Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of funding for SEND provision in mainstream schools.

The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities or who require alternative provision sits with local authorities.

The department provides local authorities with capital funding to support them to meet this duty and has published allocations for £740 million in High Needs Provision Capital Allocations for the 2025/26 financial year.

Of this £740 million, Lancashire County Council has been allocated £19.6 million.

This funding can be used to adapt schools to be more accessible, to create specialist facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs and to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs.