Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children have applied for SENIF funding in Cambridgeshire in each of the last five academic years, broken down by constituency.

All local authorities are required to have a special educational need inclusion fund (SENIF) for all eligible children for the entitlements and who have special educational needs (SEN).

Local authorities should establish their SENIFs using funding from the early years block and/or the high needs block of their dedicated schools grant, considering pressures on high needs and early years budgets locally.

The department gives local authorities the autonomy to set SENIF budgets and decide on eligibility criteria locally, as they are best placed to meet local need.