Matthew Offord – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2014-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the additional financial contributions made by parents to top up care for children with statements of special educational need.

Mr Edward Timpson

The Department for Education has not made such an estimate. Where a child has a statement of special educational needs (SEN), it should detail the provision that the child requires to meet their SEN. The local authority has a duty to ensure that the provision set out in the statement is made.

Where a parent feels that the provision specified in a statement is no longer sufficient, they can request a reassessment. They can appeal to the First-tier Tribunal for Special Educational Needs and Disability against any decision not to re-assess, or if they do not agree with the provision set out in the resulting statement.

The Children Act 2014 makes provision for education, health and care plans (EHC plans) to replace statements. EHC plans will cover the full range of the child’s needs. They will be subject to the same protections and rights of appeal as statements. In addition there will be a new duty on health commissioners to arrange health provision set out in the EHC plan.