Category: consultations

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DfE Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing SEND AP Implementation Board. SEND Review

Government announces more support for children with SEND

  • Over a thousand new special school places confirmed, as additional seven special free schools to be built
  • Local authorities in every region selected to be at the forefront of delivering transformational reform set out in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision (SEND and AP) Improvement Plan
  • Reforms backed by £70 million to test what works to ensure children and young people get the best possible services

Over a thousand more children and young people with SEND are set to benefit from access to high-quality specialised learning, with seven new special free schools in Cambridgeshire, Kent, Merton and Norfolk selected to be built alongside the existing 83 already committed to opening, located across England from Devon to Darlington.

Once complete, this investment will almost double the number of special free school places available across the country – from around 8,500 to 19,000 – ensuring all children receive a quality education, tailored to their needs.

Today, local authorities across the country have been selected to deliver a ground-breaking new programme to test and refine the reforms to services for young people and families.

Backed by £70 million, the local authorities will help inform the development of new national standards to improve the consistency of provision across the country.  

Each area will also bring together education and health services, as well as parents and families to develop an inclusion plan that sets out how they will deliver local services in a co-ordinated way – for example making sure a child with special educational needs who is behind in reading is quickly assessed and given the right support. This addresses feedback from families that the current system is often fragmented with agencies not working together.  

This follows recent confirmation that high needs funding is increasing by a further £440 million for 24/25, bringing total funding to £10.5 billion – an increase of over 60% since 2019-20.

Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing, Claire Coutinho said: “Making sure children with special educational needs and disabilities get a superb education is a priority.

Earlier this year our Improvement Plan set out systemic reforms to make sure every child and young person gets consistently high-quality support, no matter where in the country they live. “

Today we’re making sure that those reforms are informed by the experiences of real families, up and down the country, and creating the thousands of new places at specialist schools and in staff training courses that are needed to make sure our plan is a success.”

The Government is also confirming today an expansion in training for early years staff, adding an extra 2,000 training places for early years special educational needs co-ordinators on top of the 5,000 already announced. 

Measures confirmed in the Improvement Plan included:

  • a new leadership level National Professional Qualification for Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators (NPQ for SENCOs), ensuring SENCOs have the training they need to provide the right support to children. The NPQ will replace the NASENCO from September 2024 and will start in Autumn 2024. Further information on the transition to the new NPQ can be found here: Transition to national professional qualification for special educational needs co-ordinators – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
  • a new approach to AP will focus on preparing children to return to mainstream or prepare for adulthood. AP will act as an intervention within mainstream education, as well as high-quality standalone provision, in an approach that meets children’s needs earlier and helps prevent escalation.
  • an extension until March 2025  to the AP Specialist Taskforces, which work directly with young people in AP to offer intensive support from teams made up of experts, including mental health professionals, family workers, and speech and language therapists, backed by an additional £7 million investment.
  • a doubling of the number of supported internship places by 2025, from around 2,500 to around 5,000, backed with £18 million of funding to help young people make the transition into adulthood.
  • £30 million to go towards developing innovative approaches for short breaks for children, young people and their families, providing crucial respite for families of children with complex needs – the programme funds local areas to test new services including play, sports, arts and independent living activities, allowing parents time to themselves, while their child enjoys learning new skills. 13 local authorities are taking part in the second year of the programme.

 

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Department for Education Government NNPCF NNPCF work SEND Review SENDAP

Special Educational Needs and Disability and Alternative Provision (SENDAP) Improvement Plan published

Today, the government has published its long awaited response to the SEND Green Paper, the SENDAP Improvement Plan.

The plan outlines the steps that the government will be taking over the next few years to address the problems in the SEND system that have resulted in poor experiences for many children, young people (CYP) and families. The plan follows the SEND Green Paper and the subsequent consultation conducted by the Department for Education (DfE) in 2022. Our NNPCF co-chairs Tina Emery and Mrunal Sisodia were part of the steering group that advised on and reviewed the Green Paper and drafts of this plan.

On its publication, NNPCF Co-chairs, Tina Emery and Mrunal Sisodia said,

”There is much to welcome in the SENDAP Implementation Plan, in particular, we are pleased to see that national standards will form the basis of ordinarily available provision, have such a prominent role. The NNPCF argued for the need for national standards during the SEND review and 90% of respondents to our survey agreed that they were needed. If implemented well, national standards will form the basis of early intervention and clearly identify who is responsible for providing and paying for services.

Similarly, we are pleased to see local inclusion partnerships and plans being taken forward. Linked to the new Ofsted / CQC local area inspection framework that includes an annual review of inclusion plans, these will drive the joined up working and commissioning that has so often been missing.

Some of the proposals that the NNPCF disagreed with, notably the tailored list of settings, mandatory mediation and bandings and tariffs remain in the plan. However, we are pleased that these areas are being reviewed and piloted before implementation decisions are made.

Unfortunately, in some areas, the plan does not go as far as we would want. In the absence of legislation, the accountability regime, the mix of responsibilities, powers and regulation between schools, multi-academy trusts, local authorities and the DfE Regions Group – remains unclear.

We urge the ongoing Academies Regulation and Commissioning Review to address these gaps. In addition, we remain concerned about the pace of change. It will be 2030 before this plan is fully implemented and this is literally a childhood since the original SEND reforms in the Children and Families Act 2014.

We, the NNPCF, will continue work with government and NHSE to ensure that urgency to address the problems in the SEND system remains a priority.”

There are many things in the Implementation Plan that the NNPCF welcome:

National standards to form the basis of ordinarily available provision. Properly implemented, national standards will drive early intervention and form the foundation of what families can expect from services, what services can expect from each other as well as who is responsible for delivering and paying. In our survey 90% of respondents were in favour of national standards. We have received assurances from ministers that national standards will not be a list prescribed or allowed services for a list of diagnoses. Also, national standards will not form a cap on what can be provided to meet needs, individual needs must still be met.

SEND and AP partnerships and local inclusion plans will require local areas to have a clear and shared understanding of the needs of the local population and work together to address them. We are pleased that these will be reviewed annually as a part of the Ofsted / CQC local area inspection regime. In our survey, respondents were clear that education, health and care services needed to work together more actively and comply with national standards

The sections on the development of the SEND workforce, both inside and outside of schools are very welcome.  In our survey, 97% of respondents said that teaching staff needed better training on SEND.

We called for better data on SEND to drive inclusion and incentivise local areas to identify needs and provide early help. The inclusion dashboards proposed will do this if properly designed.

The proposed Adjustments Passport to support disabled young people into work is something that the NNPCF has been asking for over the last five years

We are pleased that some of the lessons of 2014 have been learnt. There will be a properly constituted change programme to systemically implement the plan with meaningful review and accountability through regional expert partnerships and a new National SENDAP Implementation Board.

However, there are some areas included in the plan that we continue to have reservations about. We have noted that these areas are going to be piloted and tested through the regional expert partnerships:

  • The tailored list of settings remains in the plan despite being supported by only 20% of respondents in our survey.
  • Mandatory mediation has very mixed support – we have expressed concern about the mechanism for mandatory mediation and the risk that this denies or delays access to redress via the tribunal.
  • Similarly, our survey showed no clear support for bandings and tariffs with only 47% or responses in favour.

Unfortunately, there are many areas that remain very worrying for the NNPCF, where more clarity is required:

The accountability regime remains ambiguous. The division of powers, responsibilities, regulation and enforcement between schools, multi-academy trusts, local authorities and the DfE Regions Group remain unclear. We hear too often about schools that do not make reasonable adjustments or promote inclusion. Parents and local authorities are powerless to hold them to account. The ongoing Academies Regulation and Commissioning Review must close these gaps to ensure that schools, local authorities and Integrated Care Systems meet needs.

When the SENDAP Green Paper and Schools White Paper were launched in March 2022 , the intention was to support both with legislation. Now, this will not happen. Without legislation, we are concerned that some of the measures critical to success can no longer be made mandatory (e.g. national standards and greater accountability for schools).

Finally, the pace of change must not lose urgency. There are many areas of the plan that require further development and definition. We welcome the intention to coproduce key elements and we look to supporting partners to achieve this in the most expedient way. We must collectively ensure that this work is given the priority our SEND families deserve.

The SEND system is in crisis now and we need urgent progress and action.

For more background on the SENDAP implementation plan and the NNPCF input in the Green Paper and consultation please see:

NNPCF response to the SEND Green Paper and Alternative Provision consultation. – National Network of Parent Carer Forums C.I.C

Find out what parent carers have told us about the SEND Green Paper and coproduce the NNPCF consultation – YouTube

SEND-review-results-NNPCF-2022.pdf

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consultations NNPCF NNPCF work

The Hewitt review

The NNPCF has recently submitted its response to the Hewitt review on Integrated Care Systems (ICSs). 

The review asked questions around policy, targets, data and performance monitoring.  The NNPCF is keen to ensure children and young people with special educational needs are visible in the health system, and our response to the Hewitt reviews reflected key areas raised by our membership.   

The NPPCF is concerned to hear from many forums that there has been less engagement with health across the country since the introduction of Integrated Care Boards.  Whilst we were able to share some examples of good practice of co-production with the Hewitt Review, many forums report being informed of local health plans rather than active engagement and co-production.  The NNPCF highlighted the benefits of co-production for health systems and how performance improvement can be supported by bringing the lived experience of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities to decision makers.   

At present very few Parent Carer Forums are reporting to the NNCPF that their local IBC is set up in a way to reduce inequalities for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.  The NNPCF reported to the Hewitt review that it is seeing little data to suggest that children are a priority for ICBS despite specific provisions being required.  The NNPCF suggested national priorities focused on CYP as well as ensuring ICBs have the required provisions in place for CYP could help increase the visibility of CYP in the health system.   

The NNPCF also fed back to the review feedback it has had from forums on other aspects relevant to the scope of the review.  The NNPCF will continue to work with the Hewitt review and health services to ensure the needs of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities and the lived experience of their families is represented to those making decisions. 

You can read our full submission below:

NNPCF-Hewitt-ReviewDownload
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Parent Carer Forums SEND Review

Case studies for the DfE SEND review team

The SEND review team has asked us to collect information from parent carers on the following subjects

The information with be anonymised when submitted to the team.

This is a case study of parental experience if your child has been in residential settings out of their community and you are about to embark or have brought your child back to their local community: https://forms.office.com/r/A3GDjfnXbQ

This case study is if your child doesn’t have an EHCP, and their needs are not being met or they are struggling in their educational setting. https://forms.office.com/r/Kks9BpB9Mx

Please complete this study if your child’s needs are not being met or they are struggling because of covid: https://forms.office.com/r/3Urd5fXLWL

You can complete this study if there are Issues with school transport that is affecting your child’s attendance at school or other educational setting: https://forms.office.com/r/wAMjbuKt4F

We would like to hear from you if you have taken your local authority to tribunal for any placement issues: https://forms.office.com/r/D1JY4dnbsL

Please complete this case study if your child has been admitted to or is at risk of being admitted to hospital because of their poor mental health: https://forms.office.com/r/AKAQFCDsxa

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consultations Government

Intergrated Care Systems call for evidence

The Public Accounts Committee are due to be questioning senior officials and executives at the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England on the progress in establishing Integrated Care Systems in England.

They will examine if they are being set up in a way which allows them to achieve their objectives:  

  • improve outcomes in population health and healthcare
  • tackle inequalities in outcomes, experience, and access
  • enhance productivity and value for money
  • help the NHS support broader social and economic development.

To help and inform the NNPCF’s response, we have created a survey for forums to complete.

Whatever your experience, please help us by completing our survey: https://forms.office.com/r/Xb4DiK1NbU

The survey is open until Thursday 20 October.

For more information on the Call for Evidence see:
https://committees.parliament.uk/work/6931/introducing-integrated-care-systems/

For an explanation of Integrated Care Systems see:
https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/integrated-care-systems-explained

If you want more information or want to add anything not covered in the survey, please email consultation@nnpcf.org.uk

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Department for Education NNPCF SEND Review

Department for Education update

New Minister with responsibilities for SEND announced

The new government continues to formalise ministerial responsibilities and last week, Kelly Tolhurst was announced as the new Minister for Schools and Childhood with responsibility for SEND. Minister Tolhurst is the second most senior minister in the Department for Education behind the Secretary of State Kit Malthouse.

NNPCF co-chairs Tina Emery and Mrunal Sisodia have written to Minister Tolhurst to introduce the NNPCF and ask for a meeting.

What next for the SEND Green Paper

The consultation period for the SEND and AP Green Paper closed before the summer holidays (22 July 2022). The DfE received several thousand responses, many of which came from parent carer forums and individual parent carers. DfE also held 175 engagement events many of which were hosted by or involved parent carer forums.

There were also responses from local authorities, schools (mainstream, special and AP) and health providers amongst others.

The NNPCF have attended several meetings with DfE officials over the last few weeks to discuss the next steps on the green paper and we continue to have input into the next stages of the proposals. Key points from these conversations include:

The DfE will publish a response to the green paper consultation in a National SEND and AP Improvement Plan by the end of the calendar year. This will set out government’s response to the consultation, and the next steps for delivering these reforms.

We have engaged in conversations about the formulation of national standards.

Whilst the contents of these discussions remain confidential, we can share that we have continued to make the following points.

  • National standards must drive and enable early intervention, particularly for those children and young people that do not have an EHCP Standards should be based on the holistic needs of the child and young person, not on diagnoses or conditions
  • Standards should be based on the holistic needs of the child and young person, not on diagnoses or conditions
  • There needs to be a strong link between standards used by practitioners when supporting individual families and standards that are used when planning, designing, and commissioning services.
  • Coproduction must be the core principle throughout all standards

The SEND and AP Green Paper and its progress remain a high priority for the NNPCF and we will continue to keep you updated on progress.

However, we are also very clear that our children and young people cannot wait for new legislation and reforms to improve services- there also need to be programmes of work targeted at improving services now. We are also working with the Department for Education and NHSE to focus on these areas.

We will update you on these over the coming weeks.

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consultations Education NNPCF work Parent Carer Forums Support for CYP with SEND

NNPCF response to the call for 100% school attendance in September

Dozens of SEND families responded to our call for evidence. They told us that the lack of support in school means that their children find it impossible to attend school regularly

Following the Children’s Commissioners ‘Voices of England’s Missing Children – The findings of the Children’s Commissioner’s Attendance Audit June 2022’ that was published on 26 June, we launched a call for evidence to collect parent carers experiences on their child’s school attendance.

You can find the report and our initial response by following this link: Children’s Commissioner’s Attendance Audit – National Network of Parent Carer Forums C.I.C (nnpcf.org.uk)) 

When the audit report was released, it stated that 100% of children must attend school on the first day back in September. 

Unfortunately, the report was not well received within our community. Many parents felt that, in a lot of cases, children were missing education through no fault of their own, due to lack of support and understanding within their school.

We asked parent carers, whose children were not attending school, to share their experiences with us.

Despite only limited publicity we received dozens of responses. 

In most cases, parents describe situations where their child wants to attend school, but because their concerns are not listened to, and there is inadequate or no support in place, they are unable to do so.

Too often, parents describe their children as becoming suicidal when they were forced to attend without the correct understanding and support: 

“By the end of year 6 he was 3 years behind in his learning, but school had not picked up on this. He had spent so much time in emotional turmoil in school he learnt nothing. He went to high school and lasted 3 months. Due to Covid SATs had not taken place and primary school failed to inform high school of his struggles both emotionally and academically. He expressed his wish to die and he was suicidal. High school failed to recognise this despite me pleading for help. They told me all Sen children say they want to die but none act on it. My son attempted suicide 3 times before we received any support from school or CAMHS.” 

“Decision makers showing compassion, after an overdose was taken by my child, they didn’t even ask if we were ok. Straight into risk assessments and how our child would no longer be allowed to go to the toilet on her own. We were dismissed, patronised, ignored with little co-operation from senior leaders/decision makers” 

“She started suffering from anxiety around school at the end of year 5 when they first took mock SATS. Year 6 was difficult but school did not recognise her anxiety… The end of year 6 was the first time she was admitted to hospital for suicidal behaviour. The new school however chose to ignore the provision summary. They did not accept my daughter’s needs. By November, she was admitted to hospital again” 

“Primary school refused to listen to our concerns which we started to raise in Year 1. No help from health services for mental health despite us reporting from age 6 that she was highly distressed and saying she wanted to die… Primary school treated her school anxiety and distress as an attendance issue and offered no support to deal with bullying or reasonable adjustments. Headteacher repeatedly tried to strong arm us into sending her to school only two weeks after a serious mental health crisis.” 

The lens approach to the findings are as follows: 

We asked ‘is your child in Primary, secondary, specialist, independent or college or not placed’ 44% of all respondents said Secondary. 

When asked

  • is your child on a reduced timetable
  • is someone educating them at home (with school supplied learning or EOTAS) or
  • or home educating that is not selective/elected

Our respondents told us of their children’s part-time timetables. 

One parent told us that their child, who is in a mainstream primary, only attends school 8 hours per week at an alternative provision which was provided by the school where the child is on roll. 

Another parent reported that their child at a mainstream secondary school attends mornings only. This was after experiencing and receiving school related trauma from CAMHS, when the child was attending primary school.

This case is not in isolation, other parents have had similar experiences, with many children not receiving any education at all. 

Parents were also asked how long their child’s attendance had been affected. The range was 8 months to 9 years, with 63% respondents saying that their child’s attendance had been affected for more than a year. 

We then asked ‘what things or chain of events had got them to where they are now?’ 79% of respondents said it was school. Some of the issues they reported were: 

  • Lack of support from Key leaders in school 
  • Lack of diagnosis so schools could appropriately support 
  • Lack of evidence for an EHCP – therefore specialist support couldn’t be put into place 
  • Poor communication
  • Poor knowledge by teachers in regard to SEN 
  • Schools couldn’t meet the needs of the children 
  • Lack of training 
  • Poor or no transitions 

In line with our solution focused way of working, we asked ‘what could have made it different?’

66% responded with school, the main points being: 

  • Suitable placements/provision being available in local area 
  • no exclusions
  • an acknowledgement of needs 
  • earlier intervention 
  • believing medical evidence when presented 
  • meet legal obligations 
  • updating school records and staff reading them 
  • more awareness of anxiety and mental health. 

We asked parents ‘what did they want for their child?’

41% responded said school in their response.

Not surprisingly, all parents said that they wanted their child to be happy. And almost every parent said that they wanted an education for their child.

Some parents commented that they knew what their child wanted to do as a career. 

Our final question asked about the needs of their child.

54% responded that their children had anxiety. With a lot of parents waiting for a formal diagnosis of Autism or ADHD. 

Below you can read more quotes from the responses we received. This illustrates the situations that our families continue to experience: 

“Anxiety (presenting as stomach aches), medical investigations, bullying at school.  Pandemic showed up existing issues more clearly.  Occasional absences which became more frequent, no support from school without diagnosis and long waiting lists for help.  Full school phobia (panic attacks and suicidal ideation) then threats of fines and prison were the last straw.” 

“X developed serious mental health issues at start of final lockdown after walking past previous primary school and experiencing a flashback and panic attack, which led to further eating issues requiring [received] dietician input after dropping 2 centiles and losing 2&1/2 stone. Told he has experienced school related trauma by CAMHS but no further help or support.” 

“He needed somewhere that understood anxiety, there’s no placements that have that ability unless very rare spaces become available. Lack of suitable education has failed him.” 

“School failed our child who has significant disabilities and SEN, couldn’t meet needs, child was on a part time timetable. Head teacher didn’t believe our child is disabled (two specialist teachers told me the head teacher kept calling them to check/ask/clarify) and was a nightmare to deal with!” 

“Anxiety for my daughter (15) started at the beginning of Year 10 – Sept 2021. School were unsupportive – offering to support attendance but nothing to actually support mental health. Year Head was dismissive and access to SEMH/ABSA support was initially blocked/denied. Pressure from school about attendance and refusal to authorise absence to a mental health ‘crisis’. Evidence from GP and CAMHS was provided & then School reconsidered. They then offered Early Help – May this year (several months too late)” 

“I wanted him to be able to go to school and be happy. But now I want him to receive funded EOTAS via tutors etc. We are currently funding this ourselves on top of me having to quit my senior management job in the NHS to care for him.” 

“No one was interested in what was best for my child. They only were bothered about their school. The research is really clear, that children with Down Syndrome will reach better academic outcomes in mainstream school. Article 24 of the UNCRPD also says children have the right to a mainstream education. The law though, gives the schools the right to refuse. The LA insisted on consulting with special schools, even though they knew they would end up losing at tribunal if they named one.” 

“[We wanted] Compassion, empathy and understanding from school, not judgment and threats. Proper, consistent SEN support, not stop-start interventions, that were what my child described as ‘the wrong help.’ After access to diagnosis, listening to parents and our child, instead of dismissing concerns. Prevention of bullying of SEND children.” 

“[We want]To be healthy, happy and enjoy life. An education in a system which appreciates and accepts them for who they are and what they are capable of.” 

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consultations NNPCF work

National research to develop policy and practice recommendations on resetting services to disabled children

The NNPCF have been part of a steering group where research has been carried out on the effects of SEND services throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and the reopening of services following the easing of restrictions.

The research has been carried out by a team at Newcastle University, and they have looked at national and international data, interviewed parents, carers, young people and professionals.

The aim of the research is to make policy recommendations in case of future pandemics or emergencies. The next step in the process is to take the recommendations to stakeholders to share the findings and receive feedback on them. 

The following text has been written by the NIHR Policy Research Programme. Please continue reading for details on how to take part in the project and how to have your say.

The NIHR Policy Research Programme commissioned research to provide policy recommendations on improving services for children with disabilities, learning from experiences during the pandemic PRP Reset. The research is led by Newcastle University and includes NHS and Local Authority professionals, parent carers, researchers, and advisory groups of family representatives and young people.

For the project we reviewed international evidence on the impacts of changes to services during the pandemic. We interviewed families, professionals, service leads and commissioners about which changes worked well and/or were not helpful.

We have drafted recommendations for practice and would like your feedback on them. We want to know if the problems and solutions fit with local experience. Your feedback will help to refine the recommendations, ensure they are relevant and practicable, and directly inform national guidance.

We are running 1-hour workshops on Teams from 6-15th September for professionals and parent carers to provide feedback on the recommendations.

You can sign up to participate in a workshop by following the relevant link below:

Professionals: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/professionals-your-views-needed-on-resetting-services-to-disabled-children-tickets-387005191947

Parent carers: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/parent-carers-your-views-needed-on-resetting-services-to-disabled-children-tickets-388784634307

We will send you the draft recommendations and joining instructions once you have a place. If the workshop you have selected is full, we would like to keep you informed about the findings.’’

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consultations Department for Education NNPCF work SEND Review

NNPCF response to the SEND Green Paper and Alternative Provision consultation.

The NNPCF ‘s consultation response has been submitted today 22 July.

Our response has been extensively coproduced with parent carers:

  • We ran a survey for all parents which received nearly 1300 responses – parents gave us a very strong steer on the key issues. We will publish the results of this survey in full.
  • We ran a webinar on 11 July to share the interim results from the survey with our membership – you can watch this webinar here: Find out what parent carers have told us about the SEND Green Paper and coproduce the NNPCF consulta – YouTube
  • We have hosted many regional events over the last 15 weeks with parent carer forums – some with the DfE team in attendance and some exclusively for parent carer forums.

We focussed our responses on those areas that will directly impact service delivery to families because this was where we got the most and the strongest responses from parent carers. We touch upon those areas that deal more with the structure.

In addition to this formal consultation response, we have had regular dialogue with the DfE about the Green Paper proposals where we have continued to make the key points in our consultation response:

  • NNPCF co-chairs, Tina Emery and Mrunal Sisodia continue to be members of the SEND review steering group which has met twice during the consultation period.
  • Senior civil servants from the DfE attended the webinar we held on the 11 July (see link above)
  • We have meetings scheduled over the coming weeks with the DfE to further analyse the results of our survey

We will continue to update you on the progress of the Green Paper as we have more information.

You can download our response here: https://consult.education.gov.uk/send-review-division/send-review-2022/consultation/my_response?user_id=ANON-EXGA-GCYM-N&key=4e7902bd78ecf85c7a57aa2ee04102bde9ae9802

Below you can find the responses we received to our SEND review survey, which informed the response we submitted to the Green Paper consultation.

SEND-review-results-NNPCF-2022Download
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Department for Education NNPCF work parent carer forum guidance Parent Carer Forums SEND Review

Ministerial changes and what’s next for the SEND Green Paper

The last 24 hours of political turmoil have seen changes in the ministerial team responsible for the SEND policy and legislation including the Green Paper. Nadhim Zahawi has been promoted to Chancellor of the Exchequer and Michelle Donelan has replaced him as Secretary of State for Education. Will Quince, Children and Families Minister has resigned his position. At time of writing we have no news of his replacement.

Since 2017, there have been seven Children and Families Ministers (soon to be eight). The NNPCF are well versed in meeting new Ministers and introducing them to the work of parent carer forums. Whilst Ministers change, the challenges faced by our children have deepened and regardless of who is in post, we will continue to represent the views of parent carer forums to the best of our ability and work with officials behind the scenes.

What does this mean for the SEND review and the work of the NNPCF?

At time of writing, the SEND Green Paper remains in place and reform of the SEND system remains government policy. The NNPCF are continuing to meet with Department for Education officials to progress the work of the Green Paper and we will carry this work on until plans formally change. We continue to engage with the continuing consultation process – for example, yesterday NNPCF Co-chair Mrunal Sisodia met with DfE officials to plan a series of “stress test” workshops to look at how the new proposed system will meet the needs of some of the children that have been let down by the current system and today, the NNPCF board are meeting with DfE officials to brainstorm what the new national standards might look like.

Webinar with Minister Quince Monday 11 July

Clearly, Will Quince will no longer be attending the webinar planned for Monday. However, we intend to proceed with the Webinar and are currently in discussion internally and externally (including with the DfE) on alternatives.

We know this time will be especially unsettling for our families but do rest assured we will continue to focus on our priorities and will keep you updated on any developments.