Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the different ways in which local authorities allocate funding for education, health and care plans.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.

Following the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND to £11.9 billion. Of that total the City of York Council is being allocated over £30 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £1.7 million on this year’s DSG high needs block.

Local authorities are responsible for allocating funding from their high needs budget to schools and colleges to secure suitable provision as specified in an education, health and care plan. The department is keeping the high needs funding arrangements under review as we progress wider SEND reforms, including those that will support mainstream inclusion.