Campaigners and experts will share the perspectives of children
and families who have experienced the shortcomings of SEND
provision in schools with the Education Committee.
In this first session of its flagship inquiry, MPs will ask about
the delays and difficulties families face in securing support via
Education Health and Care (EHC) Plans, which are funded by local
authorities and detail the help children with SEND should receive
in school. Only half of councils provide EHC Plans within their
20-week target, and timeliness varies dramatically between local
areas.
The cross-party Committee will query whether SEN Support should
be made a legal requirement for schools to provide rather than
discretionary, or whether this could lead to less flexibility and
more bureaucracy for mainstream schools.
MPs will also ask how schools could gain greater access to health
professionals to meet the needs of children with SEND, both
in-house and working more closely with the NHS, and what the
Department for Education can do to boost numbers of school staff
with specialist training.
A second panel of witnesses will be asked how the system can
improve the experiences of children with SEND as they transition
from primary to secondary and post-16 phases, and how to tackle
the disproportionately high numbers of exclusions that involve
children with SEND.
There will be questions about how accountability and complaints
processes can be improved, including what Ofsted's new inclusion
criteria should look like.
There will also be questions about how the Government can make
the distribution of funding for SEND places and support more
equitable across the country and the impact of Government
interventions to relieve financial pressures on councils. A
growing number of councils are concerned about their financial
future as the statutory override, which lets councils keep their
SEND overspends off their balance sheets, is set to end in March
2026.
Witnesses from 10:00
· Katie Ghose, CEO,
Kids
· Amanda Allard, Director,
Council for Disabled Children
· Imogen Steele, Policy and
public affairs officer, Contact
From 11:00
· Hayley Harding, Founder,
Let Us Learn Too
· Agnes Agyepong, CEO and
founder, Global Black Maternal Health
· Jo Harrison, Director and
Co-Chair, National Network of Parent Carer Forums
· Tania Tirraoro,
Co-Director, Special Needs Jungle
