Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how frequently SEN Support Plans are reviewed.

At present, information about a child or young person's special educational needs (SEN), support and outcomes is often recorded through a range of locally developed documents and systems, including SEN Support Plans. Approaches to recording and reviewing support vary between settings.

Under the proposals, settings would have a duty to produce an Individual Support Plan (ISP) for children and young people who require Targeted, Targeted Plus or Specialist support. The ISP would provide a nationally consistent framework for recording needs, provision and outcomes.

In our consultation document, we proposed a requirement for ISPs to be reviewed annually at a minimum, and settings will work with parents and young people to develop and maintain the plan from the outset. An ISP is intended to be a digital living product, updated as a child or young person's needs, barriers to learning and support arrangements change and we want settings to retain flexibility to consider changes, working with families, as soon as they are needed. We would provide more detail and guidance on the development and reviews of ISPs as part of an updated Code of Practice.

The department has recently consulted on its proposed special educational needs and disabilities reforms. We are carefully considering all responses and will set out our response in due course.