Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education of 19 March 2018, Official Report, column 22, for what reason the whole-workforce training was not put in place before the decision not to renew his Department's contract with The Communications Trust was made.

The department’s one year contract with The Communication Trust (TCT) was awarded last Spring following a competitive exercise. The letter awarding the contract made it clear the department did not intend to extend the contract beyond March 2018. As part of the contract, TCT were required to develop a sustainability plan, which set out how the work would be sustained beyond the life of the contract.

The department started the procurement process for a new SEND school workforce contract in December 2017 to enable the contract to be in place from April 2018. This is in line with government procurement standards.