The children’s minister has said that giving local councils the power to direct schools and academy trusts to take on pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) could be “game changing” for children.
Will Quince also told Tes that he would have “no reservation” about intervening to secure improvements if a local council is failing to deliver for children and young people with SEND.
He spoke to Tes exclusively as the government launched its long-awaited proposals from the SEND review launched before the pandemic, in 2019.
The Green Paper, published today, details a raft of proposals, including the simplification of the education, health and care plan (EHCP) process and making mainstream schools more inclusive.
The Green Paper also includes a plan to consult on giving councils the power to direct academy trusts or schools to take on children with SEND.
Mr Quince hailed the importance of this step when asked how the Department for Education would ensure mainstream schools are more inclusive. He also highlighted how current accountability measures do not assess the inclusivity of a school’s intake.
“Ofsted’s role at present is about how schools support children with SEND within their setting,” said Mr Quince. “We’re consulting at the moment, or we will do as part of the Green Paper, on local authorities having the power to mandate admission.
“A lot of parents asked me the question…It’s all well and good, assessing the school based on how they support their children with SEND within their school. But is Ofsted going into a school and asking: ‘Where are your children with SEND? Because this school doesn’t reflect the community that you serve’.
“And that’s why I think we will ensure that a school takes an inclusive approach. And as part of that local inclusion plan, local authorities will be able to hold schools and MATs [multi-academy trusts] to account and MATs will be a part of that system.”
‘Sunlight is the best disinfectant’
Earlier this year, Tes reported on the growth of SEND “magnet schools”, whereby parents gravitate towards schools in an area because they get a reputation for welcoming pupils with additional needs. Quince said that the new system will highlight this issue and ensure that every school is inclusive.
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant, so actually, through local inclusion dashboards, the local inclusion plan, bringing everyone together and then giving local authorities the ability to hold those MATs and schools to account - and, where necessary, to direct admission - I think is game changing,” he said.
The Green Paper notes that there are processes to allow local authorities to direct admissions in maintained schools.
It adds: “Although academies are required to admit a child or young person with an EHCP, the power to direct admissions for academies remains with the Secretary of State for Education.
“We will consider changing this process, so that, as a final safety net to cover rare circumstances where collaborative working breaks down, local authorities have a backstop power to direct trusts to admit children, with a right for the trust to appeal to the Schools Adjudicator.”
Accountability and redress
Mr Quince also said the government was willing to challenge and intervene if local councils are failing to deliver on SEND.
He said the plan was for the system to have “clarity and visibility”.
He added: “There’ll be mechanisms for accountability and redress, not just for parents, but also for local authorities to intervene. But one thing I would say about this is that I have no reservation whatsoever about stepping in and we’ve done this previously and I will do so again where a local authority is not delivering for children and young people locally.”
Last year, it was announced that a government commissioner was taking over SEND services for children and young people in Birmingham after inspectors found that significant weaknesses had not been improved.
The DfE intervened after an Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) report found that sufficient progress had been made in just one of 13 areas of significant weaknesses identified three years earlier.
The Green Paper notes that of the 141 local SEND area inspections published by 21 March 2022, 76 resulted in a written statement of action, which indicates significant weaknesses in SEND arrangements.
A Tes investigation in 2019 revealed that more than half of the first 100 SEND area inspections had found significant weaknesses.
Today’s Green Paper also includes a plan to support Ofsted and the CQC to develop a new SEND inspection framework.
