Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 27
27
The Department said it had secured additional funding in the 2021 Spending Review including a...
Conclusion
The Department said it had secured additional funding in the 2021 Spending Review including a capital settlement of £2.6 billion, part of which was for additional specialist provision.53 It told us that, as well as the extra funding, it was working directly with those local authorities with some of the largest high-needs deficits to help them get greater control over their deficits while benefiting from additional funding and delivering what their children, young people and families need. It explained that some local authorities had looked at what was driving spending on expensive specialist provision and whether there were other ways they could use their money to manage children with high needs differently and reduce their use of costly specialist places. The Department said that it was seeing early signs that this “safety valve programme” was helping to bring deficits down and that it had funding to scale up the programme.54 53 Qq 102, 116 54 Qq 123, 135 Financial sustainability of schools in England 15
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
4. PAC conclusion: While we wait for the much-delayed SEND review, the support system continues to fail many children and remains financially unsustainable. 4: PAC recommendation: The Department should set out in the SEND review (which it has committed to publish in the first quarter of 2022) what improvements it is aiming to achieve and over what time period, and make clear what specific metrics it will use to assess whether the support system is improving and becoming more sustainable. 4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation Recommendation implemented 4.2 The government published the outcome of the SEND Review in the Special Educational Needs and Disability and Alternative Provision Green Paper - SEND Review: Right Support, Right place, Right time on 29 March 2022. The consultation on the Green Paper will close on 1 July 2022. 4.3 Later in 2022 the department will publish a national SEND delivery plan, setting out the government’s response to the consultation and how change will be implemented and by whom to deliver better outcomes for children and young people. 4.4 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families, wrote to the Committee about the Green Paper on 28 March 2022.