Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of SEN staff in local authorities.

The department does not hold data on local authority special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) staff. In the SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, published on 2 March 2023, the department committed to considering further the skills and training that local authority SEND casework teams receive. When consulting on amending the SEND Code of Practice, the department will propose new guidance on delivering a responsive and supportive SEND casework service to families.

Local authorities are responsible for managing their local SEND services to meet their statutory duties around children and young people with SEND. The SEND and AP Improvement Plan can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1139561/SEND_and_alternative_provision_improvement_plan.pdf.