Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of demand for school places in specialist settings.

Demand for specialist school placements has grown in recent years, with over 50,000 more pupils placed in special schools compared to 2017.

We have responded to this by developing new specialist provision. We are investing £2.6 billion between 2022 and 2025 to deliver new specialist places in mainstream and special schools. Our Free Schools programme has opened 77 special and 50 alternative provision free schools across the country since 2010, with 67 similar projects in the pipeline.

The recent Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan will give families greater confidence that their child will be able to fulfil their potential through improved mainstream provision in their local setting.

For those children and young people with SEND who do require an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan and specialist provision, we will ensure they get prompt access to the support they need, and that parents do not face an adversarial system to secure this.