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Special Educational Needs

Thank you, Mr. Hancock. I shall do my best to wind up soon so that we can make progress. Page 56 of the Government’s response states:"““Minimum standards could apply to individual children or children as a whole within a local authority’s area””," but they then say that they will not comply with that. Given the local variation that we discovered, they need to reconsider that position. On page 48 of the response, the Government do not give adequate reasons as to why statementing and the process of statementing cannot be reviewed under the alternative approaches that have been piloted. That would be helpful. I would also welcome a stronger statement on co-location and the benefits that it can produce for all children. Several members of the Committee were impressed by the education village in Darlington, and we thought that that model could be usefully applied elsewhere. Again, a clear statement from the Government about whether they believe co-location is helpful would be welcome. Lastly, we need further comment on the interaction of special educational needs and league tables. I shall not dwell on this as the hon. Member for Chesterfield (Paul Holmes) eloquently described the problems, which have been too readily dismissed in the Government’s response. There are clear issues for individual schools when there is a conflict between a possible intake and league tables. Having said all that, I want briefly to list what is helpful in the Government’s response: more involvement of students and parents in the whole SEN process; developments in teacher training; more money for the personalisation agenda; a greater recognition of the problems that are presented by pupils with autism and with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties; and a recognition of the need carefully to consider post-16 transitions.