Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life

Mark Francois Excerpts

Monday 7th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Bridget Phillipson]

It is only through my hon. Friend’s election and through a Labour Government that this investment will be coming to her community. The first investment will start to flow this year, allowing her local authority to get the systems and structures in place that will enable them to open up next year. I am delighted that in the first year of a Labour Government my hon. Friend’s constituents are already starting to feel the benefits that come from having sent her to this place.

[Mr Mark Francois (Rayleigh and Wickford) (Con)]

I endorse the tribute to the late Tessa Jowell—she was a remarkable lady.

The Secretary of State pointedly refused to rule out scrapping EHCPs. If that is her intention, may I genuinely offer her some advice? Please do not do that. I have had parents in my surgery in tears of frustration, some of whom have had to spend over two years navigating a bureaucratic assault course to get an EHCP. [Interruption.] Please—if those EHCPs are taken away, there will be an anguished and angry backlash, so whatever the Secretary of State is contemplating on SEN, I ask her please not to abolish EHCPs.

[Bridget Phillipson]

The right hon. Gentleman has set out with great clarity why the system we have at the moment just is not working. His experience is that of many Members across this House; I, too, have met many constituents who have struggled for far too long to get the support that their children deserve. That is why, while we are investing through the Budget and the spending review in more training for staff, more places and better support for children with SEND, we are also taking our time to get this right. I am listening very carefully to parents, campaigners, charities and others, so that the reform we set out deals with precisely the concerns that the right hon. Gentleman has raised—how hard and adversarial it can be, and how parents have lost confidence in the system. On a more positive note, though, his local authority will benefit from today’s announcement, and will receive additional funding towards a Best Start family hub in his community.