Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase the level of engagement with and representation of people with SEND, carers and SEND professionals in future government campaigns and communications on SEND.

The department is committed to ensuring that people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), their families and carers, and the professionals who support them are meaningfully represented in our communications, and their experiences reflected. This includes our social media, work with the press, paid for campaigns, communications partnerships, stakeholder engagement and our direct engagement. That has recently included case studies with children with SEND, their families, nurseries, schools and colleges, as part of the Schools White Paper communications. We have spoken to a broad range of young people, parents and carers, and are working with SEND professionals and campaigners to deliver webinars and explainer social media content on reforms to parents of children and young people with SEND.

We have also engaged people with lived experience in behind-the-scenes development of communications, so that messaging, tone and content reflect real experiences. We continue to work with SEND organisations, giving us a route to engagement with parents, carers and young people who do not follow us.

We recognise that good communication on SEND must go beyond information sharing. By involving those with direct experience and expertise from the outset, we can produce communications that better serve children and young people with SEND, their families, and the workforce supporting them.