Supporting SEND reform

Since becoming your MP, one of the biggest issues I have been working on is the system that supports children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Too many parents and carers are forced to fight every step of the way just to get the help their child needs. That isn’t right and has to change.

As Vice Chair of the national f40 group, I have been pushing for fairer funding and a serious plan for SEND reform. We have already taken some important steps: the Department for Education has been restructured to put SEND at its heart, and we are starting to see real investment, including:

• £1 billion for support of children with the most complex needs

• £740 million to create more specialist places in mainstream schools

• Over £8 million of that coming to Cornwall

  
  

This autumn, the Government will publish a new White Paper on SEND. It will mark the beginning of a long-overdue transformation. Reforms are being shaped in collaboration with professionals and parents across the country, and I am making sure your voices are part of that process, because real change means listening to those who know the system best: families, carers, and young people themselves.

Before the White Paper is published, On the 9^th of August, I am hosting a local roundtable for parents and carers in the Truro & Falmouth constituency, to contribute directly to that process.

To attend, please contact my office:

E: jayne.kirkham.mp@parliament.uk

T: 01872 300 353