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Education Bill

My hon. Friend is right. All kinds of other factors will determine which awarding organisations schools use and why, and there is a ““stickiness”” compared with the fluidity that might exist in another market situation. Lords amendment 37 would give the Secretary of State the power to pilot the use of direct payments in education for children with special educational needs. In the Green Paper on special educational needs and disability, we committed to give every child with a statement of SEN or a new education, health and care plan the option of a personal budget by 2014. One element of a personal budget can be a direct payment to a family to buy support for their child. Direct payments are already being used in health and social care, and we want to test how the greater choice and control they give to families can be effectively achieved in education too. With those brief remarks, I commend the Bill and these amendments to the House.