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Schools White Paper

I would ask the hon. Lady to look at the facts. The proportion of children with statements in special schools has gone up, compared with eight years ago. That is a clear matter of fact. In the White Paper, we are saying to special schools that we want them to share in the mainstream specialist schools programme, and that if they want to develop a speciality, either in special needs or in the mainstream curriculum area, they should have the opportunity to do so. If they want to work more closely with a mainstream school, we should also make that happen. This is about providing opportunities for children with special needs as well as for everyone else.