Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 20 April 2026 to Question 120023, on Special Educational Needs: Reform, what steps her Department plans to take to provide training to Governors to support the sampling of Individual Support Plans.

Under our proposals, settings would have a duty to produce an Individual Support Plan (ISP) for any child or young person with special educational needs (SEN). The intention is that where a child or young person requires Targeted, Targeted Plus or Specialist support, there is a clear plan setting out their needs, provision and intended outcomes.

The proposal is that these support layers will be guided by the National Inclusion Standards, which will establish national consistency around the support that children and young people should ordinarily expect to receive across the 0 to 25 system, regardless of where they live or which setting they attend.

The department wants to support consistently high-quality ISPs across the system, regardless of where a child or young person lives or which setting they attend. To achieve this, we will introduce digital ISPs to support children’s needs being recorded and shared more consistently. This will bring information together in one place, reduce duplication and workload for staff, and support smoother transitions so children receive the right support from the start. We will ensure ISPs are consistent and shareable across settings and local areas, helping schools that admit pupils from multiple local authorities to work from the same information and support arrangements.

We will work to support implementation of a reformed system ahead of September 2029. This will include an updated Code of Practice with more information on best practice around ISPs and the role of governors. We will also provide training and support for governors, to help them deliver strengthened special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) oversight arrangements.

The department has recently consulted on its proposed SEND reforms. We are carefully considering responses and will set out our response in due course.