THE Labour parliamentary candidate for Harlow said the Conservative government should be ashamed after an article in The Guardian claimed that there is a “covert deal to cut help for pupils in England with special needs”.
Chris Vince said: “At a time when crumbling Schools are making headlines of which the government should be ashamed, yet another disastrous cut to Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) provision is being proposed.
The Department for Education (DfE) has tried to sneak it in under the radar, maybe trying to use the crumbling concrete story to hide this disgraceful attack on students with special educational needs.
It has spent £19.5m on consultants to find ways of further reducing the overstretched and under-resourced SEND provision across the country.
“The DfE speaks of impacts and pressures but it’s referring to the costs to DfE not to the impact these moves will have on students and their parents or the pressures already faced by schools trying to deliver a high quality SEND service with rapidly diminishing resources.
The proposed 20% cut will further disadvantage SEND students by forcing them into mainstream education where their needs will be difficult to deliver.
Harlow’s Education Minister MP recently spoke of the need to achieve ‘good outcomes’ for students.
“What impact does he expect slashing the budget of an already under pressure service will have on the likelihood of a good outcome?