Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 7 September 2026 to Question 19297, whether her Department has (a) contacted ITV News to obtain the evidence behind the whistleblower allegations broadcast on 3 July 2026 and (b) taken steps to establish whether the practices alleged exist in other local authorities in England.

ITV did not directly approach officials regarding this, but the media team flagged the issue to policy colleagues at the time. It would not be appropriate for media colleagues to seek further specifics on allegations from the journalist given this was reported as an anonymous case and sources or details beyond those included in the piece would not be shared.

Regarding next steps, the department's special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Improvement and Intervention programmes target local areas that are not adequately delivering SEND services for children and young people. For local areas with the most acute performance concerns, officials place heightened scrutiny on the extent to which local authorities are doing everything within their control to implement SEND reforms effectively and deliver their statutory SEND duties. This includes a close examination of leadership capability, the pace of action and a clear accountability structure. We are strengthening these oversight mechanisms and plan to publish details on this in coming months. Where necessary to drive improvement, the department will use intervention levers to require rapid action from local authorities.