SEND Provision: South-east England

Debate between Lauren Sullivan and Catherine McKinnell

Tuesday 15th July 2025 Westminster Hall

[The Minister for School Standards (Catherine McKinnell)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Tunbridge Wells (Mike Martin) on securing this debate about an incredibly important subject. He, like many others here today, has a real interest in supporting families in his constituency to navigate the complex and challenging special educational needs and disabilities system. I know that he has met with the regional director for the south-east, Dame Kate Dethridge, to raise directly with her the concerns on a local level.

I want to be clear from the outset that improving the SEND system is a priority for this Government. I have to say that I was a bit surprised by the speech made by the hon. Member for Reigate (Rebecca Paul) and what appeared to be some amnesia about the record that has been inherited. I appreciate that people do not want to talk about the past; they want to talk about the future and how we are going to fix it, and that is what we are focused on. However, we have to be careful to put this issue into the context of the huge challenge that we are currently facing and the absolutely abysmal legacy. It was put on the “too difficult” pile for far too long—it was somebody else’s children who were facing these challenges.

We grasped the issue immediately on coming into Government and are determined to deliver on it because we want all children to receive the right support to succeed in their education and lead happy, healthy and productive adult lives. That message came across clearly in the contributions today. The first thing we did when we came into Government was move the responsibility for special educational needs into the schools group within the Department and into the role of the Minister for Schools because we recognise that that is where the challenges lie. However, it is also where many of the chances to turn around opportunities for children lie.

In recent weeks and months—indeed, since I took this role—we have engaged with and listened to children, young people and parents. We have sought to understand what they want to see change and how we can together co-produce an education system that will lead to better experiences for them and their children and fundamentally drive improved outcomes for children. For too long, the attainment gap between children with special educational needs and their peers has been too large. It is pervasive and has not shifted in the right direction at all.

For example, last month we joined 80 parents at a meeting of the National Network of Parent Carer Forums steering group, alongside key representatives from the Disabled Children’s Partnership, to listen to the current challenges and what they want to see change. We plan to do more of that in the lead-up to publishing the schools White Paper in the autumn, and we will continue to listen beyond that. It is important that we co-produce any reform of the system so that we rebuild the trust of children, parents and families—a trust that has been so badly broken over the past 14 years.

[Dr Lauren Sullivan (Gravesham) (Lab)]

What I have heard from parents in Gravesham, and what I know from my time on Kent county council, is that we have sleepwalked into this crisis. For decades, we have not been listening to the needs of young people. Parents simply want a lawful system—one applied lawfully, with support given at the right time. Will the Minister give some assurance that that is coming soon?

[Catherine McKinnell]

Yes, we absolutely recognise that the current system is really difficult for parents, carers and young people to navigate, and it is not delivering the outcomes we want to see. While we will set out the longer-term approach to reform in the schools White Paper in the autumn, we are clear that the changes we make must improve support for families, stop parents from having to fight for that support and education, and protect the effective provision already in place. We have given that reassurance. We know that sustainable reform will take some time, but we have already begun the work to ensure that children and young people are getting the support they need.

We have introduced the regional improvements for standards and excellence advisers to work with mainstream schools, where we know outcomes need to be better. We want to ensure that all pupils in those schools can achieve and thrive, whatever their background, so we are targeting the support where that challenge is currently greatest. I recently had the opportunity to see that in action in Kent, when I visited Astor secondary school in Dover with Sir Kevan Collins. We met school and trust leaders, as well as the RISE adviser and the supporting organisation, Mulberry Schools Trust. We listened intently to the school’s experience of the programme so far. It is early days, but looking incredibly positive and it was good to see that support being put in place for schools that have been struggling for far too long.

We are also building a robust evidence base on what works to drive inclusive education, including through the creation of the expert advisory group for inclusion, led by Tom Rees. We are extending the partnerships for inclusion of neurodiversity in schools—the PINS programme—to a further cohort of around 1,200 additional mainstream primary schools, to build that teacher and staff capacity to identify and better meet the needs of neurodivergent children in mainstream primary schools. The programme is supported by the Department for Education and the Department for Health, because we absolutely recognise the challenges outlined by a number of hon. Members, including my hon. Friends the Members for Worthing West (Dr Cooper) and for Rochester and Strood (Lauren Edwards), about making sure that we work together with the Department for Health where that is needed.