Catherine McKinnell MP: speeches

Speeches

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. Early diagnosis and early intervention are known to significantly improve the opportunities and outcomes for children with special educational needs and disabilities, but one of the biggest challenges in this space is the battle that many families face with a system that is letting them down, and we are determined to change that.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend raises an important point: it is right that we require schools to provide inclusive mainstream education, and that we put in place the work- force, the training, and all the support that is necessary for that to be delivered. That is why one of our priorities is to have 6,500 more teachers within our teaching system, to ensure we have the specialist teachers that every child should have. We are looking at training; additional training support for special educational needs and disabilities has already been rolled out for the early years, and we want to ensure all schools have access to high-quality training that supports them to meet that need.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  As I have said, one of the first acts of the Education Secretary was to reorganise the Department to make sure that the SEND team sits within our school team and is not separate from it. That speaks to the vision that we have for reform: a vision for our whole education system, to create the inclusive mainstream education that we know will provide the best opportunities for the maximum number of children and, as far as possible, keep children with special educational needs and disabilities within the mainstream system with their friends. That is why we have launched the curriculum assessment review. We need to look closely at the key challenges to attainment for young people and the barriers holding them back from accessing the current mainstream education system. We are working with Ofsted to introduce report cards to look at how inclusion can be reflected as part of how schools are monitored by Ofsted. We are also increasing training for early years providers. We have extended the Nuffield early language intervention programme to make sure that no child’s needs are missed out and that every child can find their voice. We have been very clear: full reform will take time, but nothing is off the table to make sure that every child with SEND can achieve and thrive in mainstream schools. We have also started legislative change: the children’s wellbeing Bill will be introduced in the coming months. The shadow Minister made a point about private schools. Ending tax breaks on private schools will help to raise the revenue to fund our educational priorities for next year, including recruiting 6,500 new teachers. As he knows, the Treasury is consulting on plans to enable those changes to come into force in January and on how to design those plans to make sure that no child with special educational needs on an education, health and care plan will be adversely affected. On the question of free schools, the review announced this week relates only to mainstream free schools. We are starting a process with local authorities and trusts with the mainstream schools that are in scope, with a strong focus on assessing that need to make sure that school places are in the local area, where they should be, and that they align with our vision for mainstream inclusive education for every child who needs it.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  I absolutely agree with the National Audit Office. Although it is a damning report, we recognise much of what it says and are determined to fix it and put it right in the way the hon. Lady suggests.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  The Treasury will produce its impact assessment as part of the normal course of implementing new taxation, and the hon. Gentleman can refer to that assessment once it is published.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend speaks with great passion and compassion on behalf of her constituents, and I agree with everything that she says. I reiterate that what she outlines is the epitome of what we are seeking to achieve on inclusive mainstream education, so that it can meet the needs of the vast majority of children with special educational needs and disabilities in our country.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  I appreciate the hon. Gentleman’s comments, and I will always work cross-party with colleagues to achieve the best for all children in this country, but levelling the blame for the current situation at a Government only five months old cannot be accepted; the inheritance that we have taken on cannot be underestimated. We will continue to work on putting right what has been failing for the past 14 years, and the Department for Education is moving at pace on work to that end. We will make specific suggestions for legislative changes, and for any other necessary systemic changes, in due course.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman tempts me into commentary on next week’s Budget, in which I cannot indulge him.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We in government cannot deliver any of the change we want to see; it will be delivered by the teachers, the support staff, the education professionals and the health professionals in our system. He is right to draw attention to their valiant efforts in a system that has been letting down them and the children and families they serve. We will be legislating to bring in the school support staff negotiating body to ensure that the support staff in our schools, who are the lifeblood of so much of what is provided to our children, have their voice as part of the national conversation.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for her question. She rightly identifies the need to ensure that we have the right school places for children whose needs are currently not being met in the most productive way possible. We are open to meeting hon. Members to discuss where in their constituencies this can best be achieved. I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss this further.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  We are very clear that this reform is a journey that we want to go on with all those who support our children and families, whether that is teachers, school staff more broadly, education professionals, health professionals or local authorities. Everybody wants this to work better, and we need to work together to achieve it.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  I am so sorry to hear about the cases the hon. Lady raises. She highlights very well the huge challenge that we face in addressing needs—in ensuring that we have not only the inclusive mainstream education system that every child should feel they belong in, and that provides the education they need, but the mental health support that we know is sadly lacking. The waiting lists are too long for far too many children and families. We are prioritising investment to ensure mental health support and educational psychologists are available in schools, because we know how important it is to get the right support in place to help the families and individuals affected, and to enable schools to address these needs.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes the case very well. I agree that we need to work at pace to improve the mental health support available for young people, to improve the availability of educational psychologists and to work across government, including with colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care, to ensure that we are unlocking opportunity for all.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is right that the NAO has identified that the system is currently unsustainable, and not only is it financially unsustainable but it is not sustainable for the children and their families that are being let down. The Government are determined to fix this and are working at pace to do so.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  I wish my hon. Friend well in her meeting tomorrow. We know the challenges in the system, and they are laid bare in the National Audit Office report. There is no shortage of will right across the House to get this right and to put the system right. As we draw to the end of these questions, I must reiterate that it will take patience, because there is no quick fix to the situation we have inherited. However, we are determined to fix it, and we will do so on an ongoing basis and as quickly as possible.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  Transport to school is the responsibility of the local authority, and families need to work with their local authorities to ensure that they are not disadvantaged in getting their children to school by transport. I appreciate that that is a challenge— our transport system, too, is in crisis after 14 years of Conservative Government—but we will continue to work across Government to ensure that all our public services meet the needs of families. In the interim, my hon. Friend’s constituents should work with the local authority to ensure that they get the transport they require for their children’s educational needs.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  On the hon. Lady’s final question, I can assure her that we are determined to prioritise mainstream inclusion, and to ensure that schools are supported. We will have the framework in place to encourage, incentivise and support schools to do what we know will create the best outcomes for the vast majority of children in this country: inclusion in a mainstream system where they can thrive.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  I welcome my hon. Friend to her position as Chair of the Education Committee, which I know will undertake vital work scrutinising the Government’s approach on this issue and on many others. We know that wider change is needed, which is why we have started to make improvements as quickly as possible. The changes that I outlined to the hon. Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson) amount to a whole-system change to ensure that the inclusive mainstream education that the National Audit Office has identified will provide the education that many children deserve but are not currently receiving. However, it will take time, and we will not be making promises that we cannot keep. There are some things that we can move on very quickly, but there are others that will take time to show. The change that the NAO report highlights as being desperately needed will take time, so we ask for patience while we make these incredibly urgent changes.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is right that the solution to many of these challenges is to create inclusive mainstream education in every community, so that every child can benefit from it and thrive.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  Every child deserves the opportunity to achieve and thrive, but at the moment far from every child is being given that chance. Today’s report from the National Audit Office is, sadly, bang on the money: the system has totally lost the confidence of families. Families and children with special educational needs are being failed, on every measure, and even shadow Ministers have admitted that they should hang their heads in shame at the failure to support them. Our promise to families is that we are absolutely committed to regaining parents’ confidence in the special educational needs and disabilities system, but that will be a huge and complex reform. There is no magic wand and no quick fix, so we continue to ask for patience as we work as quickly as we can to make the changes that I know families are crying out for. There is light at the end of the tunnel. Today we have published independently commissioned insight that suggests that if the system were extensively improved through early intervention and better resourcing in mainstream schools, the needs of tens of thousands more children and young people could be met without an education, health and care plan, and in a mainstream setting rather than a specialist placement. That can pave the way for a sustainable system in which schools cater for all children, and special schools cater only for those with the most complex needs. Our plans include strengthening accountability for mainstream settings to be inclusive, for instance through Ofsted, and helping the mainstream workforce to have SEND expertise. It is clear that we need to work with the teachers, parents, children, therapists and councils who, for so long, have been trying but have been set up to fail by a broken system. This work forms part of the Government’s opportunity mission, which will break the unfair link between background and opportunity and will start by giving every child, including children with special educational needs and disabilities, the best start in life.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right. This change needs to be delivered in conjunction with teachers, families, councils, educational psychologists and the health sector. We need to work together to ensure support is available at every stage. The system needs reform and significant change. We cannot carry on as we are with this “lose, lose, lose” system, which is letting down far too many families.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend raises an important challenge that we are determined to address. We want mainstream inclusive education in our state school system, which every child should have access to and thrive in. However, we need specialist places for children with complex needs when that is the only place where their needs can be met, and a system that not only best serves the needs of children but is sustainable. I will take away his comments, and that will be part of our thinking as we go ahead.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to identify the current significant transport requirement to meet the needs of children. Obviously, the way that we wish to address that is to ensure that there is inclusive mainstream education available in every community for every child, and we are working at pace to achieve that. The special school is under review and we will report back as soon as possible.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is right to identify that all schools are part of solving this huge challenge that far too many children and families face. That is why we have made changes to how Ofsted assesses schools, changes that are still in progress; it is why we are carrying out the curriculum and assessment review and looking at attendance measures; and it is why we are looking at local authority co-operation with schools, to make sure that all schools within a local area can work together to ensure that inclusive mainstream education is available for all.

• 24 Oct 2024 · Special Educational Needs and Disabilities · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Lady for the constructive way in which she put her question. I will take it away, and consider how it would fit into our broader plans to ensure that we have an education system that can meet the needs of children in terms of both their educational requirements and their mental health, special educational needs and disability requirements, within a broader health system that can meet those needs as well.