Armed Forces Community APPG Roundtable with Minister for School Standards Georgia Gould

Last week I co-hosted a roundtable with Alex Baker MP and Minister for School Standards Georgia Gould on an issue I care deeply about; the experiences of Armed Forces families with children who have Special Educational Needs or Disabilities. 

The stories we heard were sobering. Families moving repeatedly across the country only to find their child's support plan doesn't transfer. Children waiting longer for EHCPs than their civilian peers. Parents deployed, leaving one parent to fight on multiple fronts alone. A family who received a diagnosis and a support plan in under two weeks in the US, then spent five years trying to access equivalent support on the NHS. Families so exhausted by the system that they are contemplating leaving the Armed Forces altogether. 

As one attendee put it - securing appropriate provision for his three children with SEND was more stressful than managing the lives of 80 people on deployment. That cannot be right. 

We also heard from researchers at Edinburgh Napier and Oxford Brookes about the structural gaps, the fact that SEND systems across the four nations are entirely different, with limited guidance on what happens when a child moves between them. The current system, as one expert put it, sends a 'mobile child' from one system to another with no bridge between them. 

Minister Gould shared encouraging detail on the Government's reform plans - national standards for provision, new inclusion plans, mandatory teacher training, and a commitment to keeping tribunals. She also confirmed she will raise the cross-nations issue at an upcoming education conference. 

Our four asks going into the session were: smoother transfer of support plans between local authorities; the ability to use a base address when applying for a school place; a dedicated LA contact for every service family with SEND; and better data on service children. All four were heard. 

As a direct result of today's discussion, the Armed Forces Community APPG will be submitting a response to the Government's SEND consultation, to ensure the specific needs of service families are reflected in the reforms ahead. 

Thank you to everyone who gave their time.