In response to the recent Public Accounts Committee report on the Government’s handling of SEND, the DfE published their intentions on 9 May. In it they respond to the 7 conclusions that the PAC had published:
- The SEN system is inconsistent, inequitable and not delivering in line with expectations, which inevitably undermines parents’ confidence in it;
- Without fully understanding why demand for support has increased, the Department’s ability to provide value for money is undermined;
- he Department has not made clear what it means by inclusive education, a core strand of its approach, or how it will be achieved;
- Accessing health expertise presents a significant barrier to identifying and supporting SEN needs;
- Departmental witnesses could not provide any potential solution to the critical and immediate financial challenges facing many local authorities due to persistent and significant SEN-related overspends;
- In the longer term, the SEN system remains unviable with piecemeal interventions, such as Safety Valve, doing nothing to provide a financially sustainable system;
- The Department’s ability to reform the system is hindered by a lack of data, targets and a clear, costed plan;
Each of these is addressed in the response, which you can read here. (Note this is part of a longer document that also deals other issues such as roads, HMRC, etc.)
dsga.org.uk 