Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve the provision of SEND support for children in Reigate constituency.

The department is continuing to support and challenge Surrey to improve the delivery of its special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services, following the most recent local area SEND inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission in September 2023.

This inspection found that the local area partnership’s arrangements led to inconsistent experiences and outcomes for children and young people. In response, the Surrey partnership has developed a strategic plan with specific actions to address the areas for improvement that were identified in the inspection report.

The four areas for improvement identified were:

• The partnership board should further develop their strategic evaluation of all partnership projects and interventions, in order to improve their ability to monitor at a systemic level the impact of these projects and interventions and their outcomes on children and young people.
• Leaders across the partnership should improve communication from special educational needs case officers and practitioners to parents and carers, so that all stakeholders are supported to understand the system and decision-making, and feel fully involved in the journey with their child or young person.
• Leaders across health, social care and education should ensure that improvements continue in line with their recovery plan in respect of:
• reducing waiting times for health assessments;
• increasing timeliness and quality of needs assessments; and,
• increasing timeliness and quality of education, health and care plans and annual reviews.
• Leaders in education should continue to review the breadth and offer of alternative provision (AP), in order to inform commissioning so that AP meets children and young people’s needs and improves their outcomes.

The department, working alongside NHS England, has put into place systems to track the progress that the Surrey partnership is making against these areas for improvement and to offer support where appropriate. For example, the department has put in place a SEND advisor who will continue to provide support and advice to the local authority.

Furthermore, Surrey County Council entered into a Safety Valve agreement with the department in March 2022, with a view to addressing the effectiveness and financial sustainability of the local high needs system.