Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase the effectiveness of multi-agency working for children and young people with SEND.

Effective multi-agency working is integral to delivering joined-up and impactful support for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND).

We are committed to improving the services and support that these children and young people receive, which is why this government announced an additional £780 million investment in high needs funding for 2020-21.

However, we recognise that funding alone is not enough and this government is taking active steps to improve join-up across education, health and care to support children and young people with SEND. We have established the SEND System Leadership Board, bringing together commissioners across education, health and care to improve the way partners jointly plan, commission and deliver SEND provision. In addition, in September 2019 we launched the SEND review. A key focus of this review is how we can improve cross-system working across education, health and care to support the most positive outcomes for children and young people with SEND.