Select committee: Women and Equalities Committee
Conclusion 10
1st Report - Unequal impact? Coronavirus, disability and access to services: interim Report on temporary provisions in the Coronavirus Act
Published 25 Sep 2020
Paragraph 53
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 ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The “reasonable endeavours” duty in relation to Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans is a nebulous concept, which has been inconsistently interpreted and poorly understood by some local authorities, whose support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities fell far short of an acceptable standard after the issuing of national section 42 notices from May to July. There were extreme examples of local authorities failing to communicate at all with children and young people and their families. This is clearly unacceptable. We understand and support the intention to provide local authorities with flexibility to adapt to local circumstances during the pandemic, but they must not be allowed to interpret a relaxed duty as leeway to do nothing to support children and young people’s needs.
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 53, 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- The Mental Health Act provisions were repealed from the Coronavirus Act on 8 December 2020.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.