School Fees: VAT

Baroness Kramer Excerpts

Monday 13th October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I absolutely agree with my noble friend on that point. This is a necessary decision that will generate additional funding to help improve public services, including the Government’s commitments relating to education and young people. This Government are committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and are determined to drive up standards in those schools serving the overwhelming majority of children in this country so that they may receive the opportunities they deserve.

[Baroness Kramer (LD)]

My Lords, one of our greatest concerns is that SEN pupils without an EHCP are forced from private schools that have the capacity to support them to state schools without the resources to do the same. Have the Government been tracking how many of those SEN pupils without an EHCP have moved, and are they looking at the impact on both children and schools, including school finances?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her question. I know that this is an issue that she cares deeply about; we have had discussions on this point in the past. We recognise that the current SEN system is not delivering the outcomes that pupils and parents rightly expect and is placing unsustainable burdens upon schools, local authorities and taxpayers. The Government will set out the detail of our reform plans in the context of the wider schools strategy later this year. In terms of specific pupil movements, as I say, those movements are in line with the estimates that we set out at the time of the last Budget. Those estimates were assessed by the OBR and we remain confident in them. It is worth noting that so far this year 49 private schools have closed but 70 private schools have opened, and of those 70 private schools, 59 are special educational schools.