Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to support Central Bedfordshire Council with SEND provision.

The department has appointed a specialist Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) adviser to work alongside an NHS England SEND adviser to advise, support and challenge the Central Bedfordshire local partnership to rapidly improve its SEND provision.

Central Bedfordshire is also part of the Delivering Better Value in SEND programme, which aims to support local authorities to improve SEND services for children and young people while ensuring services are sustainable. This programme provides dedicated support and funding by the department, in collaboration with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy.

On 2 March 2023, the department published the SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan which set out what the department will do to make sure more children and young people with SEND or in AP get the support they need.

The department is testing key reforms through the nine Change Programme Partnerships (CPPs) announced as part of the £70 million Change Programme. Central Bedfordshire is one of those CPPs, working with Bedford and Luton. Each CPP is being supported with funding of approximately £6.3 million between now and March 2025.