Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking with Nottinghamshire County Council to improve its Education Otherwise Than At Schools provision; and whether she plans to make additional funding available for Education Otherwise Than At Schools provision in Nottinghamshire.

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.

When a local authority decides to make an ‘education otherwise than at school’ arrangement for a child or young person with an education, health and care plan, it funds this through its high needs budget. 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. This brings total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND to over £12 billion. Of that total, Nottinghamshire County Council is being allocated over £130 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £10.8 million on their 2024/25 DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula.

A joint local area SEND inspection of Nottinghamshire was undertaken by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in January 2023 under the new Area SEND Inspection framework. Ofsted/CQC found widespread and/or systemic failings leading to significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND which the local area partnership (LAP) must address urgently. The local area submitted a Priority Action Plan to Ofsted/CQC, to address two identified areas for priority action, which was approved 14 July 2023.

Following the inspection outcome, the department has worked closely with its partners in NHS England to monitor, support and challenge the LAP in making the necessary improvements.

The department has also commissioned the Research and Improvement for SEND Excellence partnership consortium, led by the Council for Disabled Children, to support the local area to develop their SEND strategy.

Nottinghamshire LAP is also receiving additional support from a specialist SEND advisor, and the department will continue to work with the local area and relevant stakeholders to support them in improving SEND services and provision.