The Department of Education is planning new research on identifying children with special educational needs and disabilities and their experiences of education, the prime minister has said.

Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, Conservative MP Alex Chalk today told Theresa May that in the last decade special schools in his constituency of Cheltenham “have had to contend with an explosion in pupil complexity: emotional, behavioural and medical”.

He called for a “careful examination about what lies behind these seismic changes so that in years to come we can deliver the best possible outcomes for all our children”.

In response, Theresa May described it as a “very, very important issue”.

Education secretary Damian Hinds nodded as Ms May said the DfE has “a number of research projects in fields relating to these children and young people”.

She said the government is “committed to building up that rich body of evidence on the identification and on the outcomes and educational experiences, and the department is also scoping new work that would help, again, to lead to our understanding of these issues so we can ensure these children get the right support they need.”

It comes as support for children with SEND has come under increasing scrutiny.

Yesterday, the DfE was handed a petition signed by 38,000 people calling for increased funding for SEND.

And the Commons Education Select Committee yesterday heard evidence that financial pressures are leading councils to “string out” the process of agreeing care plans, and seeing “desperate” heads exclude children with SEND.