Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to provide additional (a) funding and (b) oversight of local authorities for the provision of education health and care plans.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.
The department is providing almost £1 billion more for high needs budgets in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding to £11.9 billion. This funding is a 9% cash increase in funding compared to 2024/25 and will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with complex SEND.
The department is working closely with experts on reforms, recently appointing a strategic advisor for SEND, who will play a key role in convening and engaging with the sector, including leaders, practitioners, children and families as we consider the next steps for the future of SEND reform.
We want to ensure that, where required, education, health and care (EHC) needs assessments are progressed promptly and, if they are needed, plans are issued as quickly as possible so that children and young people can access the support they require.
Local authorities have a statutory responsibility to assess whether children and young people have special educational needs that require an EHC plan. EHC plans must be issued within 20 weeks of the needs assessment commencing so that children and young people can access the required support. In 2023, there were 138,200 initial requests for an EHC plan and 90,500 assessments took place. 50.3% of new EHC plans in 2023 were issued within 20 weeks.
The department knows that local authorities have seen an increase in the number of assessment requests and that more must be done to ensure that local areas deliver effective and timely services.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children receive free school meals in South Cotswolds constituency.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As of January 2024, 12.5% (1,761) of pupils attending state-funded schools in the South Cotswolds constituency were eligible for and claiming free school meals. This compares with a rate of 24.6% of pupils in state-funded schools in England. These figures are calculated from the school level supporting file published as part of the 2023/24 statistical release ‘School, pupils and their characteristics’, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.
Schools have been matched to their post July 2024 constituency using the department’s Get Information about Schools service, which can be found here: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to help ensure accurate representation of (a) cases involving children already known to social services and (b) other aspects of home education in (i) public statements and (ii) media coverage.
Answered by Janet Daby
Public statements issued by the department are reviewed for accuracy by policy officials, communications specialists, special advisers and, where needed, lawyers.
The department also draws on information from external sources such as local authorities’ children’s services departments where relevant.
The department’s media team maintains a comprehensive record of all media queries and public statements made in response to journalists which can be drawn on for future enquiries. Similar processes are followed by the department’s correspondence team and ministerial private offices.
Publicly available statistics are published by the department on the GOV.UK website.
The department cannot comment on the content of external sources which are not the department’s responsibility and can only comment on information provided by the department itself.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that children with (a) hearing impairments and (b) other disabilities receive adequate support at their local schools when specialist facilities are not available; and what support her Department provides for transport in cases where parents have to send their child to a school further away that provides such support.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The government’s ambition is that all children and young people receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. We are committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs, restoring parents’ trust that their child will get the support they need.
Whilst we recognise the urgency and need to drive improvements, we are conscious that there are no quick fixes and want to take a considered approach to deliver sustainable education reform. Our initial work includes commissioning independent evidence reviews to identify what works to support children and young people with different needs, including hearing impairments. We are also working with Ofsted to consider how outcomes for children with special educational needs and disabilities are better reflected in the Education Inspection Framework.
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 the distance, their special educational needs, disability or mobility problem, or because the route is unsafe. Where a child’s nearest school is unable to offer them a place, the nearest school that can admit them becomes their nearest school for school travel purposes.