Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page one of the First Report of the Public Accounts Committee of Session 2024-25, Support for children and young people with special educational needs, HC 353, what steps her Department is taking to provide adequate funding to meet the level of high special educational needs forecasted in that report.

The department is providing total high needs funding in England of over £12 billion in the 2025/26 financial year for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Of that total high needs funding, East Sussex County Council is being allocated over £94 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant.

We are considering the funding required for future years and how it is to be allocated, following the conclusion of the recent spending review. Our objective is that future funding for SEND supports our plans for reforming the SEND system to boost children’s outcomes, which will be set out in further detail in a White Paper in the autumn.