Will Quince will lead on the government’s SEND reforms in his new post as schools minister, continuing the work he started when he was children and families minister.
Mr Quince launched the SEND Green Paper earlier this year as children’s minister before resigning last week, along with dozens of other ministers, as confidence in Boris Johnson collapsed.
However, Mr Quince agreed to return to government a day later after the prime minister announced he would stand down.
Mr Quince was confirmed as schools minister today, but a shake-up of responsibilities means that this role will now include SEND.
In a post on social media today, he said: “I’m particularly thrilled to retain responsibility for special educational needs and disabilities, given my previous experience and work on the SEND Review. I will continue overseeing our Green Paper proposals, and look forward to meeting with many more families and young people.”
The consultation on the government’s SEND Green Paper proposals is due to end on 22 July.
The new children’s minister, Brendan Clarke-Smith, will be responsible for attendance, behaviour and exclusions - an area that was previously the responsibility of the last schools minister, Robin Walker.
The news that Mr Quince has retained SEND has been welcomed by Robert Halfon, the chair of the Commons Education Committee.
He said: ”This is very good news. As the Children’s Minister for over a year, Will Quince has spent a long time fully getting to grips with the issues.
“It should be seen as a testament to his commitment to parents and children with special educational needs that this has been included in his new ministerial brief.”
Simon Knight, the joint head teacher of Frank Wise special school in Banbury, Oxfordshire also welcomed the news.
Posting on Twitter he said: ”This is important from the point of view of maintaining momentum.
“Also significant that SEND is now in the wider schools brief, which I hope will lead to greater policy coherence with regard to SEND, as well as raising the status and visibility of the specialist sector.”
