Briefings and responses

We welcome the Government’s provision of an additional £1 billion in funding for SEND at the recent Budget.

The Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill amends the non-domestic rating system in England to enable the introduction of new multipliers (i.e. tax rates). The Bill introduces powers to create new lower multipliers for qualifying retail, hospitality and leisure properties and higher multipliers for the high value properties. The Bill also removes the eligibility of private schools that are charities for charitable business rates relief.

The Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill amends the non-domestic rating system in England to enable the introduction of new multipliers (i.e. tax rates).

The LGA welcomes the introduction of a Bill to establish a register of children not in schools. This is a vital measure to allow councils to verify that children are receiving a suitable education in a safe environment.

Councils aspire to help create a truly inclusive education system, and urgently want to improve support and transform outcomes for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families.

We want to work with the Government to deliver a fundamental shift towards prevention across all services and policymaking, that reinvests in vital community services and rolls out evidence-based interventions at pace.

The free school meals system is an important component of the support that is provided to low income families and the broader work to tackle health inequalities and rising food insecurity.

Councils share the Government’s ambition of making sure every child with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) gets the high-quality support that they need. Reforms to the SEND system, set out in the Children and Families Act 2014 have, however, failed to achieve the goal of improving provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

School-based counselling and mental health support needs to be fully funded by the Government in all state-funded secondary schools and academies, to help support rising numbers of children and young people reporting mental health issues.