I spoke yesterday in a Westminster Hall debate on SEND provision in the East of England, highlighting the impact of the recent surge in demand which is overwhelming schools in mid-Norfolk and the need for the funding formula to properly account for rural costs. How we treat our most vulnerable children is a sign of the health of our society

As a parent I’ve been lucky enough not to experience SEND in our family, but as a teacher earlier in my career I did. As the MP for Mid Norfolk I’ve been proud to have been able to work closely with the teachers and parents in securing £7m funding in 2011 for the fantastic Chapel Green School, and funding from Norfolk County Council for the renovation of the brilliant Fred Nicholson school in Dereham.

The people of Mid Norfolk rightly care deeply for - and are proud to support - Our most vulnerable children with special needs. However, in the last 5-10yrs we have seen a massive growth in the demand for SEND provision which has overwhelmed our traditional mechanisms of provision

On every one of my Constituency Friday school gate visits SEND is the no1 issue raised by parents and teachers. More and more parents are battling the EHCP assessment and Tribunals system and forced to home school and watch their children suffer. More and more teachers tell me that the surge in SEND demand has accelerated as a result of better awareness and diagnosis, the Pandemic lockdown, the cost of energy crisis which has hit rural schools budget’s especially hard, and pressure on early years support as more and more parents find themselves both having to work to pay the bills.

Whilst successive Governments have increased SEND spending with 18% / 1.2m now receiving SEND support - that leaves half a million children NOT receiving support. ⁠I would like to see the data but I strongly suspect the majority of those missing half a million are in RURAL areas.

This is another reason for my Fair Rural Funding Campaign to tackle the structural underfunding of rural areas. See my campaign by clicking here.

⁠Whatever the reasons the facts are that far too many rural schools & parents are overwhelmed and the national funding formula needs urgent reviewing. I’ve urged the Minister to look at the geographic location of the missing 500,000 children and the specific problem of RURAL under provision.

SEND remains one of my key Top 3 Constituency campaigns as Mid Norfolk MP and will remain so until we get this right.

- ⁠Click here for my SEND Campaign Page with regular updates on my work.

- ⁠And here link 🔗 for my speech in Westminster Hall this week.