An influential committee of MPs is to examine why almost twice as many boys as girls are assessed for having special educational needs or disability (SEND).
The Public Accounts Committee is also looking at whether state schools have enough money in their budgets to fulfil their duty to support children with SEND.
Officials from the Department for Education, including the permanent secretary Jonathan Slater, will face MPs’ questions at a session on Monday.
Report: Poor delivery of SEND reforms is ‘failing a generation’
SEND: Spending watchdog says system is becoming financially unsustainable
Inspection: Call for schools to face new SEND inspection checks
Analysis: SEND crisis is about more than a lack of money
MPs will explore why 20.2 per cent of boys between the age of 5 and 17 were assessed for SEND, compared with the 10.7 per cent of girls, according to figures from last year.
The committee is also set to examine disparities between different ethnic groups and regions of the country.
Mr Slater will be appearing along with Suzanne Lunn, the deputy director of the DfE’s SEND division, and André Imich, a professional advisor for SEND for the department.
The Public Accounts Committee’s inquiry into SEND follows a National Audit Office (NAO) report, published last year, which warned that vulnerable children with SEND were not having their needs met.
The NAO report said increased demand for special school places, a system that incentivised mainstream schools to be less inclusive to children with SEND and a reduction in per-pupil funding was making the situation less sustainable.
The watchdog said this situation led to four out of five councils overspending their budgets for children with high needs last year - by a total of £282 million.
The Commons Education Select Committee has already carried out its own inquiry into SEND last year, which warned that that the poor implementation of government reforms to support children and young people have thrown families into crisis, put local councils under pressure and left schools struggling to cope.
Last year, education secretary Gavin Williamson also announced a major review of the country’s SEND provision.
