Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help improve the quality of special educational needs and disabilities provision in Yeovil constituency.

The department continues to support improvements in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision in Somerset, including in Yeovil.

This financial year, Somerset Council received £8.4 million through the High Needs Provision Capital Allocation to expand specialist provision and improve accessibility in mainstream schools.

Six primary schools in Yeovil are also participating in the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools programme. This initiative brings together health and education professionals, and expert parent carers, to strengthen whole school SEND provision, upskill staff, and improve outcomes for neurodivergent pupils.

The department and NHS England continue to engage with the Somerset SEND partnership and are occasional observers to their SEND partnership board to support system-wide improvement.

We also support educational outcomes through academy trust oversight and regional improvement for standards and excellence initiatives.

The government’s ambition is that all children and young people with SEND or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed.