EDCM and SEC comment on Education Select Committee Report on draft SEN legislation

Wednesday 19th December

The Special Educational Consortium and the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign, who have been working together on the draft legislation, warmly welcome the Education Select Committee's scrutiny of the SEN provisions. In particular their recommendations that:

• the lack of statutory duties on health services is a significant weakness within the draft legislation and that strengthening these duties is critical to its success;
• that all disabled children and young people, not just those with SEN, should have access to an integrated education, health and care system;
• that the draft legislation needs to be amended to ensure existing parents entitlements are not eroded;
• that there should be a national framework to inform the development of each 'local offer' and stronger accountability measures for evaluating them.

Julie Jennings, Chair of SEC, said: "As Chair of SEC, I welcome this report. The Committee has made some important recommendations, many of which have the full backing of the SEN sector. I would now urge the Government to carefully consider the Committee report. The Government has yet to convince our members that this legislation will really deliver the benefits they intend, and implementing the Committee recommendations in full would go a long way to achieving this".

Christine Lenehan, Board Member, Every Disabled Child Matters campaign, said:"The Committee's report has shown the value of pre-legislative scrutiny: it has identified the unintended gaps in the draft legislation and provided a focus on those parts that need strengthening. In particular, EDCM warmly welcomes the Select Committee's recommendation that all disabled children and young people, not just those with SEN, should have access to an integrated education, health and care system. Currently the draft legislation only applies to those with special educational needs, but not all disabled children have SEN. It is just as vital that these children and young people have access to the improved services which is why the committee's recommendation is so important to us"