The government bill to introduce special educational needs and disabilities reforms is likely not to be published until the new year, a Department for Education adviser said today.
Speaking at an online conference, Dame Christine Lenehan, the DfE’s strategic adviser on SEND, said that the likelihood was that the bill will be published in the new year - but it “will not run later than that”.
She also said that the government was considering questions around the curriculum, following the arrival of Andy Burnham as prime minister.
Dame Christine told delegates that the DfE’s expert panel, which is working on developing national inclusion standards and specialist provision packages, will also start to publish material in the new year.
Earlier this year the government launched a consultation on wide-ranging SEND reforms aimed at making mainstream schools more inclusive.
The plans include reforms to education, health and care plans (EHCPs), a new three-tier system of support, and a statutory individual support plan for every pupil with special educational needs.
The government has yet to publish its response to the consultation.
In the King’s Speech earlier this year, it was confirmed that legislation to overhaul SEND provision would be introduced through the government’s Education for All Bill.
Implementation date ‘absolutely clear’
At the Westminster Education Forum conference today, entitled Next steps for SEND provision, Dame Christine was asked whether there was a concrete timeline for what happens next with the reforms.
She said: “We are absolutely clear that we want to take this legislation through Parliament, and that implementation of the new legislation system starts in September 2029.”
Dame Christine added: “So what will come out to you soon is the bill and a whole range of associated papers that are going to be really important.
“The likelihood of those things coming out is now the new year. So I don’t think you are going to be doing your reading on Christmas Eve…I think we will be looking at the new year, but it will not run later than that.”
Inclusions standards work is ‘fairly well on’
To support its reforms, the government has appointed the expert panel to work on new national inclusion standards for all schools and the specialist provision packages that will be given to students with EHCPs under the new system.
Dame Christine told the conference that this work was “fairly well on”, adding: “You will start to see the sort of outputs of that early in the new year.”
And she said she hoped the impact of money invested into schools through the Inclusive Mainstream Fund, which was launched this year, would to help persuade the Treasury to invest more in this in future.
Earlier this year the DfE announced the first of three years of funding allocations for mainstream schools to support work to better meet the needs of pupils with SEND.
It revealed that an average-sized primary school would receive around £14,000 and an average secondary would receive around £48,000 in 2026-27 on top of core funding allocations.
Dame Christine told the conference that she had heard the criticism that “there isn’t enough money” being provided through this fund.
But she responded that “there is money that starts the project that we can build on” and that this could help to “convince the Treasury that it is worth investing in this even more”.
Curriculum reforms
Dame Christine also indicated that the installation of Mr Burnham as prime minister in the summer had an impact on curriculum reforms.
She was asked by an audience member whether ministers should work with Ofqual to commission and publish an independent review of how GCSE qualifications serve students with SEND.
Dame Christine said: “One of the reasons that we’re taking a bit of time at the moment is because - especially under the new prime minister and the new secretary of state [Lucy Powell] - curriculum issues like this have become a much more open question than it was.
“So we’re having to relook at all of those curriculum issues at key stage 4 and beyond to say, ‘Are we actually now designing a curriculum that young people can succeed in?’”
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