Special Educational Needs: Barnsley Central

(asked on 13th May 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to increase the number of special educational needs and disabilities places in schools in the Barnsley Central constituency.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 18th May 2021

The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places, including for those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), sits with local authorities. We are supporting local authorities to fulfil this duty by investing £300 million in the 2021-22 financial year to support local authorities to deliver new places and improve existing provision for children with SEND or who require alternative provision.

On 9 April 2021 we announced that Barnsley has been allocated almost £1.5 million of this funding via its High Needs Provision Capital Allocation. It will be for Barnsley to determine how best to use this funding to address their local priorities and local authorities are free to work with any schools in their area.

This funding is on top of the £365 million we invested nationally through the Special Provision Capital Fund between the 2018-19 and 2020-21 financial years, and our continued investment in the free schools programme. We are also providing an increase in revenue funding for those children and young people with more complex needs, of nearly a quarter (24%) over 2 years, bringing the total high needs budget to more than £8 billion in the 2021-22 financial year.

Further funding for new high needs places will be subject to the outcomes of the next government spending review, where we will have a chance to consider how we can best support the sector in the round.

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