Special Educational Needs: Standards
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how SEND reforms will ensure that local authorities are held accountable for statutory duties, including meeting deadlines and appropriately assessing need.
Answered by Georgia Gould
The Schools White Paper sets clear expectations for the quality and timeliness of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision delivered by local authorities, supported by significant investment to drive system transformation.
In March 2026, the department commissioned local authorities, working with Integrated Care Boards, to develop SEND reform plans and will hold them to account for delivering strong outcomes for children and young people with SEND, intervening decisively where progress stalls and using our full intervention powers where failure persists.
Area SEND inspections provide independent evaluation of local arrangements. The department, alongside NHS England, provides support and challenge to local area partnerships. Where concerns are identified, we will draw on the full range of support and challenge levers to drive improvements.
The department publishes annual SEN2 data on education, health and care plans and assessments, including timeliness, which informs performance monitoring. Where a local authority fails to meet statutory duties, we can take action that prioritises children’s needs, including the issuing of Improvement Notices or Statutory Directions to drive urgent improvements.
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