Briefings and responses

The LGA supports the Government’s decision to make Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) compulsory in all secondary schools.

The LGA shares the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) belief that good attendance at school plays a vital role in children’s development and for their well-being.

The consultation document rightly acknowledges that the SEND is the subject of significant reform via the SEND Green paper and establishment of Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), but we are concerned that it does not acknowledge the reasons why system reform is needed.

The previous reforms to the SEND system set out in the Children and Families Act 2014 have failed to achieve the goal of improving provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Placing children and young people at the centre of the SEND system was right, but the reforms set out in the Act were not supported by sufficient powers or funding to allow councils to meet the needs of children with SEND or hold health and education partners to account for their contributions to local SEND systems.

It is vital that vulnerable children, who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, are the focus of this programme of work. In their role as leaders of local education systems, councils can bring together partners, join up local efforts to promote education recovery.

Schools should also be given greater certainty of future funding, to help them better plan for the spending pressures they face. Three-year budgets should replace annual budgets.

Three-quarters of mental health problems first emerge before the age of 25, so it makes sense economically to invest in mental health support for young people, as well as making a huge difference to people’s lives.

The LGA is deeply concerned about the ability of schools and councils to implement reductions in funding in the proposed one year of the ‘soft' funding formula in 2018-19.

The High Needs National Funding Formula (NFF) proposals will be in place for at least four years, according to the Stage 2 consultation documents. Therefore, it is essential that the NFF provides a robust and equitable method of funding provision and services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities and vulnerabilities.