(UK) Cornwall: SPED parents report children spend "significant time out of school"; "needs not being met"
Children with special educational needs and disabilities are facing long journeys, rising transport costs and a shortage of suitable school places, MPs have warned.
MPs representing Devon, Somerset and Cornwall raised concerns during a Westminster Hall debate on SEND provision in rural communities on Tuesday, October 27, calling for the challenges of distance and geography to be recognised as the Government develops reforms.
Truro and Falmouth MP Jayne Kirkham said Cornwall’s position on a peninsula made it especially difficult to find alternatives when specialist provision was unavailable.
She said: “That is a particular problem in Cornwall, because we are on a peninsula.
Numerous children had no specialist place at all by September, because the options simply were not there. Going out of county is just too far for many people.”
Tiverton and Minehead MP Rachel Gilmour said: “The bottom line is that SEND provision in rural areas is only as good as a child’s ability to reach it.”
Camborne and Redruth MP Perran Moon said the cost of home-to-school transport in Cornwall had increased by 300% over the past seven years.
He added: “In addition, two thirds of Cornish families waiting for an EHCP have to wait for more than 20 weeks.”
Yeovil MP Adam Dance raised access to assistive technology, citing a British Dyslexia Association survey in which only 18% of young people had access to it. He later asked whether Government trials of assistive technology lending libraries could be extended to rural areas such as Somerset. . . .
Mr Jermy said 46% of parents responding to his survey reported that their child had spent significant time out of school because their needs were not being met. Three quarters of responding schools said their resources were inadequate to provide sufficient SEND support. . . .
She said a new national Experts at Hand service was receiving £1.8 billion to increase access to specialists, including occupational therapists, educational psychologists and speech and language therapists, as well as support from special schools for mainstream settings.
The minister also pointed to £200 million for teacher training and £3.7 billion in capital investment for changes including more accessible mainstream schools, inclusion bases and new special schools. She said the Government would test how proposed clusters of schools could operate in rural areas.
On specialist places, Ms Gould said an expert panel was developing packages of provision that local authorities would be expected to commission, with the aim of making a wider range of support available locally. . . .
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