The Education Committee today publishes a response from the
Secretary of State for Education, Rt Hon MP, to its letter regarding the Government’s
special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) review.
The Committee’s initial correspondence raised
concerns, based on their predecessor committee’s Special Educational Needs
and Disabilities report, about the lack of resources in the
SEND system and funding being targeted at more costly, late-stage
interventions.
The Committee’s letter also urged the Government to heighten
accountability for schools and councils falling short on SEND
requirements and to increase support for families navigating the
SEND system.
The Government’s response addresses these concerns, referring to
a number of pledges made by the previous Secretary of State.
However, Committee’s Chair, , has now urged the Government
not to renege on these promises, in light of suggestions from the
new Chancellor that areas of government spending may need to be
cut.
The Government’s response covers several concerns raised by the
Committee:
High needs funding: The Committee’s SEND report
and letter to the Secretary of State warned of a “significant
funding shortfall” for SEND services. The Government recognised
this call, and highlighted its commitment to increasing high
needs funding for children and young people with more complex
needs by 21% by the end of the 2023-24 financial year, to £9.7
billion.
New national framework of funding bands: The
letter from the Secretary of State points to the Government’s
proposal in its SEND Green Paper to introduce a national
framework for funding bands and tariffs to reduce current
inconsistencies between councils. These would be matched based on
need and type of education, as set out in the new national SEND
standards. This recognises the recommendations from the
Committee’s report and initial letter which pointed out
that funding was being spent inefficiently by focusing on later
stage, more specialist, intervention.
Disabled apprenticeships: The Committee’s SEND
report noted that there was insufficient support for internships
and apprenticeships for SEND pupils. The Government listened to
our recommendations and has now launched the Disabled Apprentice
Network. This has been instituted to provide insight and evidence
on how to attract and retain disabled people into
apprenticeships.
New ‘strong trust’ criteria: The Government has
launched a regulation and commissioning review to better define
what can constitute a ‘strong’ academy trust. New assessment
criteria will include inclusive practice. The Committee’s SEND
report found that Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC)
inspections had previously judged half of local authority areas
(47 of the 94 areas inspected by the end of July 2019) to have
significant weaknesses.
Family-oriented inspection framework: During its
SEND inquiry, the Committee heard numerous examples of schools
“off-rolling” SEND students – removing them from schools without
excluding them. The Government highlighted that its existing
Education Inspection Framework includes an emphasis on
off-rolling but their letter acknowledges the work of the
Committee and highlights that the proposed new SEND inspection
framework will pay greater attention to the experiences of
children and families in the SEND system, who the Committee had
previously noted were stuck in an “unkind treacle of
bureaucracy”.
Increased Ombudsman role and neutral advocate:
The Government is currently engaging with the Local Government
and Social Care Ombudsman to increase their responsibilities in
schools. The Committee previously called to expand the
Ombudsman's powers beyond “everything up to the school gate”. The
Department for Education has also noted the Committee’s
recommendation to introduce a neutral advocate to address the
challenges families face in navigating the SEND system.
Education Committee Chair MP said:
“This Correspondence was a welcome answer to our concerns about
the SEND system. It is founded on several key pledges which would
serve as important first steps towards providing vulnerable
children with the support they desperately need. I urge the
Government not to backtrack on these pledges.
Children with SEND desperately need the funding increases they
were promised. The disabled apprentice framework has huge
potential to give students with SEND opportunities and skills
they couldn’t get elsewhere.
Similarly, the Government must keep its pledge to crack down on
schools that shut the door on the children they have a duty to
help. A stronger Ombudsman, better defined ’strong trust’
criteria, and a neutral advocate will all help lift families out
of the treacle of bureaucracy currently clogging the system.
Students with SEND are losing opportunities and struggling to
access adequate education. The Department’s promises are good
first steps, but they need to be turned into reality for the
people they are designed to help.”
