Extract from Commons
statement on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
Review
(Twickenham) (LD): I put
on record my thanks to the Secretary of State for briefing me and
my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton () last week on today’s Green Paper and yesterday’s White
Paper.
The Green Paper mentions that the SEND system is “bureaucratic
and adversarial”, “not equally accessible”, and takes a
“heavy emotional—and sometimes financial—”
toll on parents. Parents in my constituency would very much
identify with that. People have been waiting three long years for
this Green Paper, which is a welcome step forward, but parents,
school staff and children alike are dismayed that there will be a
further 13-week consultation, with legislation some time after
that. The Secretary of State has said that the review has been
shaped by parents and teachers, so when will parents in
Twickenham and across the country see the impact of the
changes?
The Secretary of State for Education (): It was good to brief
the hon. Lady and the right hon. Member for Kingston and
Surbiton. The Green Paper has had a warm welcome from the unions
the Association of
School and College Leaders and the National
Association of Head Teachers, with some challenges around
implementation and how we do this well on the ground from the
Local Government Association. Our work in early years and post-16
education has also been welcomed.
The hon. Lady asks when people will see the difference. The
reason why I went to the Chancellor during the spending review
and got the £2.6 billion, the additional £1 billion and the
safety valve money is that I do not think we can wait until we
have a consultation and get to a place where the whole Green
Paper is a reality on the ground. That is why we are today
announcing £1.4 billion—the first tranche of the £2.6 billion—for
up to 40 new settings, which will see additional provision going
into the system so that parents have the confidence that the
provision will be there for their child. However, she is right:
this has been a long time coming, and I will make sure that we
move at pace on the further reforms that are outlined in the
Green Paper.
Extract from Lords
repeat of Commons statement on the Schools White Paper
(LD):...The White Paper has so
far had quite surprisingly mixed reviews. Geoff Barton, general
secretary of the Association of
School and College Leaders said that, although the
paper outlined promising measures, it lacked ambition or “big
ideas”. The Education Policy Institute think tank said that
pushing all schools to become academies was “no silver bullet”,
and that, although the White Paper contained “some bold aims”, it
seemed
“unlikely that many of these bold pledges will … be met.”
(Lab):...The
Secretary of State would have done well to have studied the
speech given by his shadow, , at the
ASCL conference earlier this month, where she
spoke about the broader aims of education and the importance of
soft skills, creativity and balance in the curriculum. The White
Paper never really gets beyond a fixation with maths and
English....
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