Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that Education, Health and Care plans are met as schools reopen during the covid-19 outbreak.

Children and young people with education, health and care (EHC) plans are expected to attend education settings if, following a risk assessment, it is determined that their needs can be as safely or more safely met in the educational environment.

We have recently published guidance that sets out how schools should be supporting children and young people with EHC plans as schools and colleges prepare for wider opening: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-send-risk-assessment-guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-send-risk-assessment-guidance. In that guidance, we are clear that children and young people with EHC plans in mainstream and Alternative Provision settings who have not been attending and are in eligible year groups, should experience the same return to settings as their peers, informed by their risk assessment. Specialist settings should work towards welcoming back as many children and young people as can be safely catered for in their setting.

However, there are various reasons as to why it may not possible for all children and young people to attend education settings on a full time basis (for example, because they are clinically extremely vulnerable, or they attend a specialist setting that is operating an attendance rota). As a result, it may be impossible for local authorities and commissioning health bodies to carry out their normal statutory duty to secure or arrange in full the special educational provision that would normally be delivered through a full-time placement in an education setting. Examples of this include social skills training in small groups, or the delivery of a personalised curriculum with 1-1 support from a teaching assistant.

Because of these exceptional circumstances, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has issued a notice to modify temporarily this duty, 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 current notice is in force from 1 June to 30 June 2020 (inclusive), following a notice that was issued for the month of May. The Secretary of State can issue a further notice if necessary.

The modified duty relates to the provision for each individual child and young person. Local authorities and health commissioning bodies must not apply blanket policies about the provision to be secured or arranged. Instead, in deciding what provision must be secured or arranged in discharge of its modified duty, the local authority and health commissioning body should work with education settings and other partners to consider: specific local circumstances; the needs of, and circumstances specific to, each child and young person with an EHC plan; and the views of children, young people and their parents as to what might be appropriate.

We are committed to ceasing this temporary change to the duty on local authorities and health commissioning bodies at the earliest opportunity and are keeping this under close review.