Children with SEND: Assessments and Support

Ben Coleman Excerpts

Monday 15th September 2025 Westminster Hall

[Ben Coleman (Chelsea and Fulham) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Dr Allin-Khan. In my constituency, 158 families signed the petition. We have heard that too many disabled children, not just in my constituency of Chelsea and Fulham, but across the country, are being let down. Parents feel that they must fight every step of the way just to get the help that their children are entitled to.

One problem is that under current law, schools are only required to use their “best endeavours” to support children with special educational needs. That is quite a vague obligation. Some schools—including in my constituency—step up magnificently, but others, under financial pressure, reduce or remove support and nothing holds them to account.

The results are stark. A recent survey found that 60% of disabled children who do not have an education, health and care plan are avoiding school due to the lack of support. Because of this broken system, families are often cruelly forced into—as we have heard—lengthy and difficult procedures to get EHCPs, even though their children’s needs could have been met earlier through proper support in mainstream schools if it existed. As we have heard, that is driving up costs, with councils having to pay for expensive private placements to the extent that some are in significant distress.

I welcome the Government’s confirmation that the legal right to assessment support is going to be retained, but we need stronger, clearer protections for disabled children’s education. That is why I support a proposal from the charities Contact and IPSEA to amend section 66 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Let us replace the vague phrase “best endeavours” with clear statutory duties, so that schools are legally required to identify a child’s needs, put a plan in writing, and either deliver that support or refer the case to the local authority. If funding accompanies those new rights, we will reduce the cost of EHCPs, because people will not want to get them as much, and we will reduce the cost of tribunals and costly private provision.

[Josh Babarinde (Eastbourne) (LD)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Ben Coleman]

I am afraid I am running out of time—ah yes, I will happily give way.

[Josh Babarinde]

The hon. Gentleman can thank me for intervening. He talks about costs and legal requirements, but does he agree that in many areas hedge-fund-backed independent specialist schools are taking cash from our starving system? There is no cap on their profits, they do not have to report on their attainment and they do not have the same level of transparency as maintained schools. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that we need to get to grips with the unscrupulous hedge-fund-backed providers, to make sure that kids and families are not taken advantage of?

--- Later in debate ---

[Ben Coleman]

I am most grateful for that question, for many reasons. There is a huge problem with private equity hedge-funds going into private education, just as they have gone into care homes. That problem needs to be addressed, first, by making provision in the state sector much better than it is now. It should be as good as it can be so that people do not find they need an EHCP, because the SEND support is there anyway, and if they do get one, their needs can be met in the state sector and we do not have to go to the expensive private sector. That is why I hope that in the Budget the Treasury will see the need for funding proper SEND provision, because that will save money in the long term. The Treasury does not like the term “invest to save”, but I think it is a good one in this context.

We have a wonderful new Minister. I commend her for the time she has already spent listening to families and teachers. I hope she will now act, in co-production with families, to put SEND support on a solid legal footing, to ditch the Conservatives’ legacy of failure and to build an education system in which every child matters.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

Home-to-School Transport: Children with SEND

Ben Coleman Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd December 2024 Westminster Hall

[Ben Coleman (Chelsea and Fulham) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) for securing this debate. It is fantastic to see so many hon. Members and hon. Friends sticking up for disabled children and young people and their families. That reflects the focus that we have had on SEND in this new Parliament.

According to Contact, a charity for families with disabled children aged 25 or under, 79% of disabled young people are being denied or charged for school transport when they turn 16. One in 10 of them pays more than £1,000 a year, and nearly half of families experience increased stress and financial difficulties. Although I am pleased that in Fulham, which is part of my constituency, the Labour council has chosen not to charge for transport and to maintain free educational transport for disabled children and young people up to the age of 25, I recognise from all that I have heard today and all that I know that that is far from being the case elsewhere. We need to end that unfairness and change the statutory framework, and we need to make free educational transport available to all up to the age of 25.

Finally, I encourage those who want to know more about the significant additional costs of caring for disabled children and young people to come to an event that I will be chairing in the Thatcher Room tomorrow at 5.30 pm, at which Contact will launch new research into this issue.

Primary School Breakfast Clubs

Ben Coleman Excerpts

Monday 18th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dhesi]

I thank my hon. Friend and fellow member of the Defence Committee—not only has he been a passionate advocate on defence, but he has advocated for his constituents on numerous matters today. I fully concur with his views. I have attended various Magic Breakfast events and seen some of the great work done by charities; it is wonderful and heartening to see that there are people who care within our community, but it should not be just up to charities. This is an issue affecting everybody within society, and it is great to see a new Labour Government taking leadership on it.

[Ben Coleman (Chelsea and Fulham) (Lab)]

In the Fulham part of my constituency, children in primary schools have enjoyed free breakfasts since 2019. The council initially negotiated that from developers and now it pays for them itself. It has also started providing free school lunches at one of the schools in Fulham. Does my hon. Friend agree that the threshold for children to receive free school meals is currently far too high, and that we ought to be aiming for every child to be given a free breakfast and a free lunch, to avoid the stigma that can damage children’s confidence and impair their performance?

[Mr Dhesi]

It is wonderful to see some of the work happening within my hon. Friend’s constituency. That is another aspect of this debate, because normally his constituency would be associated with being more affluent, but among all of our constituencies there are pockets of serious social deprivation and children going without the meals that are required. I am sure that the Minister will have heard his views and I am hopeful that in due course that is something that the Government may well be able to implement.

Free breakfast clubs are about fighting not only poverty, but obesity. In Slough, shockingly, 26% of children aged 11 to 12 are obese. We also see a higher-than-average prevalence of cardiovascular diseases.