Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that the proposals in the SEND Green Paper do not restrict support for disabled children and families.

The SEND and AP green paper sets out the government's proposals to improve the outcomes and experiences of children and young people with SEND and their families. The proposals aim to drive national consistency in how needs are assessed, identified, and met across education, health and care through the introduction of national standards. These standards are intended to set out the full range of support for meeting all needs, including those of children and young people with more complex needs. The standards will also include guidance and best practice on reasonable adjustments for disabled children.

As part of our proposals, our aim is to provide parents and carers with a clearer understanding of the support that should be available to meet their child’s needs and support them to make an informed choice about which education provider they would like their child to attend. Where specialist provision is required, the department is consulting on proposals for a simplified process where parents and carers will be supported to express an informed preference for a suitable placement from a tailored list of providers that are appropriate to meet their child’s needs. The expectation is that all schools on the list will be able to meet the child’s special educational needs as identified in their education health and care needs assessments. This aims to give parents and carers clarity on what is available locally which may still include mainstream, special, independent or out of borough provision where appropriate in order to meet the child’s needs. Our intention is that this will lead to greater transparency about what is available for children and young people in their local school and greater clarity about how it can be provided. The department also aims for this to improve the choice offered to parents and carers by suggesting options they may not have otherwise considered.

All of the proposals within the green paper are currently open to a full public consultation and the department will be listening carefully to all views expressed to ensure policies secure the departments ambitions to improve outcomes and parental confidence in the system. The department is committed to ensuring everyone has the opportunity to take part in the consultation and encourages everyone to do so.