Catherine McKinnell MP: speeches

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Speeches

4 Nov 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source
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As my hon. Friend mentions, high-needs funding will increase by almost £1 billion in 2025-26, compared with 2024-25, bringing total high-needs funding to £11.9 billion. That funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing cost of supporting children and young people with SEND. We will continue to support local authorities to meet those demands and reform our system, so we can create inclusive education for every child.
4 Nov 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source
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I am sorry to hear about the challenges faced by the hon. Gentleman’s constituent. Local authorities have been impacted by the increased demand for education, health and care plans and by workforce capacity issues, so more efficient and effective service delivery and communication with schools and families is central to turning that around. We will work as quickly as possible to ensure a more effective response and early identification for children, and I will take away the particular example he raises.
4 Nov 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source
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The hon. Lady raises an important point. I suspect it is on the back of 14 years of letting down children who need the education that is clearly wanting in so many parts of the country that explains the number of Members raising these issues today. She would do well to reflect on the record of the past 14 years. We are changing the situation as fast as we can, but it will take time.
4 Nov 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source
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I am sorry to hear about the experience of my hon. Friend’s constituent, and she was right to raise it today. We know that far too many families and children are waiting far too long to receive the support that they need, and we are determined to reform the system, because children’s needs should be recognised at the earliest possible stage. They should not be waiting for EHCPs in order to receive that support within our education system. That is the change that we want to see, but we recognise the demand on EHCPs and the process, and we recognise that we need to improve.
4 Nov 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source
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My hon. Friend will be aware of our plans to ensure that all schools co-operate, within their local facilities, with their local authorities when it comes to place-planning and admissions, to ensure that we have a school system that serves the whole community and to ensure that all children, whether or not they have special educational needs and disabilities, are properly served and given the opportunity to thrive within that system.
4 Nov 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source
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Every child deserves the opportunity to achieve and to thrive but, currently, far from every child has that chance. We have announced that high needs funding will increase by almost £1 billion in 2025-26 compared with 2024-25. We will work with the sector to strengthen accountability, improve inclusivity through Ofsted, support professionals to increase SEND expertise and encourage schools to set up resourced provision or special educational needs units in mainstream schools.
4 Nov 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source
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My hon. Friend is right to raise the priority of ensuring that children with special educational needs and disabilities are accommodated in mainstream schools with their friends whenever possible. We are ensuring that training is available from the earliest possible stage so that those in the workforce can teach children with SEND, and that educational psychology services are there to help schools to make any changes that are necessary. We want to work in partnership with the sector to secure the best outcomes for every child.
4 Nov 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source
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The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. It is vital for turning around the current situation faced by far too many parts of the country. There is not sufficient mainstream inclusion for children with special educational needs, there are not enough specialist units as part of mainstream school inclusion, and we do not have the specialist places needed, so I will, of course, take away the hon. Gentleman’s specific example.
4 Nov 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source
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I recognise the long list of challenges the hon. Lady sets out, which she knows her constituents are facing. Children with special educational needs and disabilities are being failed with poor outcomes, and parents are struggling to get their children the support they need and deserve. This Government’s ambition is for all children and young people with special educational needs or in alternative provision to get the right support to achieve and succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. We are moving as fast as we can. It is a key part of our opportunity mission and we will continue to do so.
4 Nov 2024 · School Curriculum: Workplace Skills · Hansard source
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Under the Conservatives, young people felt unprepared for their futures, and employers agreed. That is why this Labour Government have established an independent curriculum and assessment review chaired by Professor Becky Francis. The review aims to deliver a broad and rich curriculum that ensures that young people leave education ready for life and work, which includes embedding digital, oracy and life skills.
4 Nov 2024 · School Curriculum: Workplace Skills · Hansard source
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I congratulate my hon. Friend on his work on the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee. He has a long-established record of championing this issue in the House, and I agree with him. That is why our curriculum review will include speaking to employers as part of the consultation about the essential knowledge and skills that will support and enable students to adapt and thrive in the world and workplace of the future, as well as ensuring that we have that specialist knowledge in schools to support young people to thrive.
4 Nov 2024 · School Curriculum: Workplace Skills · Hansard source
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The hon. Gentleman ignores the many challenges that young people face in our school system. We have established the independent review, which will consider areas to focus on in the light of the evidence, responses to the call to evidence and widespread engagement with stakeholders, including employers. The review will seek to focus on the most significant issues in our curriculum and assessment, but will not destabilise the system. We are looking for evolution, not revolution, of our curriculum.
4 Nov 2024 · School Curriculum: Workplace Skills · Hansard source
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Our reformed growth and skills levy will deliver greater flexibility for learners and employers and will align with our industrial strategy, creating routes into good skilled jobs in growing industries, such as construction, digital and green skills. We want a shorter duration of foundation apprenticeships in those targeted sectors to help more people learn new high skills at work, fuelling innovation in businesses across the country, and to provide high-quality entry pathways for young people. We are in the process of designing the growth and skills levy, and we will set out more details in due course.
4 Nov 2024 · SEND System: Effectiveness · Hansard source
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We are committed to ensuring that pupils whose needs necessitate a place at private school are not impacted by this policy. Where a pupil’s place in private school is funded by a local authority in England, Scotland and Wales because the pupil’s needs cannot be met in the state sector, the local authority will be able to reclaim the VAT it is charged on fees.
4 Nov 2024 · SEND System: Effectiveness · Hansard source
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Absolutely. We are committed to working with families to deliver an improved SEND system that works for all. We ensure that families have access to free and impartial information, advice and support to enable them to participate as fully as possible in the decisions that affect them, but I would welcome suggestions from my hon. Friend and parents in south Birmingham on how to improve the system.
4 Nov 2024 · SEND System: Effectiveness · Hansard source
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I recognise what my hon. Friend is saying. We engage with children, young people, parents and carers in the development of policy, including through our participation contract. Next week I will meet our National Young People’s Group, which is a diverse group of young people from across England who have special educational needs and disabilities. They share their views and experiences with us, and I am looking forward to it.
4 Nov 2024 · SEND System: Effectiveness · Hansard source
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Last month, the National Audit Office confirmed what many families already know: the SEND system that we inherited from the Conservatives is broken. Indeed, the number of hon. Members raising concerns on behalf of their constituents shows the scale of the challenge that we have inherited. We are working as quickly as we can to make the changes that families need. It is huge, complex reform, but we are determined to fix the system.
4 Nov 2024 · SEND System: Effectiveness · Hansard source
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High-needs funding will increase by almost £1 billion in 2025-26 compared with 2024-25, bringing the total high-needs funding to £11.9 billion. The funding will help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with special educational needs. On the distribution of funding, the national funding formula will be announced later in November.
4 Nov 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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I welcome the right hon. Gentleman back to his place and would be more than happy to meet him to discuss the challenges in his constituency.
4 Nov 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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We are committed to removing barriers to opportunity for every child. No child should struggle to access education because of a lack of transport. We are keen to understand how well the transport system is working for children accessing schooling, and I will happily meet my hon. Friend to discuss it further.
31 Oct 2024 · SEND Provision: Hampshire · Hansard source
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I thank the hon. Gentleman and I will take that away, because we are open to examples of good practice and ideas for reform that can be rolled out and used in other settings. We do not want the SEND system to work only in pockets; it must work everywhere and we must have a reformed system across the board.
31 Oct 2024 · SEND Provision: Hampshire · Hansard source
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The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. That should happen at the earliest possible point, because we know—I have mentioned this already—that children’s earliest years make the biggest difference to their life chances, and high-quality early years education can lead to much better outcomes for all children. Arrangements are in place to support early years providers and access to early education, including disability access funding and special educational needs inclusion funding, but he is absolutely right to highlight the ways in which we can help children and families to access support. If we do that at the earliest possible stage in a child’s life, we will be able to improve children’s outcomes and families’ experiences. We want more children and young people to receive the support that they need to thrive in their local mainstream setting, which reduces the need for them to travel a long way to access a specialist placement. Many mainstream settings are going above and beyond to deliver specialist provision locally through resourced provision and special educational needs units. We know that there will always be a place in the system for special schools and colleges for children and young people with the most complex needs, so the Department supports local authorities to provide those places for children and young people through annual high-needs capital funding, which can be used to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools as well as in other specialist settings. It can also be used to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing buildings, and we will set out plans for future high-needs capital funding in due course. The Government are committed to working with councils, school leaders and other sector partners nationally and in Hampshire to develop and improve inclusive education in the mainstream setting. The hon. Member for North East Hampshire (Alex Brewer) raised concerns about transport. No child should struggle to get to school because of a lack of transport. Local authorities are obliged to arrange free travel for children of compulsory school age who attend their nearest school and cannot walk there because of the distance; because of a special educational need, disability or mobility problem; or because the route is not safe. There are additional rights to free travel for low-income households to help them exercise school choice, but we know how challenging home-to-school travel is for local authorities at the moment, in large part due to the pressures on the SEND system. In our manifesto, we committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, which will mean that fewer children have to travel long distances to a school that can meet their needs. It will also reduce the pressure on home-to-school travel. I am keen to understand how well the school travel policy is working to support children to access educational opportunities, and I will continue to work with officials in the Department and across Government to improve the situation, because transport is a cross-Government challenge. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke again for bringing this matter forward and I thank all hon. Members who have contributed to the debate. We all care passionately about SEND outcomes in Hampshire and across the country.
31 Oct 2024 · SEND Provision: Hampshire · Hansard source
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I am glad that my hon. Friend has intervened, because it reminds me that I have still not answered a couple of his questions—I will come to them.
31 Oct 2024 · SEND Provision: Hampshire · Hansard source
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My hon. Friend makes an important point, which the hon. Member for North West Norfolk also made. We are clear that the Government cannot deliver this work alone; it must be delivered with partners who are serving children in the community and in partnership with the families who we know are crying out for change. We are keen to consult and engage, and that must be done on as localised a basis as possible to get a real sense of the challenges in different areas. There are many common themes across the country, but there will be issues in particular areas that need to be addressed. I will take that point away and consider it. Regarding the questions about education, health and care plans, figures released by the Department in September clearly show that children with special educational needs and disabilities are not having their needs addressed and are waiting far too long for action from a system that is currently creaking at the seams. Without further improvements, it is clear that it will just deteriorate further because a growing number of families need support. We know that local authorities have been affected by an increased demand for education, health and care plans, and that their workforce capacity to meet the demand has also been affected. A more efficient and effective service delivery, alongside communication with schools and families, is therefore central to improving the situation. From this year, we are investing £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists to support workforce capacity in local authority services, including for the delivery of statutory assessments. We will work as quickly as possible to ensure that there is more effective early identification, because, as I have already said, it is important to provide training to early educators so that we can identify the challenges that a child might face early in their life. We will continue to monitor and work closely with any local authorities that have issues with their education, health and care plan timelines. Where we have concerns about a local authority’s capacity to make improvements, we will work with it to identify the barriers and to put in place effective recovery plans, which includes securing specialist SEND adviser support to help to identify the barriers to ECHP process timeliness and put in place plans for recovery. There were questions about private schools and the VAT change. Private schools can provide choice, high-quality education, economic benefit and public benefit through partnerships, but most parents cannot choose private schools. We need to improve the provision for the 93% of pupils who are at state-funded schools—that is our focus. Parents who use private schools can pay to support that process by paying the VAT that would apply to other optional services. Ending the tax breaks that private schools currently enjoy will raise revenue to improve public services, including through the provision of 6,500 new teachers in our state-funded schools. Children whose place at a private school has been commissioned by a local authority—for example, under an education, health and care plan—will not be affected by the VAT change. I absolutely acknowledge the hardship that too many families face when they try to secure the right support for their child with special educational needs and disabilities. I am determined that the situation will change, so I conclude by thanking all those working across the education, health and care systems in the interests of our children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, both in Hampshire and across the country. We need to deliver the very best for all our children and young people, including children with special educational needs and disabilities, and the Government are determined to do that.
31 Oct 2024 · SEND Provision: Hampshire · Hansard source
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It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Mark. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Luke Murphy) on securing a debate on this incredibly important subject. I know that he, like every Member here, has been supporting families in his constituency to navigate the SEND system. He has raised this issue in the main Chamber regularly, particularly during oral questions. In his opening speech, he spoke incredibly passionately on behalf of his constituents, and I am sure that it will be a huge comfort to them to have their voices heard in such a powerful way in this Chamber. Improving the special educational needs and disability system across the country is a priority for this Government. We want all children, regardless of where they are in the country, to get the right support to succeed in their education and lead happy, healthy and productive adult lives. Every child deserves the opportunity to achieve and thrive, but far from every child is getting that chance and, for far too long, families have been let down by a system that is not working. As my hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke highlighted, a National Audit Office report last week echoed that, finding: a system that has totally lost the confidence of families; that children with special educational needs and disabilities are being failed on every measure; and that, despite the high-needs funding for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities rising to higher and higher levels, the whole system is not delivering and is clearly in need of reform. I want to give a sense of light at the end of the tunnel. Our promise to families is that we are completely committed to improving the SEND system and rebuilding the confidence that the education system will provide for every child. I know that there are families in the Gallery today, and I am glad that they are here to hear this message. Last week, we published independently commissioned insights showing that if the system was extensively improved, using early intervention and better resourcing in the mainstream schools, it could lead to tens of thousands more children and young people having their needs met without an EHCP and in a mainstream setting, rather than in a specialist placement. To do that, we need to urgently improve the inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools while ensuring that there are special schools that can cater to those with the most complex needs. As my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton Itchen (Darren Paffey) said, this requires a holistic approach to reform: getting more teachers into our schools; creating a voice for support staff, who we know are so crucial in supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities, through the school support staff negotiating body that we will bring forward in legislation; and improving training for support staff, teachers and leaders to ensure that we have a curriculum and assessment system that truly serves every child and enables them to thrive, with a broad curriculum that gives them the opportunity to have a rich education that taps into their skills and talents. Of course, we also need to look at Ofsted and how it is motivating the school system to be as inclusive as possible. We want to see all schools co-operating with their local authorities on admissions, strengthening the accountability of the mainstream system to be more inclusive through Ofsted and supporting the mainstream workforce to have that SEND expertise. We want to see early intervention and identification improved and supported, which is why—as the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for North West Norfolk (James Wild), said—we have announced that the ongoing funded support for schools registered with the Nuffield early language intervention programme will continue. It is so important that children get speech and language intervention support at the earliest stage possible, so that they can find their voice and we can identify challenges at the earliest stage possible. As hon. Members have highlighted, improving the SEND system is vital to fulfilling our opportunity mission to break the unfair link between background and opportunity, and that starts with giving every child with SEND, along with all children in our system, the best start in life. But this is huge, complex reform: there is no magic wand or quick fix, and the Government cannot do it alone. That is why we will work with the sector. It is essential that we work with valued partners to ensure that the approach is planned and delivered together with parents, schools, councils and expert staff, who we know already go above and beyond to support children. We ask for patience, but we will work as fast as we can to make the changes that we know families are crying out for. Following the Budget announcement yesterday, high-needs funding will increase by almost £1 billion in 2025-26 compared with 2024-25, which brings the total high-needs funding to £11.9 billion. The funding includes £90 million to increase the high-needs element of the 2024-25 core schools budget grant to the full-year equivalent, which will be incorporated with the other teachers’ pay and pension grants for 2025-26 to make sure that they are fully funded. We are now in the process of calculating the high-needs national funding formula, which will provide local authorities with their indicative allocations for 2025-26. We expect to publish that by the end of November. The structure of the high-needs national funding formula remains largely unchanged in 2025-26 because we want to take time to consider what changes are needed to make sure that we establish a fair education funding system that directs funding to where it is needed and to support the special educational needs and disability reforms that we want to take forward. That will take time, so we ask for patience. My hon. Friend the Member for Southampton Itchen asked specifically about the statutory override. We recognise the unprecedented pressures that local authorities find themselves under. We are providing almost £1 billion more for high-needs budgets in 2025-26, as I mentioned. The impact on individual local authorities’ deficits will be variable, and the statutory override is a temporary accounting measure that separates local authorities’ dedicated schools grant deficits from their wider financial position so that they can manage their deficits. It remains important that every local authority continues to look at what it can do within the current system to manage its high-needs budget while continuing to provide the support that children with special educational needs and disabilities need. We are working to consider how we can help councils manage the impact of the dedicated schools grant deficits on their accounts within a SEND system that is in desperate need of longer-term reform. With reference to Hampshire specifically, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission jointly inspect local area SEND provision to ensure that there is a joined-up approach for children and young people. The inspections enable the Department to intervene in cases of significant concern and to work with local areas and professional advisers to try to address weaknesses that have been identified. The last joint local area SEND inspection in Hampshire took place in March 2020. Inspectors visited a range of providers and spoke to leaders, staff and governors to determine strengths and weaknesses in the local area’s SEND provision. The inspection found that leaders in Hampshire at the time were highly ambitious for children and young people with SEND, and although the inspection did identify areas for improvement, it did not identify areas of significant weakness. Since that inspection, the Department for Education and NHS England have stayed in regular contact with Hampshire local special educational needs and disabilities officials to discuss the local area’s strategic direction and to offer support where needed. As the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) rightly pointed out in his characteristically constructive contribution, there is a significant need for the Department for Education and Department of Health to work closely together at a local level on this issue. Hampshire will be inspected under the new area SEND inspections framework, which came into effect in 2023, in due course

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