The Department for Education relies “too heavily” on Ofsted inspections to ensure there is adequate provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities, according to a report by the House of Commons’ Public Accounts Committee.

The committee says it is unconvinced that the DfE has a “sufficient grip” on how to tackle growing pressures in the SEND system.

In its report on SEND provision, published today, the committee finds that half of local authority areas inspected have “significant weaknesses” in their support for pupils with SEND.

The DfE relies too much on “periodic” Ofsted inspections to ensure that pupils are being fully supported, the report says.

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It adds that some schools rated by Ofsted as “outstanding” have not been inspected for the past 10 years, and that short inspections of mainstream schools may not focus on how they provide for pupils with SEND.

Call for better SEND support

It also notes that, since 2016, both Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission have conducted joint inspections of provision for SEND pupils in local areas, and that of 94 areas inspected by July 2019, half of these - 47 - had “significant weaknesses”.

It says that the DfE sees the “difficult financial position” of many local authorities and schools as a reason why they are not meeting expected standards and is “relying on Ofsted and the CQC revisiting local areas that have significant weaknesses, as a means of checking whether the quality of support has improved”.

The committee concludes: “We remain to be convinced that the department has sufficient grip on what needs to be done to tackle the growing pressures on the SEND system.”

The MPs recommend that the DfE draws on other sources of information to “get a rounded, timely assessment of the quality of support for children with SEND”, including information from regional schools commissioners, parent carer forums, schools forums and headteachers.

“To give parents confidence that the department is drawing on all relevant information in carrying out its system oversight role, the department should explain on its website what information it collects and how it uses it,” the report adds.

The report notes that securing an education, health and care plan (EHCP) for pupils has become a rare “golden ticket”. Over one million pupils with SEND do not have an EHCP.

Other recommendations from the report include:

• The DfE must complete its review into SEND, announced in September 2019. The committee notes that “mainstream primary and secondary schools are struggling to meet the needs of pupils with SEND and to cope with those who have challenging behaviour” and that the review should set out what actions the DfE will take to secure improvements in provision for SEND pupils, with quantified goals about how success will be measured.
• The DfE should use data it already collects to develop evidence-based understanding of “unexplained disparities” between different groups of children in identifying SEND. 
• The DfE should set out the steps it proposes to reduce the numbers of children with SEND who are permanently or temporarily excluded. “In doing so, it should explain what action it will take in response to the recommendations in the Timpson review of school exclusions, and the reasoning for its decisions.”
• Mainstream schools should be given financial incentives to be more inclusive. The DfE should work with schools and other stakeholders to “identify how funding mechanisms can be used more effectively to strike the right balance between incentivising schools to be inclusive without encouraging over-identification of SEND”.
• The DfE should carry out a “systematic analysis of current and future demand for school places and facilities suitable for pupils with complex needs, and develop a costed plan for meeting those needs”.

Committee chair Meg Hillier MP said: “Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities deserve the same quality of education and to get the same value from our education system as their peers.

“Disturbing disparities in identifying pupils with SEND, and in provision for them, point to underlying problems that can only be addressed through proper data collection and information. These children, already facing extra hurdles and challenges in this life, must not find themselves discriminated against several times over.”   

Rosamund McNeil, assistant general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said: “Dramatic funding cuts to local authority and school budgets have led to a loss in confidence for many parents that their child will receive appropriate SEND support. 

“For many, the education, health and care plan (EHCP) is seen as the only way of accessing the education provision their child needs. Sadly, this doesn’t always provide the golden ticket they are looking for.

“Schools have found it challenging to continue to remain inclusive in the face of widespread education and local authority funding cuts, leading to reduced support staff numbers and bigger class sizes alongside the ever-present testing and accountability culture.

“As the Public Accounts Committee report makes clear, the government approach on support has let SEND children down. The report’s recommendations may begin to address some of the disparities, but the Covid-19 crisis offers a real chance to ‘build back better’ in education.

“Covid-19 means we have to put children’s learning needs and interests at the heart of the offer in the classroom. We need inclusion to be the primary goal after Covid-19. In particular, we need to support staff to respond to children’s behaviour and emotional needs very flexibly when they return or we will see a huge rise in exclusions.”

The Department for Education and Ofsted have been contacted for comment.