Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps they are taking to support local councils to be able to provide young people with Special Educational Needs with school transport.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
The department’s home-to-school travel policy aims to make sure no child is prevented from accessing education by a lack of transport. Local authorities must arrange free home-to-school travel for children of compulsory school age who attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of their special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or mobility problem
Local authorities must also ensure that transport arrangements do not prevent young people, including those with SEND, from accessing post-16 education and have a duty to set out available support in their annual Transport Policy Statement and Local Offer.
The department knows challenges in the SEND system are creating pressures on home-to-school travel. The department will reform the SEND system to enable more children to thrive in local mainstream settings. This will mean fewer children needing to travel long distances to access education.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the level of delays in issuing Education, Health and Care Plans in Essex.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Many children wait too long for their education, health and care plans, and support often comes too late and only after escalation.
We are determined to make improvements, as set out in our recent consultation on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reform. An expert adviser from the department has been working with Essex County Council to support them with their reform plans.
The number of tribunal appeals recorded in Essex in 2024 was 679. Appeals to the SEND Tribunal and mediation under the Children and Families Act 2014 relate to specified local authority decisions, not delays. Where parents are unhappy about delays, they can take this up through local complaints procedures and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the time taken for Education, Health and Care Plan assessments in Essex on children’s access to appropriate educational support.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Many children wait too long for their education, health and care plans, and support often comes too late and only after escalation.
We are determined to make improvements, as set out in our recent consultation on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reform. An expert adviser from the department has been working with Essex County Council to support them with their reform plans.
The number of tribunal appeals recorded in Essex in 2024 was 679. Appeals to the SEND Tribunal and mediation under the Children and Families Act 2014 relate to specified local authority decisions, not delays. Where parents are unhappy about delays, they can take this up through local complaints procedures and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of mediation cases and SEND Tribunal appeals arising from delays to Education, Health and Care Plans in Essex.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Many children wait too long for their education, health and care plans, and support often comes too late and only after escalation.
We are determined to make improvements, as set out in our recent consultation on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reform. An expert adviser from the department has been working with Essex County Council to support them with their reform plans.
The number of tribunal appeals recorded in Essex in 2024 was 679. Appeals to the SEND Tribunal and mediation under the Children and Families Act 2014 relate to specified local authority decisions, not delays. Where parents are unhappy about delays, they can take this up through local complaints procedures and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that further education colleges are included in the design and implementation of the SEND reforms set out in the Schools White Paper, including the new Individual Support Plan system and the Inclusive Mainstream Fund.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Our special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reform proposals, including the new Individual Support Plans and the Inclusive Mainstream Fund, aim to improve help and support for children and young people with SEND up to age 25. The consultation document explains the changes we plan to make and asks for comments from everyone with an interest.
Our proposals were informed by our national conversation on SEND, through a series of online conversations and regional events. For the post-16 sector this also included two roundtables, a series of follow-up discussions with key stakeholders on emerging themes and visits to colleges by departmental officials and Ministers.
During the consultation period, we are engaging with the post-16 sector in several ways, including a series of webinar events, facilitated by post-16 membership organisations, which are aimed directly at providers, and including representatives of the post-16 sector in key working groups such as the SEND development group. These seek to provide clarity on key proposals and offer an opportunity for open discussion so that providers feel able to make informed written responses to the consultation.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to embed CPR training in schools in a) Epping Forest constituency and b) England.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Epping Forest to the answer of 28 November 2025 to Question 92868.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support pupils with SEND in Epping Forest.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
On 16 January, the government announced a £200 million investment over the course of this Parliament to upskill staff in every school, college and nursery, ensuring a skilled workforce for generations to come. This builds on the landmark £3 billion investment to create more specialist places and ensure more children and young people can thrive at a setting close to home.
We are also determined to deliver reform that stands the test of time and rebuilds the confidence of families, which is why we are currently engaging a wide range of people and organisations, including parents and young people, in every region of the country to inform development of our proposals and ensure that lived experience and partnership are at the heart of our solutions.
We will set out our proposals for reform in the upcoming Schools White Paper, and we will consult widely on these proposals and continue to work with a wide range of partners to refine them and deliver them.
Essex is currently undergoing a local area special educational needs and disabilities inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission, the results of which will be published in due course.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve the process of applying for an ECHP.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
This government inherited a special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system that has failed to meet the needs of families for far too long.
We want to ensure that, where required, education, health and care (EHC) needs assessments are progressed promptly and, if required, high-quality EHC plans are issued in line with statutory deadlines.
The department continues to monitor and work closely with local authorities that have issues with EHC plan timeliness. Where there are concerns about a local authority’s capacity to make the required improvements, we help to identify the problems and put in place an effective recovery plan. This includes, where needed, providing specialist SEND Advisor support to help identify the barriers to carrying out the EHC plan process in a timely way and put in place practical plans for recovery.
We are working closely with experts, including parents, local authorities, SEND organisations and education settings across the country, as we consider the next steps for SEND reform.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to provide mental health support in schools in Epping Forest constituency.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
The government is providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school by expanding Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs). 53% of schools and colleges in Epping Forest constituency were supported by an MHST in March 2025. Further data for 2024/25 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-provision. This has been available since 16 May 2025 at national, regional and local authority level and since 10 July 2025 at constituency level. Around six in ten pupils nationally are expected to have access to an MHST by March 2026. Under government plans, all pupils will have access to mental health support in school by 2029/30.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support pupils with SEND in Epping Forest constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
This government’s ambition is that every child or young person receives the best possible educational experience, one that is academically stretching, where every child or young person feels like they belong and that sets them up for life and work.
As part of our Plan for Change, we are determined to fix the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system and restore parents’ trust by ensuring schools have the tools to better identify and support children before issues escalate to crisis point.
We will build a better system which is grounded in evidence, identifies and supports need at the earliest opportunity and ensures families can secure support swiftly without a fight. There will always be a legal right to the additional support that children with SEND need.