Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to enable the state education system to provide alternative provision without recourse to the private sector.

The government is committed to meeting children's educational and social needs earlier, so that wherever possible they can remain in their mainstream school. Where alternative provision is required, it should be as part of a planned intervention delivered through local partnerships, with the right educational and welfare expertise to support the child's needs.