Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps she has taken to support SEND pupils in Lincolnshire with their studies.

The department and NHS England have been supporting the Local Area Partnership (LAP) in Lincolnshire to improve its special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services through the development of their strategic plan, with regular engagement meetings. The LAP is currently developing their SEND reform plan, commissioned by the department in March 2026, and due for submission in June 2026.

From September, the government is providing upfront investment for schools, colleges and early years providers to intervene early in meeting the needs of children and young people with SEND, through our inclusive mainstream fund worth £1.6 billion over three years.

In addition, every local area is being funded to create a new Experts at Hand service, providing mainstream education settings with access to healthcare professionals like speech and language therapists and education experts such as educational psychologists to work directly with children and support staff to put in place appropriate support and interventions.

We will roll out a new national training programme supporting educators to identify and respond to children’s needs backed by £200 million investment, to train staff across nurseries, schools and colleges with the first wave of training materials coming online from September.

This is supported by investment to create an additional 60,000 school places for children with SEND through inclusion bases, new special or alternative provision school places and adaptations to mainstream, ensuring appropriate education facilities for all our children.