MPs take evidence on the SEND and alternative provision Improvement Plan

MPs take evidence on the SEND and alternative provision Improvement Plan

In response to the Government’s SEND and AP improvement plan, the Education Select Committee took evidence from stakeholders this week, to help inform questions the committee asks of ministers.

Giving evidence were Dr Daniel Stavrou from the Council for Disabled Children, Mike Hobday from the National Deaf Children’s Society, Tim Nicholls from the National Autistic Society, and Dr Nicola Crossley, the SEN representative for ASCL and CEO of a multi-academy trust for specialist schools.

Gateshead MP, Ian Mearns, chaired the session, asked the witnesses what they felt were the biggest issues facing the SEND sector, and whether or not the Government’s plans would address those issues.

Mike Hobday said that the improvement plan laid out well the vicious cycle of later investment and underinvestment. He said that efforts to address this in the plan are a work in progress, with frustration that the evidence-gathering process hadn’t started earlier, which would have put the sector in a position to implement best practice now.

Tim Nicholls agreed that the Government had effectively diagnosed the challenge of investment, but no clear plans to resolve this. He supported the ambitions to improve the experiences of SEN students while in mainstream, but added there is little detail on how this will be achieved. 

He emphasised the workforce challenge, saying that it is important to take an all-school approach in ensuring staff have the understanding and training to support SEN students. Nicholls said, ‘Over half of autistic children told us that it was the thing that made the biggest negative impact on their day to day school life, and seven in ten told us it would be the thing that would make the most difference to make it better.’

The recruitment and retention crisis was also mentioned by Dr Crossley, with the concern cutting across all phases and stages of education, but particularly in specialist provision. She said the sector is losing support staff and specialist staff at a phenomenal rate, at a time when issues around social, emotional and mental health have escalated. 

While Dr Crossley said the improvement plans were moving in the right direction, and that it is welcome that the plan is looking to address the provision and the capacity and the workforce, there are concerns about the timeframes, and the lack of clear cross-party consensus to sustain reform.

Dr Stavrou was more critical of the improvement plan, setting out his concerns around funding and recruitment. He commented that while the current legislative framework (such as the SEND Code of Practice, the Children and Families Act 2014, and the Equality Act 2010) is fit for purpose, there have been problems around gaps in compliance and implementation. He also said the plans lacked clear steps to promote inclusive practice, referencing the impact of accountability measures.

In 2021, Schools North East held a roundtable with school leaders working in the special and AP sector, in response to the then upcoming SEND Review. School leaders then said that the sector was too often treated as an afterthought. Following the pandemic there is growing profound need amongst children and young people, and we will continue to lobby policy makers to deliver the right support.