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Written question asked by Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 28 August 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 2 September 2026. It was answered by Georgia Gould (Labour) on Tuesday, 8 September 2026 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Special Educational Needs

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve transparency and accountability in local authority SEND decision-making where concerns have been raised regarding delays in providing statutory support.

Answer

The department holds local authorities to account in delivering their responsibilities on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Where failure is persistent, the department may intervene directly, using statutory powers and improvement partners to support service improvement.

Area SEND inspections also help make sure local services are meeting the needs of children and young people with SEND. There will be a full consultation on proposed changes to the Area SEND inspection framework too, looking at changes to inspection as a result of changes to roles, responsibilities and statutory duties of local area partners and wider SEND reforms.

In our ‘SEND Reform: Putting children and young people first’ consultation, we proposed measures to improve local authorities’ future decision-making and transparency around Tribunal outcomes. This included proposals to publish an annual SEND Tribunal outcomes dashboard and introduce new requirements on local authorities following Tribunal judgments, for example to publish regular summaries of judgments made against them. We are currently considering all consultation feedback and will publish final proposals in due course.

The Ministry of Justice publishes information about the number of SEND Tribunal cases, including the number of cases conceded, in the SEND Tribunal Tables.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
25315
Session
2026-27
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Administrative delays Special educational needs
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk