Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what measures her Department will take to ensure adequate support is in place for integrating SEND pupils into mainstream educational settings as part of its planned SEND reforms.

The department is improving access to specialist support in mainstream settings through an investment of £1.8 billion over the next three years for local area partnerships, including local authorities and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), to deliver a new Experts at Hand offer. This will enable earlier access to specialist support and interventions for children and young people in early years settings, schools and colleges.

This is supported by £40 million of investment in the specialist workforce, including £15 million to expand the speech and language therapy workforce. This will fund apprenticeships, upskill staff, and ensure an advanced speech and language therapy practitioner is available in every ICB geographic area.

The remaining £26 million will support the training of at least 200 educational psychologists per year in 2026 and 2027.

In addition, we are further investing £1.6 billion in an Inclusive Mainstream Fund to support the development of a more inclusive education system. Additional funding will be provided to early years, schools and colleges to boost their existing core funding for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), with over £500 million per year over the next three years to help schools strengthen their inclusive offer.

This funding, alongside their existing core funding for SEND, will help equip schools to invest in high quality, adaptive teaching; inclusive pedagogy and decision-making; and creating safe, calm and accessible learning environments.

The SEND reforms propose the development of Individual Support Plans to provide a record of need and provision for any child or young person receiving targeted, targeted plus or specialist support in school or college. They will be developed by settings together with parents and young people, giving every child or young person receiving targeted or specialist support a clear and consistent record of their needs and the help they receive, so that support is joined‑up, timely and genuinely centred on what will help them to thrive.

We have engaged extensively with stakeholders, including parents, carers and sector representatives, throughout the recent consultation period and will continue to do so as we take health and education reforms forward.