Reform of provision for children and young people with SEN and disabilities

The draft legislation on reform of provision for children and young people with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and disabled children and young people has today been published. The draft provisions and accompanying explanatory notes can be found at www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-vote-office/September_2012/03-09-12/5.Education-SpecialEducationalNeedsReform.pdf

The Minister of State for Children and Families has written to the chair of the Education Select Committee to seek the Committee’s agreement to consider the draft SEN and disability provisions. The Committee will decide formally later this week if it is willing to carry out pre-legislative scrutiny of these draft provisions. The Minister’s letter can be found on the Department for Education website at: www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/send/a00213564

These draft provisions are the next step in the journey towards the biggest reforms to the SEN system for 30 years that began with the 2011 Green Paper Support and Aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability. They are intended to set the high level architecture of the reforms as they might appear in primary legislation. Much of the detail will be set out in regulations and guidance, to be informed by the pre-legislative scrutiny process and the pathfinder programme.