Schools White Paper: Every Child Achieving and Thriving

Adrian Ramsay Excerpts

Monday 23rd February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Bridget Phillipson]

I understand my hon. Friend’s point and I am grateful to her. We will create and put in statute a set of nationally consistent specialist provision packages underpinned by clear national standards and shaped and defined by experts to bring an end to the postcode lottery and ensure consistency wherever someone happens to be.

[Adrian Ramsay (Waveney Valley) (Green)]

I welcome the ambition in the White Paper, particularly to ensure that young people are supported earlier. It has to be the right aim that more young people can be supported within mainstream settings. Is the Secretary of State committed to understanding the reasons for the big increase in the number of young people who cannot be supported in mainstream school and to providing the necessary funding and support to schools? Does she accept that, at the same time, there is not currently enough capacity in alternative provision for young people for whom mainstream school is not working?

[Bridget Phillipson]

There is complexity around this. We need to continue to understand the needs that are developing and the failure to meet them sooner. That is a big part of the challenge. As a country, we have not been meeting need as quickly as we should. I would add that, for too long, we have treated the SEND system as an entirely separate part of the education system and not as central to our schools. That is the shift we will bring and that is how we will ensure that all our schools better cater for a wider range of need.