Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much capital funding her Department allocated for new SEND schools in each of the last five years.

The department has allocated a total of £1.9 billion in high needs capital funding to local authorities in England between 2018/19 and 2022/23. The department expects local authorities to use this funding to create new places and improve existing provision for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) or who require Alternative Provision. Local authorities can provide these places by expanding existing mainstream schools, special schools, or other specialist settings, or through new special schools.

On top of this, the department has opened 61 centrally delivered special free schools since 2018/19. The capital spend for these schools cannot be readily broken down for the last five years.

In addition to the funding for new places, high needs revenue funding for children and young people with complex needs is increasing to over £10.5 billion in the 2024/25 financial year, an increase of over 60% from the 2019/20 allocations. This funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with SEND, including those in special schools.