Mohammad Yasin

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Mark. I am pleased to say that the provision for children with special educational needs in Bedford and Kempston has improved greatly since 2018, following an Ofsted and CQC inspection that found significant areas of weakness in the local area’s practice. Next month, the brand new Rivertree Free School in Kempston for 200 children aged two to 19 with special educational needs will be completed, with transitions for students to start in January. It has taken a few years and it has been a frustrating wait for parents and children who are desperate to take up their places. I really hope this will be an improvement and provide the right environment for all the children to thrive; however, there is more to be done. Families tell me they cannot access the health and mental health services they need. Most parents struggle for years to be heard and to get a diagnosis for their child. Securing an education, health and care plan is difficult and sometimes exhausting. We can trace the cuts to funding for all those services back to Tory austerity, and it will take time to recover and to train and recruit educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and other education specialists to help the most vulnerable children to access the support they need. However, I remain concerned about the waits for EHCPs, especially when the number of children with a SEND diagnosis is rising, as is the discrepancy between having a diagnosis and having an EHCP in place. Sadly, all across the country, far too many children with a disability are still not having their needs met. I will stop here because of the time limit.