Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding will be available for new special educational needs and disabilities schools through the Special Free Schools Programme in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
There are three planned special free schools in the county of Surrey. We are making a funding package available to the local authority so they can deliver the places planned for these schools themselves more quickly and with a greater focus on mainstream inclusion where appropriate. The total funding available to Surrey is up to £27 million.
For the two schools in Surrey that are closest to delivery, the local authority has a choice about whether to continue with the school or take the funding package. The department will fund the capital delivery of schools the local authority chooses to proceed with in the usual way.
Local authorities have until 27 February 2026 to make their decisions, and we will confirm the total funding for all local authorities, as well as the schools that are going ahead, in due course after that date.
We have also confirmed that £3 billion will be invested between 2025/26 and 2029/2030 to support local authorities to create places outside of the free schools programme. Local authority allocations for 2026/27 will be published in the Spring.
Asked by: Zöe Franklin (Liberal Democrat - Guildford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her expected timeline is for publishing the Schools White Paper including the SEND reform package.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department will publish the Schools White Paper early this year. It will set out our proposed reforms to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system, underpinned by our belief that high standards and inclusion are two sides of the same coin.
To ensure these reforms are as effective as possible, and building on conversations to date, we launched a public engagement campaign spanning every region of the country. This put families at the heart of plans to create a reformed SEND system that will stand the test of time.
As part of this campaign, I have hosted regional face-to-face events across the country, run in partnership with the Council for Disabled Children. The department also set up a number of online events, including a panel of experts, in discussions covering the department’s five principles of reform. Further details can be found at: https://consult.education.gov.uk/send-reform-national-conversation/.
The experiences and insights shared during these engagement opportunities will be vital in ensuring that our proposals effectively deliver meaningful reforms for families.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proposals they intend to take forward in the 10 Year Health Plan for England in relation to services for autistic people.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan sets out to make the National Health Service fit for the future, by delivering three big shifts, from hospital to care in community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention. The plan will help to address health inequalities for disabled and autistic people by improving access to care, delivering care closer to home, and supporting the development of holistic care plans for those whose needs may require support from multiple health and care providers. We want autistic people’s access to, and experience of, healthcare services to be equitable, effective, and responsive to their needs.
The plan sets out the core principle of early intervention and support, including without the need for diagnosis, including specifically for children and young people, such as those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). It is clear about the importance of health services working in partnership with education settings and providing children and young people with early intervention and support to avoid needs escalating, where possible, building on learning from programmes such as Early Language Support for Every Child. We will set out our proposals for SEND reform in the upcoming Schools White Paper.
NHS England continues to support local systems to use a national framework and operational guidance to deliver improved outcomes in all-age autism assessment pathways. It has published national guidance on meeting the needs of autistic adults in mental health services and, to address physical health inequalities, is currently testing a combined health check in primary care for autistic people, those with a severe mental health condition and/or those people with a learning disability.
Asked by: Claire Young (Liberal Democrat - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of parents who have been prosecuted for their child's non-attendance at school have a child that has (a) Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and (b) special educational needs and does not have a EHCP in each quarter of the last five years.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Data for prosecution of offences in England, including offences for non-attendance, is collected by the Ministry of Justice. The Department for Education does not collect data on the protected characteristics of the children of individuals who have been prosecuted for an offence related to their child’s non-attendance at school.
Nevertheless, we recognise that pupils with special educational needs and disabilities may face more complex barriers to school attendance and guidance requires schools to take a ’support first’ approach to tackling non-attendance for these pupils.
Our guidance makes clear that legal intervention, including prosecution, should only be considered where support has been exhausted, not engaged with or, in the cases of term-time holidays, not appropriate. We expect schools to work with these children and their families to remove any barriers to attendance and building strong and trusting relationships.
Asked by: Claire Young (Liberal Democrat - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides to local authorities on the use of prosecutions for school non-attendance in cases where a pupil’s absence is related to special educational needs and disabilities.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department recognises that pupils with additional needs, such as special educational needs and disabilities, may face more complex barriers to school attendance, and our statutory guidance is clear that schools should take a sensitive, “support first” approach to supporting their attendance. The ’Working Together to Improve School Attendance’ guidance emphasises that schools and local authorities should be working with children and their families to remove any barriers to attendance and building strong and trusting relationships. It makes clear that legal intervention should only be considered when support has been exhausted, not engaged with, or in the cases such as term time holidays, not appropriate.
While some pupils may face additional challenges, we expect schools to have the same attendance ambitions for all pupils, and to put support in place where required.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support local authorities to reduce SEND assessment backlogs.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department publishes annual SEN2 data on education, health and care (EHC) plan assessments, including timeliness of assessment. These data underpin our monitoring of local authority performance, support targeted intervention, and strengthen transparency across the system. SEN2 returns inform regular engagement and monitoring meetings with local areas and help us identify where additional support or challenge may be required.
Through our special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) improvement and intervention programmes, we focus on areas showing signs of decline to help strengthen services. When inspections, other local intelligence or monitoring highlight concerns, including failures to meet statutory duties on EHC plan timeliness, we provide a range of universal, targeted and intensive support. This includes peer‑to‑peer support from sector-led improvement partners.
Local authorities struggling to meet the 20‑week timeframe receive enhanced monitoring, and specialist SEND Advisers are deployed where further diagnostic support is needed.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve outcomes for children with special educational needs.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department has recently announced £200 million of investment over the course of this Parliament to upskill staff in every school, college and nursery, ensuring a skilled workforce for generations to come. This builds on our £3 billion investment to create more specialist places and ensure more children and young people can thrive at a setting close to home.
This government is determined to deliver reform that stands the test of time and rebuilds the confidence of families, which is why we have undertaken a national conversation to gather information and views from parents, teachers and experts in every region of the country so that lived experience and partnership are at the heart of our solutions.
We will set out our plans for reform in the upcoming Schools White Paper, building on the work we’ve already done to create a system that’s rooted in inclusion, where children receive high-quality support early on and can thrive at their local school.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of levels in the availability of specialist school places in constituencies such as Aldridge-Brownhills.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
It is the responsibility of local authorities to ensure there are sufficient school places for pupils in their area, including those with special educational needs and disabilities. If a local authority identifies a shortage of places, resulting in a significant number of pupils needing to travel a long way to access a placement, they should consider creating, adapting, or expanding provision to meet that need.
The department has announced at least £3 billion for high needs capital between 2026/27 and 2029/30. Local authorities can use this funding to create specialist facilities within mainstream schools, adapt mainstream schools to be more accessible, and create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs.
This builds on the £740 million invested in 2025/26, which is on track to create around 10,000 new specialist places. Of this, Walsall Council received an allocation of just over £5 million. We will confirm local authority allocations for 2026/27 later in the spring.
Asked by: Alex McIntyre (Labour - Gloucester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of home to school transport for pupils with SEND in Gloucester constituency.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s home-to-school travel policy aims to make sure no child is prevented from accessing education by a lack of transport. Local authorities must arrange free home-to-school travel for eligible children. This includes children of compulsory school age who attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of their special educational needs, disability or mobility problem.
We know that challenges in the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system are creating pressures on home-to-school travel. We have committed to reform the SEND system to enable more children to thrive in local mainstream settings. These reforms will be set out in the upcoming Schools White Paper.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the cumulative burden of A-level examination timetable compression on students with exam access arrangements.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The exam timetable is set nationally by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), which takes into account a range of complex factors, including the potential needs of different students, to ensure the timetable is fair and manageable for all students. JCQ consults on the provisional timetable a year in advance, giving schools and colleges the opportunity to share any concerns before the timetable is finalised.
Although the national timetable applies uniformly to every student, access arrangements such as extra time or supervised rest breaks, can help ensure that students with disabilities, temporary illness or injuries are not unfairly disadvantaged when taking their exams and assessments. These arrangements are determined on a case-by-case basis according to individual needs.