Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the timeframe is for the ending of the provisions in the Coronavirus Act 2020 in relation to duties on local authorities under Section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, has issued a notice to modify temporarily the duty on local authorities and health commissioning bodies to secure or arrange the provision specified in education, health and care (EHC) plans, so that they can discharge this by using their ‘reasonable endeavours’. The modified duty applies to all local authorities and health commissioning bodies in England.

The maximum period for which a notice can be issued is a month, although the Secretary of State can issue a further notice if necessary. The current notice is in force from 1 to 30 June 2020 (inclusive), following a notice that was issued for the month of May.

We are committed to ceasing this temporary change to the duty on local authorities and health commissioning bodies to secure or arrange the provision specified in EHC plans at the earliest opportunity. We will continue to work with a range of stakeholders, including representative bodies for local authorities and parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and a number of specialist SEND organisations, to keep this measure under close review and to inform decisions as to whether or not further notices should be issued.