Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to strengthen mediation through the SEND Change Programme; and what outcome measures will be used to determine the success of those changes.

Mediation proposals are being tested through the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Change Programme. These tests aim to develop a best practice model for delivering high-quality mediation provisions.

The proposals being tested include asking local authorities to: signpost new family friendly guidance on mediation in their local offer; take part in pre-mediation meetings; respond to requests for mediation with available dates within 5 working days; and, where possible, to use mediators listed on the Civil Mediation Council/College of Mediators SEND register.

The department will carefully consider the feedback and findings from the Change Programme. The department expects this to include data on mediation timeliness as well as feedback on outcomes and families' experiences of the process. Testing will also help to better understand the required capacity to deliver timely, high-quality mediation and to identify any delivery challenges.

The department is also testing an advisory tailored list in participating local authorities through the Change Programme to gain feedback on the best way to support families as they choose a placement. To illustrate choice, participating families will receive detailed and relevant information about placements that could be suitable to meet the needs of their child, but there will be no change to the existing statutory framework and their existing rights will be unaffected. The department will use the Change Programme as an opportunity to learn how tailored lists can best support family experiences as well as their potential to support local authorities to manage their placements and provision.

Finally, the Education Health and Care (EHC) plan template that local authorities on the Change Programme are now preparing to pilot was extensively coproduced with a wide range of SEND experts, including families themselves. Following this period of testing, the department will finalise and publish the EHC plan template.