Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce a statutory requirement for local authorities and Integrated Care Boards to jointly commission services across all layers of SEND support.

Under section 26 of the Children and Families Act 2014, local authorities and Integrated Care Boards have an existing duty to jointly commission the arrangements for the education, health and care of children and young people with Special educational needs and disability (SEND) in the local area.

In the SEND consultation, the government asked how to ensure the most effective use of SEND local partnerships through the SEND reforms. Partnership working includes the existing joint commissioning arrangements between local authorities and Integrated Care Boards.

The consultation has now closed. The department is carefully reviewing and taking into account all responses submitted to the consultation alongside feedback from over 200 engagement events we held over 12 weeks and will set out our response in due course.