Brian Mathew

It is a pleasure to speak under your chairship, Dr Allin-Khan, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for South Cotswolds (Dr Savage) for presenting this important petition debate. The fact that the petition has more than 122,000 signatures, with 244 from my own constituency, is an indictment of our current system. We are letting down far too many of our children, parents and carers. Wiltshire council has one of the lowest levels of per-pupil funding for SEND in the country. Despite children there having the same needs as anywhere else, the county receives nearly 30% less than other councils to support its children and young people with SEND. Wiltshire is the 20th lowest-funded county in the country. Families in my constituency and the families who signed this petition are not asking for the impossible. They just want their children to get the best possible support—the same support as other parents and children get. Instead, they are battling long waiting times for assessments, overstretched schools, and councils making difficult choices with too little money. A SEND White Paper was originally promised in the spring. It was deferred to the summer and has now been confirmed as part of a schools White Paper in the autumn. Drift and delay in the publication of the reforms has caused frustration and anxiety for families. The SEND crisis cannot be fixed without fixing the funding system behind it. Grand ideas remain only ideas if the basics are not funded properly. The Treasury must play its part. Early intervention, properly trained staff, accessible local specialist provisions—none of that will happen unless councils like ours have real, sustained backing.