Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with Ministers in the Department for Education on the (a) viability, (b) potential merits and (b) impact on educational outcomes for children in the North of increasing special needs funding to local authorities.

The Department for Education’s Spending Review settlement provides for £2.6 billion over the SR period to create more than 30,000 new high-quality school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) nationally, more than tripling current capital funding levels to over £900 million by 24-25.

This funding will create high-quality new school places in mainstream and special schools, improve suitability and accessibility of existing buildings, and fund new special and alternative provision free schools to drive up standards for pupils across England, including in the North.

Alongside this transformational investment in capital funding, the core schools settlement provides an additional £4.7 billion for schools by 2024-25, which will enable increases in high needs funding for local authorities in response to rising demand for specialist support.

DfE will allocate this funding between local authorities through the high needs national funding formula, as part of its annual funding process.

HM Treasury Ministers and officials will continue to hold regular discussions with their counterparts at DfE on the best way to use this funding to support outcomes for children with SEND, including working together on reviewing the high needs funding arrangements and the SEND system as a whole.