Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations she has received on local authority non-compliance with statutory requirements in relation to (a) education, health and care plans and (b) the Local Offer; what mechanism is in place to ensure that local authorities comply with such statutory requirements; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure such compliance.

We are monitoring implementation of the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) reforms very closely. We undertake termly surveys of local authorities and Parent Carer Forums. We also engage in regular dialogue with voluntary and community sector partners, including parent representatives, and we monitor issues raised in ministerial and official correspondence.

The SEND reforms are complex and will take time to embed fully. The transition period from statements to Education, Health, and Care Plans (EHCPs) runs until 2018. Our team of SEND Advisers has focused on improving the quality and timeliness of Local Offers and EHCPs, and is offering support to local authorities. In 2015, we responded to widespread feedback to extend the timescale for transferring a statement of SEN to an EHCP from 16 weeks to 20 weeks. We have also provided workshops on Local Offers and on transition; we are currently working with partners to run a series of workshops for local authorities on drafting good EHCPs.

Early in the process, feedback showed that local authorities were at different stages in developing their Local Offers. All local authorities now have a Local Offer in place, and are working with their partner bodies, families and young people to ensure Local Offers respond to local needs.

Parents/carers and young people have various options if they are dissatisfied with the way an authority has acted in relation to an EHCP or about the Local Offer. They may wish to complain directly to their local authority, following its formal complaints procedure. Once a local authority’s complaints procedure has been exhausted, the complaint can be referred to the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO). The LGO can investigate complaints of maladministration or service failure made by parents/carers and young people about their local authority, including non-compliance with statutory duties relating to EHCPs and the Local Offer. The LGO will not usually investigate complaints about decisions that the local authority has taken in relation to EHC needs assessments and plans that can be appealed to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability).

If a complaint is not resolved locally or by the LGO, it can be referred to the Secretary of State under sections 496 and 497 of the Education Act 1996. If the Secretary of State finds that the local authority has failed to carry out a statutory duty, or has done so unreasonably, she can then issue a direction to the authority in order to put matters right, if it is expedient to do so.