Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they have made (1)
in developing the SEND Futures initiative, and (2) in their
internal review of special educational needs provision.
(Con)
My Lords, we are determined to deliver lasting improvements to
the SEND system, taking into account the impact of Covid-19. We
remain committed to the cross-government SEND review and intend
to publish findings early next spring. The SEND Futures research
study is progressing well. The value-for-money feasibility study
was published on 5 November and fieldwork for the longitudinal
study, which will track the outcomes and experiences of children,
is set to commence in March.
(Lab)
My Lords, before Covid there was a welcome in this House for the
capital spend on additional physical places for special
educational needs, but a deep worry, which has been reinforced by
Ofsted’s most recent report and by the knowledge we have across
the country, that young people with special educational needs and
disabilities are the ones who have lost out most during the Covid
crisis. Surely the Government will now come forward with
programmes that will use the existing £350 million for tutoring,
but without the charge on schools of having to find a quarter of
the cost, which is making it prohibitive in terms of being able
to deliver the kind of support that all of us would wish for.
(Con)
My Lords, the Government absolutely recognise that children with
special educational needs have been hard hit by the Covid crisis.
We are pleased that the vast majority of them are now back in
school. I say to the noble Lord that in the other part of that
catch-up package—the £650 million to support schools to make up
for lost teaching time—specialist settings are getting £240 per
funded place in comparison with mainstream schools, which get £80
per pupil. That additional weighting is to reflect the higher
costs of specialist settings.
(PC) [V]
My Lords, I draw attention to my relevant interests in the
register. Will the Minister assure the House that the outcomes of
the review will not lead to any dilution or reduction of those
rights and protections for children and their parents that are
provided for in current legislation?
(Con)
My Lords, without pre-empting the results of the review, I can
give the noble Lord that reassurance. The aim of the review is to
improve outcomes for children and their families across the
country, deliver on commitments that we have made in legislation
and improve value for money for the investment that we are
putting in.
(Con) [V]
My Lords, following the recent, welcome feasibility study and its
conclusions, is it not nevertheless now even more difficult to
design comparable but specific plans everywhere for individual
children and young people with EHC needs?
(Con)
The feasibility study findings re-emphasise that there are
diverse levels of support needs and differing approaches to
meeting these needs. The challenge that this presents is
something that the SEND review is addressing. The findings
confirmed that it is feasible to undertake a value-for-money
assessment in the near term, and also outlined how to fill
existing evidence gaps in order for the department to complete
more value-for-money assessments over the longer term.
(CB) [V]
My Lords, will the Minister please tell the House whether
government provision includes young offenders with special
educational needs?
(Con)
My Lords, the Government have a commitment to deliver for young
people with special educational needs, regardless of the setting
that they are in. That includes young offenders.
(Lab) [V]
My Lords, the SEND review is most welcome and urgent. Charities
such as Sense are fighting for families to get special needs
recognised and addressed, particularly at this time of Covid
crisis. Often, complex needs such as autism might not be
recognised for a long time, if ever. Will the Minister say how
the review is addressing such complex needs and what extra
support is needed?
(Con)
One of the key principles of the review is co-production with
parents, families and carers, so that they can input into that
review their diverse range of experiences. I cannot pre-empt the
outcome of that review, but I can tell the noble Baroness that we
are already putting additional resources into the system, with
£730 million going into high needs next year, which is a 10%
increase.
(LD)
My Lords, I remind the House of my declared interests. Does the
Minister agree that many parents have to fight to get their child
recognised as having special educational needs? We simply do not
train our teachers sufficiently to spot even the most commonly
occurring conditions, such as dyslexia, which affects about 10%
of the population. Does she agree that, unless this is dealt
with, there will always be problems later on when people try to
catch up when problems are spotted?
(Con)
My Lords, since 2018 the department has funded the National
Association for Special Educational Needs on behalf of the Whole
School SEND Consortium for a programme of work to embed SEND into
school improvement practice and equip the workforce to deliver
high-quality teaching across all types of SEND, including
dyslexia.
(Con) [V]
Does my noble friend agree that the enormous difference between
local authorities in the rate of giving EHC plans, the huge
variation in schools in the percentage of children labelled as
having SEND, and the variation in SEND by birth date all indicate
that we have serious problems in both diagnosis and definition?
Does she agree that, unless these are sorted out first, any data
that we collect is going to be seriously compromised?
(Con)
My Lords, one of the things that the SEND review wishes to
address is the differing experience across the country. It is
looking at ways to ensure that people receive consistently
high-quality services across the country, regardless of where
they live.
(Lab) [V]
[Inaudible] Labour has managed to identify that £300 million will
be spent in 2021-22 on children with special educational needs
and disabilities. Can the Minister confirm that this is all new
money and advise the House as to how many new places that will
support? How will the Government ensure that we have an
integrated strategy across the education, health and care sectors
and what further thought have they given to ensuring that
poorer-performing authorities level up so that young people with
special educational needs and disabilities have fair access to
services, regardless of their postcode?
(Con)
My Lords, I am afraid that I missed the beginning of the noble
Lord’s question, but I believe he may have been referring to the
£300 million that we are investing in capital projects to support
the creation of new high-needs places and improve existing
provision across a range of settings, including mainstream and
special schools. On support for local authorities that may be
struggling with the delivery of their support services, we have
started a programme of visits by Ofsted and the CQC, working with
local areas to understand the experiences of children and young
people with SEND and their families during the pandemic and to
make recommendations for improvements.
(CB)
[V]
My Lords, SEND pupils comprise a whole spectrum of children with
widely varying behavioural and medical problems, requiring
individually tailored intervention to maximise the education and
life chances of the child. Does the Minister agree that close
liaison with parents or carers is key both to combating
behavioural problems before these become entrenched and to
understanding and meeting medical needs?
(Con)
My Lords, I absolutely agree with the noble Lord about the
important role of parents and carers; that is why we have put
co-production at the heart of our work on special educational
needs.
(Con) [V]
My Lords, delays in education, health and care plans—worsened by
Covid—are hindering children with 22q and 3q29 and other genetic
disorders from accessing either places at special schools or
additional support in mainstream settings. I have familial
experience of these genetic conditions, but they are largely
misunderstood, making EHC plans particularly essential for
accessing timely help with disabilities, which are often hidden.
What are the Government doing to reduce delays and heighten
awareness of the myriad complications arising from genetic
disorders?
(Con)
My Lords, as I said in an earlier answer, we have started a
programme of visits by Ofsted and the CQC, working with local
areas to understand the experience of children and young people,
and helping local areas prioritise and meet their needs where,
for example, there might be delays in producing education, health
and care plans. The Government have also made more resources
available: £4.6 billion has been made available to councils to
respond to the pressures of Covid, including funding for
children’s services.
