Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help improve SEND transport provision.

The government knows that for too long, too many families have been let down by a special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system that is not working. The government is determined to restore parents’ trust that their child will get the support they need to flourish, no matter their needs.

The reforms set out in our consultation, ‘SEND Reform: Putting Children and Young People First’, aim to create a more inclusive school system, enabling more children to succeed in local mainstream settings. We expect fewer children will need to travel long distances to access appropriate education. This will improve outcomes for children and reduce the financial and logistical burden on local authorities.

Ahead of these reforms we are already taking action to support local authorities with home to school transport. We have introduced a new national home to school travel data collection so councils can benchmark spending and created a bespoke home to school funding formula to direct money where it is needed most.

We will be publishing non-statutory guidance on partnership working to support joined-up decision-making to ensure travel arrangements are cost effective and meet children’s needs.