Education ministers were today grilled on the timeline for reform of the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system, the government’s workforce pledges and pupil screen time.
Facing education questions in the House of Commons, education secretary Bridget Phillipson did not rule out the government restricting education, health and care plans (EHCPs) to just special schools, when asked about this by the opposition.
Her comments come after Tes revealed that the Department for Education was considering a shake-up of the EHCP system, which could include scrapping the plans altogether.
Here are five areas that ministers were challenged on in today’s education questions.
1. Primary school teachers ‘don’t count’
Tes revealed last week that primary school teachers would not be included in the government’s pledge to recruit 6,500 new teachers, which was a key manifesto policy for Labour in last year’s election.
The number of primary teachers has fallen by 2,900 this year.
Shadow schools minister Neil O’Brien said today that “apparently primary school teachers don’t count”.
Ministers defended excluding primary school teachers from the target, due to falling pupil rolls in primaries.
And schools minister Catherine McKinnell told MPs that the government is more a “third of the way” towards achieving its 6,500 new teachers pledge.
“There are now 2,300 more teachers in schools and over a thousand more in training,” she added, claiming that the Conservative Party’s “scare-mongering is not coming to fruition”.
However, she did not shed any new light on the “baseline” against which the 6,500 extra teachers target is being measured. Department for Education permanent secretary Susan Acland-Hood had said this would be revealed once the spending review had been published.
Tes has continued to ask for this after the spending review was set out last week, but the DfE is yet to respond.
2. Phillipson doesn’t rule out restricting EHCPs to special schools
When asked by Mr O’Brien whether ministers are considering restricting EHCPs so that they only apply to children in special schools, Ms Phillipson said that the government does “need to think differently about the system”.
“We do need to think differently about the system that we have inherited from the party opposite, one that I think members across this House recognise just isn’t working,” she told MPs.
“This is not about taking away support for families or for children - this is about making sure we have much earlier identification of need, including ahead of any formal diagnosis,” she added.
Dame Christine Lenehan, the DfE’s strategic adviser on SEND, told Tes last month that the government is “considering whether EHCPS are the right vehicle to go forward”.
3. SEND White Paper timing challenged
The Commons Education Select Committee chair, Labour MP Helen Hayes, challenged the government’s timeline for SEND reform.
Ms Hayes said that the plan to publish a SEND White Paper in the autumn gives “far too little time” for the government to implement “meaningful change” without extending the statutory override for councils further.
A statutory override is currently keeping SEND deficits off councils’ books, but this is due to expire in March 2026.
“When does she expect local authorities to be able to have the certainty they need to plan for the coming financial year?” Ms Hayes asked of Ms Phillipson.
Ms Phillipson said that the DfE “wants to make sure councils are better supported” and it will be “setting out our position very soon”.
4. EHCPs being issued with ‘wrong name and condition’
Voicing further concerns about the SEND system, Al Pinkerton, Liberal Democrat MP for Surrey Heath, warned ministers that EHCPs are being issued with the “wrong name”, “wrong condition” and offering “inappropriate packages of support” in his constituency.
Surrey County Council has the highest number of tribunals, Dr Pinkerton said, and asked Ms Phillipson if she would “investigate Surrey County Council and its conformance with its legal obligations”, which she agreed to.
The education secretary also said that increased space in rural primary schools is an “opportunity” to deliver more specialist provision in mainstream settings.
When Tes previously revealed that the DfE was looking at using surplus primary school space for specialist provision, concerns were raised over how this would help with capacity problems for secondary-age students with SEND, and whether settings would be adequately equipped.
5. DfE criticised for ‘normalising screen time’
MPs also addressed mobile phone use in schools.
Shadow education secretary Laura Trott criticised the government for allowing primary school pupils to use computers and tablets for tests, which she said is “normalising screen time for young children”.
The Reception baseline test, which measures pupils’ English and maths skills when they start primary schools, is going digital from this September.
“Every day we have new evidence of the harm screens are doing. So why is the education secretary ignoring this, and still pressing ahead with screen-based assessments for children as young as 4 from September?” Ms Trott asked.
Education minister Stephen Morgan asked in response to Ms Trott: ”Is this all she can go on?”
He also reiterated the government’s position that it is up to schools to decide whether they ban mobile phones.
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