Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what consideration has she given to the potential merits of providing parents and carers with a statutory route of redress where provision specified in an Individual Support Plan is not delivered.

As set out in the department’s consultation, ‘SEND Reform: Putting Children and Young People First’, the department proposed a duty on settings to produce an Individual Support Plan (ISP) for every child or young person receiving targeted, targeted plus or specialist support. Under this proposal, the ISP would provide a clear and consistent record of a child or young person’s needs and the help they receive, so that support is joined‑up, timely and centred on what will help them thrive. The responses to the consultation are carefully being reviewed and we will respond in due course.

The department recognises the importance of ensuring that parents and carers have effective routes to raise concerns where support is not being delivered as expected. The ISP will be developed by settings together with parents and young people, giving every child or young person with special educational needs a clear and consistent record of their needs and the help they receive.

The department proposed strengthening the school complaints system with the inclusion of an appropriate, independent SEND specialist on a complaints panel if the complaint cannot be resolved by the school’s senior management team or head teacher. We also proposed strengthening the utilisation of Disagreement Resolution Services by improving and updating guidance for schools. In addition, we set out plans to improve complaints systems more generally in the Schools White Paper, by exploring digital solutions, updating guidance and setting out clearer handling processes.