Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which organisations he consulted before bringing forward the Special Educational Needs and Disability (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020.

The Explanatory Memorandum to these Regulations outlined the nature of the consultation conducted. It states the following:

“10.1 Given the importance of acting swiftly to change the law so as to free up local authorities, health commissioning bodies and the other public bodies concerned to respond to the current national public health emergency, no formal consultation was conducted. There is no legal requirement to consult on changes to the timescales covered in this instrument.

10.2 We have, however, discussed the principle of amending the timescales and why urgent action is needed with a range of stakeholders, including representative bodies for local authorities and parents of children with SEND and a number of specialist SEND organisations.”

We routinely work across government and with a wide range of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) stakeholders and this has been more important than ever since the outbreak of COVID-19. One of the matters discussed in depth over recent weeks has been the need for emergency legislation, the drafting of the guidance to accompany it and the impact of the changes to the law. Stakeholders with whom we have had such conversations include the Council for Disabled Children, the National Network for Parent Carer Forums, Contact, the Association of Directors of Children’s Services and the Local Government Association.