Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to address the findings of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills in her 2017–18 Annual Report in relation to provision for children with special education needs and disabilities (SEND); and what plans they have to improve (1) identification of SEND, and (2) outcomes for those who do not quite meet the threshold for an education, health and care plan.

We are grateful to Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills for her 2017 to 2018 Annual Report and will carefully consider the findings.

Local area special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) inspections and revisits carried out by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission are intended to support improvement and provide reassurance to families that areas will be held to account. They have become a significant driver of improvement in the system and have identified a number of strengths around identification of needs and support for those children without an education, health and care (EHC) plan. We are working with partners - including NHS England - to spread this effective practice more widely.

The statutory SEND Code of Practice sets out high expectations of schools about how they identify and meet the special educational needs (SEN) of their pupils. This guidance is attached.

We have made clear through the framework for initial teacher training (ITT) that it should equip trainees to identify the needs of all pupils and make provision for them, including seeking the advice of colleagues with specialist knowledge and experience. We are currently undertaking an audit of university-based and school-based providers of ITT which we will use to produce a best practice guide.

Schools must ensure that staff can meet the needs of children with SEND, including those without EHC plans, as part of their approach to school improvement, professional development and performance management. All schools (including academies and free schools) must also have a SEN co-ordinator who must hold qualified teacher status and, where required, must achieve the master’s level national award in SEN co-ordination within three years of being appointed.

We have a contract with the Whole School SEND Consortium, led by the National Association for SEN, to provide support to the SEND schools’ workforce. The consortium has produced resources and training to enable schools to review their SEND provision and to ensure they can identify and meet the needs of pupils effectively. Additionally, the department has funded a range of organisations to develop specialist resources and training to support teachers to identify and effectively meet the needs of pupils with autism; dyslexia and specific learning difficulties; speech, language and communication needs; sensory impairments and physical disabilities. All the materials funded by the department are hosted on the SEND gateway, an online portal which offers education professionals free, easy access to high quality information, resources and training for identifying and meeting the needs of children with SEND.