Children with SEND: Assessments and Support

Georgia Gould Excerpts

Monday 15th September 2025 Westminster Hall

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Georgia Gould)]

I thank the hon. Member for South Cotswolds (Dr Savage) for introducing the debate. The strength of feeling expressed by everyone in the room shows how important it is; I feel that the voices of children and families from every part of the country were heard in the Chamber today. It was such a powerful discussion, partly because so much work has gone on to set up listening exercises in constituencies and hear voices around the country. My hon. Friend the Member for Dartford (Jim Dickson) said that a report was coming to the Secretary of State, and many have written in. I would like to take the time to meet those who have spent so much time with their constituents and hear directly from them. I know that one or two minutes is not enough time to get across the depth of these issues and the depth of concern.

I look forward to the publication of the Education Committee report this week. The Committee’s Chair, my hon. Friend the Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes), spoke powerfully about it and I know that it was deeply researched. I hope that I can spend time with her to hear her findings.

I thank the parents who have sat through the debate in the Public Gallery for bringing their voices into the room. I know how hard it is for many parents of children with special educational needs to travel. Even if they are not in the room today, the voices of the more than 125,000 parents who signed the petition have been heard.

[Victoria Collins (Harpenden and Berkhamsted) (LD)]

From the SEND rally to the petition and the Lib Dems’ SEND summit in Hertfordshire today, those voices are being heard. I thank the Minister, who met Rachel and Siouxsie from my constituency today. Siouxsie has developmental language disorder and often feels invisible. Will the Minister guarantee that voices such as hers truly will be heard and that children’s individual needs will be brought forward for proper provision?

--- Later in debate ---

[Georgia Gould]

Siouxsie gave me a flag by which to remember young people with speech and language issues. That will be in my office, and I will think about those young people every day in this job. I am grateful to all the organisations and parents who have met me. I am also grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft), who hosted a really powerful roundtable and drop-in earlier so that I could hear from amazing schools that are leading inclusive practice, want to do this work and want to work with the Government.

I ran a council for seven years and spent 14 years in local government. I met so many parents in my own borough and many others who told me the problems with the system, which we have heard about really powerfully today. I met parents who could see that issues were starting early but were not listened to and had to fight for support. I met parents who found that there was no support available until there was a diagnosis. We heard so many stories of the months, and sometimes years, that parents and young people have had to wait. I met parents who found that not only education but wider services, such as playgrounds and youth services, were not set up for their children, or were living in very overcrowded housing and found it difficult to manage their children’s needs. I met parents who could not find local schools that could meet their children’s needs and parents—we heard examples of this today—who had had to give up work to be able to support their children.

I have met children who do not feel comfortable going to school because of their experiences when they were younger; one talked to me earlier about the trauma she had from having to go to a school that was not set up to meet her needs.

[Tom Gordon]

Will the Minister give way?

[Georgia Gould]

I will make some progress as we do not have much time and there were so many different comments.

I have heard from young people who found when applying for college that their EHCP had not been updated since they were very young and colleges said they could not meet their needs. Some of the stories that are hardest to hear are those of people who have had to fight every single year, whose child is now 18, and who can see all the missed opportunities and feel so deeply let down, and of children have lost confidence in the support available.

Too many parents feel they have to arm up for battle when interacting with the system. They do not want to resort to the tribunal, but sometimes feel that is the only way to get support. My hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield (Steve Yemm) said that parents are exhausted. So many parents say that they are exhausted by having to fight and, heartbreakingly, that they feel broken by the system. I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Walthamstow (Ms Creasy), who criticised the comments by the Reform leadership attacking parents who are just fighting for their children to get the support that they need. I know parents will never give up, because they want to support their children.

We cannot start this discussion without acknowledging how many children and families have been badly let down by the system. Many within the system are also struggling: teachers who do not feel like they have the right training or support to meet need in the classroom, as we heard from so many Members today; schools that want more specialist support, such as speech and language therapy, for their children but do not have access to it; and local authorities that did not get the investment they needed to build a local offer and so are paying for expensive private provision far away from communities.

[Gregory Stafford]

I thank the Minister for outlining many of the problems in the system. She has now had six out of her 10 minutes and she has not told us what the Government are going to do. Can I press her to tell us what the Government are actually going to do?

[Georgia Gould]

I think it is just very important that we hear from parents. When I spoke to them yesterday, one of the things they said was that it is critical that they hear from the Government that we understand the challenges that they face before we move forward.

There is also some amazing practice going on, and we heard about it today: schools that are supporting children and young people, and teaching assistants who are investing in that support. We heard the wonderful example from Colne Valley, where neurodiversity training has been put in place.

[Daisy Cooper]

On that point, will the Minister give way?

[Georgia Gould]

I am going to make progress.

This morning I visited a school that is doing amazing work to provide support in the classroom, in mainstream provision, for children and young people. The children I meet have big dreams and deserve the chance to thrive. The Secretary of State for Education has made it absolutely clear that under this Government no child will be left behind, and we will reform the system so that children with special educational needs are at the heart of the education system. There will always be a legal right to additional support for children and young people with special educational needs.

As I approach this new role, there are a number of principles guiding me. First, the voices of children, young people and their families, and of teachers and those supporting them, must be at the forefront of reform.

[Adam Dance]

Will the Minister give way?

[Georgia Gould]

I will make progress, because we do not have much time.

Over the last year, the Secretary of State and my predecessor have spent a huge amount of time with families to make sure that their voices are heard. Secondly, children should get support when they need it, as early as possible.

[Adam Dance]

Will the Minister give way? It will take 10 seconds.

[Georgia Gould]

I will.

[Adam Dance]

With my ten-minute rule Bill, I have given the Minister good ideas to take forward. Will she look at including them in the White Paper?

[Georgia Gould]

I heard the hon. Member introduce his Bill. He spoke so powerfully about his personal journey, and this House is a better place because he is in it. The points he raised about investing in teacher training across the board are critical and have to be part of the future.

The second principle, which we have heard about from almost every speaker, is that children need to get support when issues first appear; early intervention has to be the basis of reform. Thirdly, children with special educational needs should not have to go miles away from their families and communities to get the right support. We need to invest in support within our communities.

Finally, support for young people to thrive is not just for schools. I have heard the words “collaboration” and “co-design” so many times in this debate. It is about play, it is about youth clubs, it is about local health services; it is about workplaces that celebrate neurodiversity. We are talking about one in five of our young people: we all know somebody who has special educational needs, and those individuals bring so much creativity and so many ideas.

[Saqib Bhatti]

Will the Minister give way? It will take five seconds.

[Georgia Gould]

I have 29 seconds left.

It is really important to acknowledge that in 14 years of local government I saw so many families let down. My commitment, as we move forward, is to work with the parents who have turned up and the parents who signed the petition to get this right for families and to set out reforms that will really transform young people’s lives.