institution in the EHC plan unless specific criteria apply. Section 43 then requires the school or institution named in the EHC plan to admit the child or young person.

Guidance was issued to local authorities, schools and other education providers on this statutory admission process in June through the 0-25 SEND Code of Practice (2014), the code is published here:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/implementing-the-0-to-25-special-needs-system

Local authorities and the schools and institutions listed above should operate within this statutory framework and ensure that children and young people receive appropriate and high-quality provision, and that public money is used to best effect.

Cabinet Office has recently consulted on draft Regulations to implement the new EU procurement Directives. The Department for Education is working closely with them, and guidance will be published in due course.