Children: Neurodiversity

(asked on 9th January 2024) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of giving powers to (a) Ofsted and (b) Regional Schools Commissioners to remove school leaders who have authorised school policies that were known to have a negative impact on the health and wellbeing of (i) neurodiverse and (ii) other pupils.


Answered by
Damian Hinds Portrait
Damian Hinds
Minister of State (Education)
This question was answered on 17th January 2024

All schools are under legal duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of pupils in their care. In doing so, they must have due regard to the department’s statutory guidance, ‘Keeping children safe in education’. Schools are also legally required to meet the needs of individual pupils, including pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.

Where a school has failed to carry out its legal duties, Regional Directors (formerly known as Regional Schools Commissioners), acting on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education, have powers to intervene to bring about improvements and ensure failings are remedied. These include powers to bring in new management for the school where the necessary improvements are not made. Local authorities also have their own powers to intervene in maintained schools which are failing to keep pupils safe. These powers are set out in the department’s guidance on intervention, ‘Schools causing concern’.

Ofsted’s role is to inspect schools. Where Ofsted identifies concerns about schools through inspection, it is for the department as the regulator to consider what action to take.

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