The government has announced that a new steering group has been created to help deliver its long-awaited SEND Review “at pace”.
The Department for Education says it will conclude the review and advise on proposals to be published in a SEND Green Paper in the “first three months of next year”.
It comes as Will Quince, the children and families minister, told parents that the Government’s plan would need to reduce the local variation in services and improve early intervention for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
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In an open letter to parents and carers of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, Mr Quince said the proposals would need to make clear the support and services everyone should be able to expect and have funding in place to support this.
The government’s steering group includes the new national children’s commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza, Ofsted’s national director of education Chris Russell and Leora Cruddas, the chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts.
It first met at the end of September.
The DfE said the group has been set up “to assist the department to conclude the SEND Review at pace and advise on proposals to be set out in a SEND green paper to be published in the first three months of 2022.”
It added: “The steering group will work to deliver proposals that improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND, to improve the experiences of their parents and carers, and to deliver reforms that will bring financial sustainability to the SEND system.”
The DfE has said it will “shape and provide steers on policy solutions, tests the robustness of proposals to deliver systemic improvements, and offers advice on deliverability and unintended consequences of options”.
The group’s responsibilities also include supporting “the development of robust implementation arrangements informed by the evidence of what has worked elsewhere and to identify opportunities for shaping content of the Green Paper”.
The SEND Review was launched by former education secretary Gavin Williamson in September 2019 but has been repeatedly delayed during the Covid pandemic.
At a recent Commons Education Committee hearing, education secretary Nadhim Zahawi said that the SEND Review would be published in the first quarter of 2022.
He has also made clear in his first major speech as education secretary to the NAHT school leaders’ union’s annual conference that the review is a high priority for him.
In his open letter to parents, Mr Quince said: “To help us move forward and enable us to publish proposals in the first quarter of 2022, we have established a steering group that brings together government departments with representatives of parents, schools, colleges and early years, local government, health and care and independent experts...
“We will of course continue to work with a wider range of organisations to hear further from young people, parents and those who work with them so they can inform and challenge our thinking.
‘We still have work to do on the review’
“We still have work to do on the review and I do not think it is helpful to offer up specific details ahead of publication of the full set of proposals. I think it would be more helpful for people to see them all together so that they can make an informed judgement about whether they will lead to the lasting changes we all want to see.
“What I can say at this point is that, based on what we have heard and the evidence we have gathered, we know that it is important that proposals offer a way forward to reduce local variation.
“We also need to improve early intervention, make clearer the support and services everyone should be able to expect and have funding and accountability systems in place which support this.”
The SEND Review steering group panel comprises:
- Steph Brivio: Director, Strategy, Social Mobility and Disadvantage, Department for Education (DfE) - Chair
- Mark Vickers: Chair of Alternative Provision/SEND CEO Network
- David Holloway: Senior Policy Manager, SEND, Association of Colleges
- Charlotte Ramsden: President, Association of Directors of Children’s Services
- Rachel de Souza: Children’s Commissioner
- Leora Cruddas: Chief Executive, Confederation of Schools Trusts
- Christine Lenehan: Director, Council for Disabled Children
- Michael Freeston: Director of Quality Improvement, Early Years Alliance
- Sally Burlington: Head of Policy (people), Local Government Association
- Tina Emery: Co-chair, National Network of Parent Carer Forums
- Mrunal Sisodia: Co-chair, National Network of Parent Carer Forums
- David Bartram: Director, Prescient Education
- Tony McArdle: Independent Adviser; Chair, SEND System Leadership Board
- Sue North: Head of Children and Young People, NHS England and Improvement, Learning Disability and Autism Programme
- Chris Russell: National Director, Education, Ofsted
- Fiona Walshe: Director for Mental Health and Disabilities, Department for Health and Social Care
- Alex Skinner: Director of Local Government Finance, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
- Donna Ward: Policy Director of Children, Families and Disadvantage, Department for Work and Pensions
- Lynsey Jones: Head of Schools and Early Years, Her Majesty’s Treasury
- Indra Morris: Director-General, Children’s Services, Communications and Strategy Group, DfE
- Charlie Lang: Deputy Director, SEND Review Division, DfE
- Alex Marsh: Director of Academies and School Reform, DfE
- Fran Oram / Sophie Langdale: Director of Children’s Social Care, DfE
