Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she plans to take to ensure the safety valve programme supports SEND services in York.

The Safety Valve programme is designed to improve special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services by making the very best use of resources to deliver the support that children and young people need.

The agreements, based on proposals put forward by each local authority, hold local authorities to account for doing so in the most effective and sustainable way for the benefit of children and young people.

The last few years have shown that increased spend does not automatically equate to better outcomes for children and young people; running systems more effectively does. Safety Valve plans generally place emphasis on improving the availability of support in and to mainstream schools, including increasing early access to support, building parental confidence in the system and increasing the availability of local provision. It is only through taking these steps and through the genuine collaboration of all partners locally that high needs systems can be delivered effectively and sustainably for the future.

City of York Council made a Safety Valve agreement in 2021, with the department contributing £17.1 million. The authority agreed to reform their high needs system such that they would subsequently reach a positive in-year balance on its Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) and eliminate its cumulative deficit by the end of the agreement in 2025/26, while continuing to deliver for children and young people with SEND. City of York Council is on track to meet the deficit reduction targets set out in the agreement both for the current reporting year and the lifetime of the plan.

The department continues to provide City of York Council with support through the Safety Valve programme via regular contact with department officials, SEND advisors and financial advisors.