Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to their Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan (CP 800) which states that most pupils going into AP have a special educational need, what structure they expect to put in place for identifying what specific special educational needs individuals pupils have; and in what timeframe.

This government supports Alternative Provision (AP) schools to use their specialist skills and experience to asses the special educational needs of individual pupils referred to them. The department would expect such assessments to be made quickly but, given the variability in individual need, the department believes it would not be appropriate to set a single timeframe for this assessment.

As set out in the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and AP Improvement Plan, published in March, it is the department’s intention that AP schools will work closely in partnership with mainstream settings to provide high-quality, targeted support and one-to-one interventions. This will build capacity in mainstream schools to identify and support needs early, reducing the numbers of preventable exclusions and expensive long-term placements, and leading to improvements in children’s wellbeing and outcomes.

The department will invest in the workforce across education, health and care to build the capacity of the specialist workforce and to improve confidence and expertise in supporting children and young people with SEND promptly and effectively.

The department is implementing high-quality teacher training reforms which begin with initial teacher training and continues into early career teaching, through to middle and senior leadership. These reforms are designed to ensure teachers have the skills to support all pupils to succeed, including those with SEND and in AP schools.