Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of education, health and care plans.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Under the education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment process, local authorities must seek information and advice from a range of partners, including the child or young person and their parents, their school or college (if any), health and social care partners, an educational psychologist and other relevant professionals.
If it is determined necessary for special educational provision to be made for the child or young person, the local authority must prepare an EHC plan which will say clearly what the child or young person’s needs are and what help they will be entitled to.
We know that families face issues with EHC plans and that it can sometimes take a long time for support to be delivered.
This government believes that in a well-functioning system, that is why we are committed to addressing the systemic issues that make special educational needs and disabilities support so hard to access for many families.
We are thinking about how to protect support for the children that will always need specialist placements, and make accessing that support less bureaucratic and adversarial, and how we can intervene earlier so support can be provided regardless of whether a legal plan is in place.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her planned timeline is for publishing the planned White Paper on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Hornchurch and Upminster to the answer of 2 June 2025 to Question 53641.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that young disabled people are able to participate in work experience.
Answered by Anne Milton
We want all young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to be able to access high quality external work placements. This is so they can benefit from real life work experience in the same way as any other student.
The Government is aware that SEND students may require more support when embarking on a work experience placement. We have recently launched a work placements Capacity and Delivery Fund which will receive £74 million in additional funding from April 2018. This will help providers boost their capacity to provide work placements from 2018/19.
We expect providers to use some of this fund, alongside other available funding (e.g., High Needs Funding), to provide additional support and any reasonable adjustments within the workplace. This will enable students with SEND to access the same quality of provision as their peers.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that young disabled people are able to access good quality careers advice.
Answered by Anne Milton
The Government is taking steps to improve careers education and guidance for all ages. We are investing over £70m this year to help young people and adults access quality careers provision.
The Government is also funding specialist training for careers advisers working with young people who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). And we will be supporting post-16 providers in developing training and materials to help young people entering the workplace.
The careers strategy, which will be published shortly, will include proposals to improve the quality and coverage of careers advice in schools. In particular, these will provide aspirational careers advice for children, young people and adults with SEND.