MP brings Northamptonshire SEND community together to find ‘real solutions for a real national crisis.’

The special round table session that took place at the Holiday Inn in Corby and included parents, advocates, education professionals spanning Early Years, Primary, Secondary and Post 16 providers, Post 18 employment, North Northamptonshire Council, Educational Psychologists, Occupational therapy, Speech and Language Therapy, Charities and Teacher and Education representatives.

The MP has continued to make clear his commitment to the issue and wanting to empower those from the SEND community to influence Government policy.

“The influential Parliamentary Education Select Committee launched a major new inquiry focused on finding solutions to the crisis in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision.” said Lee Barron at the beginning of the event in Corby.

“That is why I wanted to bring together this important group of people. That is why I want our submission to this inquiry to be one that is community and professional led.”

“They experience every day this crisis and they are the voices that count.”

The round table considered key questions including support for children and young people with SEND, current and future SEND needs the current and future model of SEND provision, Finance, funding and capacity of SEND provision and the accountability and inspection of SEND provision.

“Today was an outstanding success.” said Julie Heron, who has two daughters both with special educational needs and who took part in the meeting.

“It was important for me to emphasis the message that the SEND crisis is not the fault of local schools, not the fault of parents, not the fault of the local authority but the fault of a broken, outdated system.” she said.

“Yes, there is good and bad within every sector of course but in that room were people were there because they care. It was not about blame, it was open, free, respectful and all about what is needed to solve the SEND crisis. Everyone need to be part of the change. This is a crisis that spans many levels.”

Following the event those present will now be working hard to bring together all the discussions from the day to make a submission to the Education Select Committee Inquiry which has a closing date of Thursday 6 February 2025.

“There were some real robust conclusions that came out of today that will now be put into the inquiry as evidence.” said Kay Sammon, Chair of UpsnDowns a charity that Empowering people with Down syndrome to lead happy and fulfilling lives and who was also been a Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator. “Lee kicked off the event by making clear the current system is broken. We need to find real solutions to what is a real crisis.”

“I know from speaking with those that were present how important this session was but how it is only the start of the process and how we are all committed to make a real difference.”

The Education Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Education and any associated public bodies.

It scrutinises the work of the Department for Education, covering children’s social care, schools, colleges, the early years and higher education. The Committee also holds regular hearings with DfE’s arms-length bodies, including Ofsted, Ofqual and the Children’s Commissioner.

The Solving the SEND Crisis Inquiry follows a number of recent reports have set out in detail the extent of the crisis in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system, which is letting down children and their families, creating intense pressure on local authority funding and on schools.

This inquiry will focus on how to achieve both short term stability and long-term sustainability for the SEND system to improve experiences and outcomes for children and young people.