Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for SEND education in Country Durham.
We committed to supporting local authorities who have struggled with their high needs budgets. That is why we are putting £730 million into high needs nationally next year (2021-22), which represents a 10% increase; coming on top of the additional £780 million we have provided this year (2020-21), that means the high needs funding block will have increased by over £1.5 billion, or 24% in just 2 years. County Durham will receive £61.2 million this year, and for next year has a provisional allocation of £69.4 million, an £8.2 million increase. Provisional allocations for 2021-22 can be viewed at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-funding-formula-tables-for-schools-and-high-needs-2021-to-2022.