Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of demand for Education, Health and Care Plans on local authority budgets for school transport.

Local authority spending on home to school transport for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) generally increases year on year. Section 251 outturn data shows for example, total SEND transport spend (on a gross basis) was £645 million in 2014-15 and £769 million in 2017-18: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-local-authority-school-finance-data. This increase is likely to be the result of a number of factors and cannot be attributed solely to the demand for education, health and care plans.

We have invested a total of £365 million through the special provision capital fund from 2018-19 to 2020-21, which will help local authorities to create new places and improve facilities for pupils with SEND.