SEND Provision: South-east England

Polly Billington Excerpts

Tuesday 15th July 2025 Westminster Hall

[Ms Polly Billington (East Thanet) (Lab)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Sir Edward.

We are lucky in East Thanet to have several brilliant council-maintained SEND schools: Forelands Field, Laleham Gap, Stone Bay and St Anthony’s. They do brilliant and vital work, despite the incompetence of Kent county council. I know from my casework just how deep the crisis in special educational needs provision runs. In Kent it is particularly acute, because the previous Tory council administration let the crisis spiral out of control. I have constituents who are frustrated by delays to getting EHCPs, parents who are aggravated by poor communication from the council, and others saying they believe that Kent county council is making the appeals unnecessarily difficult.

Similarly, far too many tribunals in Kent involve parents appealing the inappropriate allocation of school places. Often, as a result, either the state-maintained schools end up oversubscribed and overcrowded, or the spiralling costs of private provision contribute to the dire financial state of Kent county council. The state-maintained schools are now being put through a wildly inappropriate redesignation of the education and support they will offer, putting suitable educational provision for some of our most vulnerable children even further at risk.

The previous Tory administration was forced to apologise after a damning Ofsted report found that the council had “not made sufficient progress” in tackling nine areas that were identified following an inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission. The report quoted one parent as saying:

“Communication is poor, co-production is non-existent…it feels as though my son’s needs are not being prioritised, and they don’t care. They are incompetent.”

I am afraid to say that I do not have any confidence that things will improve under the new Reform administration. In the few months that they have been in power, we have seen important meetings cancelled, cabinet members sacked, councillors suspended and chaos ensuing throughout the council—all while the new council leader went on holiday.

Although it is only right that we champion fantastic SEND schools, it is important to acknowledge that many children would be better served by mainstream schools that have adequate SEND support available, creating inclusive environments for children to flourish. While idealistic, this can be a reality. It will require a huge overhaul in the provision of SEND support in schools. We need to make it possible for children who can be in mainstream school to stay in mainstream school with the best support package available, designed around them and their needs.

I am glad that the Labour Government are looking into reforming the current system, and I was delighted to hear the Secretary of State for Education say that the Government will strengthen the support available for the children who need it. The crisis in SEND has gone on for far too long. I look forward to seeing the proposals to tackle it and empower the next generation of young people.