Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 22 November (HL Deb, cols 325–8), whether they will conduct an inquiry into reports that local councils spent £100 million in four years to prevent parents obtaining support for children with special needs, losing nine out of ten cases.

The government does not have any plans to conduct such an inquiry.

The government has made fundamental changes to the way the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support system works for families. The system is now more person-centred with significant direction given to local authorities, and other bodies, to engage effectively with families.

Local authorities should respond appropriately to any SEND Tribunal appeal. In doing so, they will inevitably incur costs. When families make appeals, the local authority will need to judge how to respond to them and in doing so, must put the interests of the child or young person first.

The government are investing £20 million until March 2020 to improve the quality of local information, advice and support services available to families, and to provide guidance and training to local authorities to help improve the quality of education, health and care (EHC) plans.

Parents have the right to ask that an independent school, approved under Section 41 of the Children and Families Act (2014) and published in a list available to all parents and young people, be named on their EHC plan.

The local authority must, after consultation with the school, name the requested school unless specific criteria apply. These conditions are that the school would be unsuitable for the young person’s needs, incompatible with the efficient education of others or an inefficient use of the local authority’s resources.

Parents may also make representations for a place at an independent school that is not on the Section 41 list and the local authority must consider their request. While not under the same conditional duty to name the provider, the local authority must have regard to the general principle that children should be educated in accordance with their parents’ wishes if this is compatible with the provision of efficient instruction and does not cause unreasonable public expenditure.