Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the SEND review, published March 2022, what steps his Department is taking to implement new national standards for the SEND system that meet the needs of (a) children with complex disabilities and (b) every child.

In March 2022, the department published the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper, which set out plans to make sure every child can reach their full potential.

The Green Paper aims to drive national consistency in how needs are assessed, identified, and met across education, health, and care through the introduction of national standards. The department is considering the different options for placing these standards on a statutory footing, and we will continue to work with a variety of stakeholders as we develop our options.

The Green Paper consultation closed on 22 July 2022, and the department is currently analysing the responses. The department will publish a national SEND and AP implementation strategy in due course, setting out our response to the consultation and the next steps for implementation of system reform.