Select committee: Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 9
1st Report - Unequal impact? Coronavirus, disability and access to services: interim Report on temporary provisions in the Coronavirus Act
Published 25 Sep 2020
Paragraph 50
Addressed to Government Equalities Office
Women and Equalities Committee Unequal impact? Coronavirus, disability and access to services All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Assessing needs and securing provision for children and young people meeting the threshold for EHC Plans was an extreme challenge for local authorities during the peak of the pandemic earlier this year. Local authorities could not have been expected to meet their EHC Plan duties fully in these circumstances; some flexibility was needed. It is less clear whether it was necessary for the relaxed “reasonable endeavours” duty to remain in place until the end of July, leaving many children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities with very little or no support for three months. We recommend the Department review the information- gathering and decision-making processes in place with a view to making a faster decision to return to full EHC Plan duties, should flexibilities be introduced again.
From: Women and Equalities Committee, 1st Report - Unequal impact? Coronavirus, disability and access to services: interim Report on temporary provisions in the Coronavirus Act (HC 386), paragraph 50, 25 September 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 25 January 2021.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government "welcomes the Committee's interim recommendations" and sets out actions taken on Care Act easements, the Mental Health Act and EHC plans, while describing the existing parliamentary review arrangements as "flexible and proportionate".
- On Care Act easements, the government says they "should only be used when absolutely necessary", that no local authorities are currently operating under them, and that the changes "will be kept under regular review".
- The Mental Health Act provisions were repealed from the Coronavirus Act on 8 December 2020. On reform, the government will publish a White Paper "as soon as it is possible to do so".
- On EHC plans, no further modification notice was issued after 31 July. The government does not intend to issue further notices "unless the evidence changes".
- On a separate Commons view on individual provisions, the government describes the existing arrangements, including the six-monthly vote, as "a flexible and proportionate response" that ensures ongoing scrutiny.