The Schools Minister’s appearance at the Education Select Committee this week to answer questions from MPs on ‘solving the SEND crisis’ can mainly be summed up as “Wait for the schools white paper”.
Somehow in addition to being uninformative, the minister was also unreassuring. She was giving nothing away, except that no-one can be fully certain at this point that their child’s existing special educational provision will be maintained. Meanwhile, what lies ahead for a future generation of children and young people with SEND is anyone’s guess.
Some MPs know more than others…
After six months of taking evidence from a variety of witnesses, MPs on the committee have a pretty good grasp of the problems in the SEND system and what solving these might entail. But it’s not clear at all that the minister, Catherine McKinnell MP, entirely understands how the system currently works and what might be required to fix it.
I don’t say that lightly. But when the minister with responsibility for SEND provision tells the Education Committee she thinks the system is intrinsically adversarial, then suggests it relies on diagnosis rather than need, we’re entitled to wonder how closely she’s read part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND Code of Practice.
“I didn’t hear anything in your opening introduction that gave me the slightest clue as to how you’re going to fundamentally address what we all agree is currently an unsustainable situation.”
Sir James Cleverly MP
Please, answer the question…
The question many parents and families want a straight answer to is: Will my child get the support in education that they need? Followed by: Will they retain the right to an education that meets their individual needs? Will this be something that happens in practice as well as in theory? Will it be enforceable?
The minister insists the Government will improve provision for children and young people in schools. But she won’t commit to retaining the framework of legal rights and entitlements that provide families with a vital roadmap of what should be happening, and a means of enforcing it when it doesn’t.
“We won’t be removing any existing effective support.”
Catherine McKinnell MP, Minister for School Standards
Asked the question in a variety of ways about whether children and young people would lose existing provision, Catherine McKinnell had come prepared with the line “We won’t be removing any existing effective support.”
This is strangely unreassuring. The statement that, “We will avoid removing effective provision that is evidence-based and is working and is delivering for children and young people” is open to many interpretations.
The committee’s newest member, Tory MP Sir James Cleverly, pressed the minister on this. “Can I just clarify, you’re not giving a 100% guarantee of continuity of provision?”
The minister replied, “We’re not looking to change existing provision that is working for children. But obviously that’s not 100% guarantee of continuity.”
Who’s going to be making the decision about what ‘effective’ looks like for individual children already receiving support, and how is this ever going to work?
Labour MP Jess Asato took up the question of the right to support, “Many desperate parents have said that fighting for an EHCP or taking the council to Tribunal has been the only lever that they had to ensure their child can access the support that they deserve and is their educational right. Can you provide clear assurance that any reforms will not reduce access to statutory support for children?”
In answering this question, Catherine McKinnell said parents shouldn’t have to fight for their child’s education, that provision “should be available as part of the system.” That is absolutely right: if the system worked as it should, fighting would become a minority activity rather than a daily reality for so many parents of disabled children.
That elusive thing, “parental confidence”
There was much talk—as there always is when education ministers, officials and advisers present themselves for questioning on SEND—about “parental confidence” in the system.
The committee chair, Helen Hayes MP, referred to “…a real collapse in the trust and confidence of parents in the system”.
Catherine McKinnell talked about, “…how difficult the system is currently for parents and carers and young people to navigate”. She added, “I think we desperately need to move away from this adversarial system where parents feel they need to fight for their child, for every bit of their child’s education and that they in order for their child to get the education they deserve.”
It can be extremely difficult to navigate, but do you know why, minister? Families have to become experts in navigating the system because most of the time they aren’t told how their child should be supported and what their rights are.
It’s difficult to navigate because obstacles are constantly put in the way by local decision-makers. If schools and local authorities worked with parents and young people from an early stage, the system would become much more navigable for all families.
And as for the repetition of “this adversarial system”: literally no-one wants to have to fight! But parents find themselves fighting for their children’s education because the things that the law says should happen, don’t happen.
Repeat after me…
The existence of the law doesn’t make the system adversarial: it’s non-compliance with the law that does that.
I suppose if there were no law there would be no rights to fight for, but I’m going to believe this isn’t the Government’s wish or intention.
Also, can we please not use the word ‘deserve’? Human beings have rights because they are human, not because they have earned them. Children and young people don’t have to prove they ‘deserve’ provision that meets their needs: the law says they have a right to it.
The minister said she wants to create, “a much less adversarial and more sustainable redress system where families and local authorities work together to resolve disputes much earlier”.
This is exactly what she should want. But there’s literally nothing stopping that happening now, beyond a culture of local decision-makers not talking to families. If the system provided what children and young people need as a matter of course, it wouldn’t be adversarial.
The holy grail, “inclusive mainstream settings”
The main thing ministers have to offer at this point is that mainstream schools will become much more inclusive places, where most types of need can be met. The detail, however, is lacking. Beyond an emphasis on sharing good practice and a hefty dose of wishful thinking, it just isn’t clear how the Government defines an inclusive mainstream setting.
MPs pressed Catherine McKinnell on this – what are the characteristics, expertise and physical environment of such a school? The best they got from the minister was this,
“It is about building the expertise of the workforce within schools to break down the barriers to education, whatever those barriers are that children might be facing, to access and unlock their education and particularly ensuring that special schools as well can cater to those with the most complex needs.”
Catherine McKinnell MP Schools Minister
All the evidence points to a heck of a lot more pressure on mainstream schools, with a narrow perception of the role of special schools.
The minister said we need to be clear on “where a specialist education is required for really complex needs”. There wasn’t much indication that special educational needs come in all shapes and forms.
Engagement, engagement
The minister was very keen that everyone should understand how committed she is to engagement with children and young people and their families—the people affected every day by SEND policy-making. She referred enthusiastically to a recent meeting between the Secretary of State and “a group of representatives of children’s charities”. (You know the one: where they shared a pic of themselves all grinning from ear to ear.)
“Engagement is really important for us… Since I took on this role, I have spent a huge amount of my time engaging… directors of children’s services and parent carer forums as well.”
Catherine McKinnell MP, Minister for School Standards
But Helen Hayes MP found herself wondering, along with the rest of us…
“given all of that engagement, why you haven’t launched a national engagement strategy so that that is transparent in the public domain, so that it’s clear exactly which organisations you are engaging with. And so that everybody, whether they’re part of an organisation or whether they’re just an individual parent, has the opportunity to feed in their view in a systematic way that that can take account of all of those views.”
The minister assured the committee that, when the white paper is published, there will be a period of consultation to follow: “And obviously at the moment we are engaging extensively in order to produce that.”
I do hope everyone is clear.
You can read the oral transcript here
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Also read:
- What kind of government is “bold” enough to scrap statutory EHCPs from vulnerable children?
- DfE’s word salad response to critical PAC committee report shows lack of urgency in fixing SEND
- Education Secretary: Disabled children’s “current” rights won’t be removed. But council proxies keep pushing to trash entitlements
- SNJ’s 80 practical recommendations to solve the SEND Emergency
- Fight the “devastating” plans to ban young disabled people from vital elements of Universal Credit benefits
- What are powerful council lobbying voices telling the Education Committee they really really want?
- If no news, send rumours: Education Committee scolds DfE over “White Paper” while its SEND Inquiry hears from young people.
- Inquiries and injustice: the SEND Inquiry hears the parental perspective
- Beyond EHCPs: Why Inclusion Needs More Than a Document
- The Unacceptable Truth: 20 SEND legal rights at risk from the Government’s SEND reforms
- How health and family support systems are failing children starting school
- WEBINAR RECORDING! The implications for children’s legal rights to EHCPs and EOTAS of the Government’s SEND proposals
- When things go right: Shining a light on SEND Practitioners making a positive impact [Giveaway!]
- From suspicion to support: why the Government’s child protection reforms matter for disabled children
- Have your say on the future of transport for disabled children and young people
- Unison voices major concerns over SEND reform health plans for sick and disabled children out of school in the EOTAS consultation
- Top Tips for the EOTAS & EHCP consultation: Protect your child’s rights to statutory SEND support
- Navigating constraints: Why a former PCF chair thinks the current model is missing the mark for families
- Dear Secretary of State for Education, Lucy Powell: an Open Letter from Special Needs Jungle and SEND legal charity SOS!SEN
- Research: Disabled young people define inclusive education as “learning in the place that’s right for them”
What kind of government is “bold” enough to scrap statutory EHCPs from vulnerable children?May 16, 2025
The SEND reforms in the Schools White Paper reveal rights given, and rights stripped awayFebruary 24, 2026
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When her younger daughter was diagnosed with Rett Syndrome in 2009 shortly before her second birthday, Catriona found herself dealing in practice with things she’d previously thought she understood in principle.
She juggles her work as policy manager for a national charity with caring and advocating for her daughter. She's passionate about improving the lives of disabled children and their families, and making the systems that should support them work more transparently and equitably.
Catriona writes for Special Needs Jungle in a personal capacity, and all views expressed are her own.
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