Statement on SEND provision in North Bucks

Families of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) deserve honesty, clarity and action - not confusion or false hope.

That’s why I’ve written, alongside my colleagues Emma Reynolds MP and Laura Kyrke-Smith MP, to the Leader of Buckinghamshire Council to correct claims that a new SEND school in the county had been “cancelled”.

The truth is that the proposal being talked about was never backed by a delivery plan, an approved business case or secured funding. It was at a very early stage and, even on the most optimistic timelines, would not have opened until well beyond 2030.

Describing this as a cancelled school risks misleading families and raising expectations about something that was never ready to be delivered.

My priority, and the priority of this Government, is making sure children and young people with SEND get the support they need as quickly and effectively as possible. I know how much pressure families are under after years of rising demand and delays in provision, and that urgency has to guide our decisions.

That’s why the Government has committed £8 million of capital funding to expand specialist units in mainstream schools, adapt existing provision and create new places within special schools. This approach allows additional SEND places to be delivered at pace, rather than waiting many years for a project that had not progressed beyond its earliest stages.

I strongly support this focus on delivery: getting support in place sooner, closer to home, and in ways that meet local need. Expanding and improving existing provision is the fastest way to make a real difference for families who need help now, not in a decade’s time.

Families deserve straight talking about what is achievable, and a government that is focused on turning funding into support without delay.

📩 Click here to read our full letter to Cllr Steven Broadbent