Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure parent carers of disabled children can choose the school that meets their child’s needs.

It is the department’s aim, through the proposals set out in the SEND and AP green paper, to provide parents and carers with a clearer understanding of the support that should be available to meet their child’s needs and support them to make an informed choice about which school they would like their child to attend.

Where specialist provision is required, the department is consulting on proposals for a simplified process where parents will be supported to express an informed preference for a suitable placement from a tailored list of schools that are appropriate to meet their child’s needs. The expectation is that all schools on the list will be settings that can meet the child’s special educational needs as identified in their education, health, and care needs assessments. This aims to give parents and carers clarity on what is available locally which may still include mainstream, special, independent, or out of borough provision where appropriate in order to meet the child’s needs. The department’s intention is that this will lead to greater transparency about what is available for children and young people in their local school and greater clarity about how it can be provided. We also aim for this to improve the choice offered to parents and carers by suggesting options they may not have otherwise considered.