SEND Provision: Rural Communities

Terry Jermy Excerpts

Tuesday 27th October 2026 Westminster Hall

[Sir Desmond Swayne (in the Chair)]

I remind hon. Members not to rise to catch my eye unless they have the permission of both Mr Jermy and the Minister to speak.

[Terry Jermy (South West Norfolk) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered SEND provision in rural communities.

It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Sir Desmond, and I am delighted to have secured this debate. Discussing this subject in detail will be hard in a 30-minute debate, but I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Minister for her positive engagement with it. Given the time constraints, I will be able to accept only a few brief interventions, largely from those hon. Members who indicated in advance that they will intervene.

I will begin by thanking the parents, carers and families of children with special educational needs and disabilities who have contacted my office and shared their experience of the realities of SEND provision in rural communities. Many of the conversations I have had with those constituents in South West Norfolk have been incredibly difficult. The same themes arise time and again: frustration, exhaustion and a profound fear for their child’s future.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the hon. Member for securing the debate. Travelling long distances to attend schools creates anxiety, distress and sensory overload, potentially affecting children’s ability to engage in learning when in school. Does he agree that we must invest in developing SEND provision in mainstream schools to ensure that children can access appropriate support closer to home, with less travelling, less anxiety and fewer problems?

[Terry Jermy]

I entirely agree, and I am sure the Minister will speak about that.

Prior to serving as a Member of Parliament, I spent many years as a county councillor in Norfolk, so I was aware of the SEND system and its difficulties from my councillor casework, but nothing could have prepared me for the avalanche of SEND-related cries for help that have arrived from right across my constituency. Since I was elected in 2024, more than 250 families have contacted my office to express serious concerns about the way their children’s needs are being assessed and met by schools and local authorities.

[Adam Dance (Yeovil) (LD)]

Access to assistive technology is another huge issue. Only 18% of young people surveyed by the British Dyslexia Association had access to assistive technology. Does the hon. Member agree that, just like diagnosis support, assistive technology should be available not just for those lucky enough to be in well-off urban areas or for those who can afford to pay private providers huge sums?

[Terry Jermy]

The hon. Member is right that investment in technology can make a significant difference to children and young people. Many of the conversations I have had with children and their families describe lengthy consultation processes to find a suitable school, daily battles to secure even the most basic provision, and periods of extreme distress as they struggle to navigate a system that often feels stacked against them.

I was keen to secure a debate on this motion because it is clear that children and young people with SEND in rural areas face a distinct set of structural challenges that affect access, equity and outcomes. Those challenges arise not necessarily from higher levels of need but from the complexity and cost of delivering education, health and care services across geographically dispersed communities.

[Steff Aquarone (North Norfolk) (LD)]

The hon. Member is making a most informed speech. In North Norfolk I have heard from several families whose children cannot get, or have struggled to get, access to specialist settings. Children must travel further from home in rural areas, which is tougher for them and increases the transport bill. Does the hon. Member agree we need to do much more to ensure that children and families in rural communities can access specialist support when they need it?

[Terry Jermy]

I thank the hon. Member, my county colleague from Norfolk, for raising that point, and I entirely agree.

I want to explain and give information to the Minister about the experiences I have documented in my rural constituency. I have produced a SEND report, “Rural Realities”, and I have shared a draft with her. Through in-person group sessions, questionnaires and our detailed casework, we have gathered data about what is happening on the ground. At the first SEND roundtable in the market town of Downham Market, it was clear that many of the parents and carers from the local villages did not know one another. They arrived individually but soon discovered that their experiences were remarkably similar. They spoke of not receiving much support in their child’s early years. Health visitors came less frequently, and in many cases an in-person visit did not happen at all. Warning signs and opportunities for support were ignored at primary school, and when their child entered high school, often some distance away in a rural setting, the impact of having little to no support was further compounded. From our own assessments, it is clear that rural areas typically have a limited range of local SEND provision.

[Rachel Gilmour (Tiverton and Minehead) (LD)]

I thank my fellow co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on farming for giving way. The bottom line is that SEND provision in rural areas is only as good as a child’s ability to reach it. Would the hon. Member agree?

[Terry Jermy]

Absolutely. A key theme of my contribution is the impact of distance and geography, so I entirely agree with. Lower population density restricts the viability of specialist settings and enhanced mainstream provision, resulting in reduced parental choice and greater reliance on out-of-area placements.

[Jayne Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) (Lab/Co-op)]

That is a particular problem in Cornwall, because we are on a peninsula. Numerous children had no specialist place at all by September, because the options simply were not there. Going out of county is just too far for many people.

--- Later in debate ---

[Terry Jermy]

Absolutely. I can relate to many of those points, as I know of children and young people travelling significant distances to access suitable provision, affecting their wellbeing, attendance and readiness to learn. It is not uncommon for children my team and I have worked with to travel for an hour and a half in each direction every single day. At a system level, home-to-school transport costs are substantially higher, placing sustained pressure on higher needs budgets and limiting the resources available for early intervention and in-school support.

Workforce capacity presents a further challenge. Rural areas experience ongoing difficulties recruiting and retaining specialist staff, including special educational needs co-ordinators, educational psychologists and therapists. That contributes to delays in assessment, inconsistent access to specialist advice and slower delivery of support. When I visit schools across South West Norfolk, the variety in approach is stark. The Government are right to put additional SEND training and capital funding at the forefront of their decision making. Schools can do more to accommodate pupils with additional needs. I have seen that opportunity myself. More must be done to ensure that schools and local authorities embrace that responsibility and are held to account.

Specialist support, however, will always be needed. Areas like mine, with historical specialist gaps, should not be overlooked. The trends are clear: a lack of early intervention, rising travel costs and an increase in the number of children requiring specialist support. For too many families, the SEND system no longer provides what it should, instead becoming a source of additional stress and anxiety.

When I became an MP, I was determined to help families navigate that system, which is why I became one of only two MPs in the country to employ a dedicated SEND specialist caseworker. I am incredibly proud of the work my casework team have done to help families secure education, health and care plans, progress tribunal cases and, most importantly, obtain the support that children need and deserve. Those experiences have shown me that, despite the challenges facing SEND provision, positive change is possible, but only when local need is recognised and acted on.

Earlier this year, I campaigned strongly for a new specialist SEND school in Downham Market, and I was delighted when the Government approved the project and committed £20 million towards the new school at Ryston End. Once completed, it will transform opportunities for children and young people across a large part of Norfolk, bringing specialist provision closer to home.

Although I welcome that success, one school alone will not resolve the wider challenges facing SEND provision in rural communities. There are 32,000 children and young people identified as having SEND in Norfolk, including more than 13,000 with an education, health and care plan. Since 2016, the number of EHCPs has risen by 217%. That is placing increased pressure on schools, families and local authorities alike.

For rural communities, those pressures are often intensified by distance. Evidence shows that pupils attending special schools in rural areas travel an average of 10 miles each way, compared with approximately 4 miles in urban areas. In the most rural parts of England, one in 10 pupils travels more than 23 miles each way to their appropriate school. Families told me repeatedly that they feel like they have less choice, fewer local services and more barriers to accessing support than families in urban areas.

[Alison Bennett (Mid Sussex) (LD)]

What I found talking to people in places like Pyecombe and Warninglid is that this issue has a wider implication for parents’ capacity to get into work and stay in work. There are certainly parents in my constituency who have had to step back from the workforce. Did the hon. Gentleman also hear that when talking to families in his constituency?

[Terry Jermy]

Absolutely. The hon. Member makes a really important point about the impact on the wider family. For SEND parents with more than one child, it is incredibly difficult to navigate the logistics of getting to different schools in different locations. We have certainly experienced that in South West Norfolk.

Rurality also creates additional layers of bureaucracy because parents are often required to navigate multiple agencies spread across large geographical areas and to repeatedly explain their child’s needs to different professionals. They have to travel long distances to appointments and spend months, and sometimes years, pursuing assessments, reviews and support.

The pressures are being felt not only by families but by schools. Three quarters of schools that responded to my survey said they did not feel able to provide adequate support for pupils with SEND using their current resources. Many reported receiving insufficient support from the local authority with SEND and EHCP casework. Worst of all, 46% of parents who responded reported that their child had spent significant time out of school because their needs were not being met. Some families describe children being out of education for months, and sometimes years, and the story is always one of years of disruption with no suitable placement available.

Education is not a privilege in this country; it is a right, yet too many children with SEND are being denied that right, not because their potential is lacking but because the system around them is struggling to provide the support they need. For children in rural communities, the challenges are often even greater. That is why I hope the Government will fully consider the added impact of rurality, which I have highlighted through my South West Norfolk SEND report. They must consider the added pressures as part of their wider reforms to the SEND system, so that families across constituencies like mine and those of other hon. Members who have spoken can finally feel heard, supported and confident that their children will receive the education they deserve.

Educational Opportunities in Semi-rural Areas

Terry Jermy Excerpts

Wednesday 7th May 2025 Westminster Hall

[Terry Jermy (South West Norfolk) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Edward. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Hertford and Stortford (Josh Dean) for raising this important issue.

Educational achievement in rural areas is not spoken about nearly enough, so I welcome this debate. It is something I have first-hand knowledge of: I grew up in rural Norfolk and went to school and college there, before serving as a school governor for a number of years at two separate schools. I have always been passionate about education—I had originally intended to become a teacher, but life took me in a different direction. It is often thought that students in more urban areas who are from disadvantaged backgrounds do worse than those who grow up in rural areas such as mine. However, it is poverty, not rurality, that lowers outcomes, and we have very similar issues. There is a clear link between rural poverty and educational attainment.

One of the main barriers, as has been said, is transport. I vividly remember going to college, waiting at 6 am at the bus stop in the winter, and it was no fun. It is no wonder that, by the time Christmas arrived, there were very few of us left at that bus stop; more than half had dropped out of our college course. Statistics show that only half of pupils in rural areas can get to a further education institution within a reasonable travel time.

There is also a choice barrier. I wanted to become a geography teacher, and I was disappointed that my sixth form did not offer that option at A-level. Fine subject as it is, there were just not enough people wanting to study it, and the course was not put on. That was one of the reasons why I ended up not going to university and not becoming a teacher. A lack of choice of subjects is a major issue, and so is the limited choice of places to study.

I am pleased that this Labour Government are breaking down barriers to education, and I welcome and have been proud of the measures taken since we took office.

Free School Meals

Terry Jermy Excerpts

Tuesday 18th March 2025 Westminster Hall

[Terry Jermy (South West Norfolk) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Dowd. I congratulate the hon. Member for Eastleigh (Liz Jarvis) for raising this important issue.

Prior to being elected to this place, I was a youth worker in Norfolk and served as a local councillor for many years. In both roles, I spent much time supporting local families, and issuing food bank vouchers was sadly a routine part of my role. The referrals for families nearly always included many children. It is estimated that a third of all children in South West Norfolk live in poverty, with rurality being a significant additional burden, alongside a real challenge with low wages. More people using our local food bank were in work as opposed to out of work, so they were earning a wage but still struggling.

Nationwide in 2023-24, the Trussell Trust supplied more than 3 million emergency food parcels—the highest number it has ever distributed in a single year. I am grateful for the support of Trussell and the food banks at Thetford and Downham Market in my constituency. It is worth noting that when Labour left office in 2010, Trussell had 35 food banks nationwide. In 2013, that had increased to 650, and in 2019 it was 1,300.

I draw on those experiences from my time as a councillor because I came across so many families who were accessing the food bank but who were not registered for free school meals. That was often for a number of reasons, but primarily because they believed that they were not eligible or that they had missed the boat for the whole year. Often, people had a change of circumstances part way through the year and suddenly found themselves in a completely different situation.

It is believed that 14% of all pupils in the UK who are entitled to free school meals are not claiming them. However, in the east, it is nearly a quarter of all pupils. In Norfolk, it is 17%, but the figure in neighbouring Suffolk—which is one of the worst in the country—is 32%. These are people who are eligible for free school meals but not claiming them.

There are still so many people who could and should be being supported by free school meals. We must do more to encourage enrolment and consider all options to get more people supported. I am really pleased with the progress the Government are making, particularly on breakfast clubs. There is one in a very rural village in my constituency, and I am looking forward to seeing what difference it makes as part of the trial. However, the challenge is great, and we must do more.

I was particularly pleased that the hon. Member for Eastleigh mentioned pupil premium. Sadly, in my constituency, as elsewhere, we have more than our fair share of conspiracy theorists and right-wing rhetoric. Schools and councils tell me that it is increasingly a struggle to encourage parents to access support and share information. One school told me recently that parents do not want to reveal income and employment information, such is the growing distrust of the state. That is having a real impact on schools’ ability to access a fair share of pupil premium and other support intended to help not only those children who may directly benefit, but the school as a whole. Will the Minister speak to those specific concerns?

SEND Education Support

Terry Jermy Excerpts

Tuesday 25th February 2025 Westminster Hall

[Terry Jermy (South West Norfolk) (Lab)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk Coastal (Jenny Riddell-Carpenter) for securing this debate. I know she is doing all she can to improve SEND provision in her constituency and in the wider county of Suffolk.

SEND issues in my South West Norfolk constituency are a constant in my inbox. After 14 years of neglect, families are at the end of their tether and are desperate for support. The size of the task facing the Government in repairing trust in the SEND system is clear and frankly daunting. As my hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk Coastal mentioned, we must not forget that in areas like Suffolk and Norfolk the challenges are exacerbated because of rurality and difficulties accessing services that are often miles away.

I have been here before to speak about SEND, and have spoken to the Minister a number of times, but today I want to make a particular point about tribunals. Many county councils are losing scores of tribunal cases. In Norfolk, the Conservative-controlled county council is losing 98% of all tribunal cases—there seem to be no real consequences to the failure to act in the first place—and has racked up a bill of almost £1 million in legal costs in one financial year fighting SEND cases. Money that could have been spent on providing services for families is used to pay legal bills. Local authorities usually engage solicitors and barristers, which was never the intention for SEND tribunals. The way they were set up was supposed to mean that neither side needed legal representation.

I urge the Minister to speak to the concerns about tribunals specifically. I recognise that solving the crisis in SEND will not happen overnight, but I am encouraged by the Government’s action so far and by the additional money.

Apprenticeships

Terry Jermy Excerpts

Tuesday 4th February 2025 Westminster Hall

[Terry Jermy (South West Norfolk) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Jardine. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Peterborough (Andrew Pakes) on securing this debate. It is heartening to see so many Members here talking about this important subject, although they seem rather weighted on one side of the room.

I was keen to contribute to the debate because in rural areas such as my South West Norfolk constituency, apprenticeships are crucial. They offer a way into many industries in rural communities, including land management, farming, planning services, engineering, energy and nature conservation. So often, I talk to businesses in my constituency that struggle to recruit. They cannot find the people with the right skills, and as a result, their businesses often suffer. Apprenticeships are an important tool for addressing that challenge.

One business in my constituency that has been successfully leading the way on apprenticeships is Warren Services in Thetford, under the direction of Richard Bridgman and his son Will. Warren Services is an engineering firm with a proud track record of more than 30 years. To its credit, Warren is committed to building the workforce of the future, and it routinely goes to schools, academies and colleges to inspire young people to pursue a career in engineering and manufacturing. It regularly hosts recruitment days; there is one coming up next week, on 13 February. I do not normally advocate for second jobs, but if anyone wants a level 2 apprenticeship, they are available next week.

I am delighted that this Labour Government are doing more to support firms such as Warren and making apprenticeships a key part of their employment offer. In particular, I welcome the focus on green skills and the green skills gap in this country. Building a workforce with the skills needed to transition to a greener society is crucial to tackling the climate and nature crisis.

Oral Answers to Questions

Terry Jermy Excerpts

Monday 9th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Janet Daby]

I find it shocking that the shadow Minister has taken no responsibility for the many circumstances in which we have found ourselves having to make decisions that are in the best interests of students and colleges. We are conducting various reviews to try to ensure that we put right the mess that we inherited.

[Terry Jermy (South West Norfolk) (Lab)]

2. What assessment she has made of the potential impact of introducing free primary school breakfast clubs on children.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Bridget Phillipson)]

Breakfast clubs break down barriers to opportunity so that children are ready to learn. They are proven to boost attendance, attainment, wellbeing and behaviour, and they also provide essential childcare options for parents. In only a few days, hundreds of schools have applied to become early adopters because they know that these clubs can improve children’s life chances and, crucially, academic standards.

[Terry Jermy]

As a former youth worker and a former school governor, I know that this initiative will make a huge difference, and I have written to all the schools in my constituency encouraging them to apply. Will the Secretary of State please outline the next steps?

[Bridget Phillipson]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for the work that he is undertaking in making his local schools aware of the opportunities that breakfast clubs present. The early adopters scheme will enable up to 750 participating schools to start providing them from April 2025 onwards. We have tripled investment in breakfast clubs following the Budget. Schools have until 20 December to apply for the scheme, and I would encourage many more to do so.

SEND Provision: East of England

Terry Jermy Excerpts

Tuesday 8th October 2024 Westminster Hall

[Terry Jermy (South West Norfolk) (Lab)]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Lowestoft (Jess Asato) for giving us all the opportunity to talk about this important issue. I have been a county councillor in Norfolk for the past 11 years. During that time I have helped many families with SEND cases, but nothing could have prepared me for the avalanche of SEND-related casework in my new role as the Member of Parliament for South West Norfolk.

There is an obvious impact on children and their families and that has been ably covered by colleagues today. However, I wanted to highlight the impact on family finances, jobs and the wider economy. It has struck me that in nearly every single family attending one of my surgeries with a SEND case one or both parents have been forced to give up work to care for their child. Most recently, at my Downham Market surgery, a serving member of our armed forces told me how he had had to take a pay cut as he was now undeployable, forced to work from home and care for his child, as I am sure we would all do. There are many similar cases involving lost income and lost jobs. We must recognise the impact on children and families, but also on family finances and the wider economy.

SEND cases are detailed and complex and, unlike the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Rupert Lowe), I do not have the skills and qualifications to be able to assess the mental health diagnosis of a child. That is why I have employed a dedicated caseworker specifically for SEND cases, to support families in my area.