Advocates have said they are worried the political disruption in Westminster could affect reforms to the special educational needs and disabilities system, particularly in terms of where the changes rank in the Government’s priorities.
The warning comes amid a number of concerns from young people, parents and disability charities involved in responding to the Government’s reforms to special educational needs and disabilities (Send) support – with a consultation closing late on Monday night.
Proposals set out in the Schools White Paper policy document in February and the Education for All Bill in the King’s Speech last week pledge to “transform” the system by providing early access to support close to home to build a “truly inclusive” education experience.
As well as the worry over recent resignations and reshuffling in Government, respondents also shared concerns about voices of young people and parents not being considered enough, legal rights to challenge decisions on support being weakened and inadequate funding.
Harriet Edwards, head of influencing at disability charity Sense, and the mother of a six-year-old with cerebral palsy, told the Press Association: “The worry from our perspective is very much the frenetic energy of politics at the moment.
“There’s a lot of change going on and all the good work that’s been done over the last four months by charities, with government, with parents, stakeholders, is at risk of being watered down or diluted because of the political environment.
“Because we know that this is a real priority for the current Cabinet. They’ve prioritised this over a number of other things they could have looked at in this level of detail.
“It has definitely had a significant amount of focus… and you’re just not always guaranteed that.”
Ms Edwards pointed to Zubir Ahmed, who had been involved in drawing up the reforms, resigning as a health minister last week.
“I think it would just be so disheartening and disappointing for families across the country to see it fail now because there are people that are really putting their hope into this and really, really trying to do the best for what the future looks like for disabled children,” she said.
But a source close to Bridget Phillipson said there will be “no let up” from the Education Secretary.
“The success of the Send reforms owes much to Bridget’s ability to reach across the Parliamentary Labour Party and gather support for change in one of the most difficult areas of policy for government in the last decade,” they said.
“There’ll be no let up from Bridget in the coming months – she is determined to see these reforms over the line.”
Tobias Lambe, 21, said the worry is that the reforms will start getting used as “political football”.
The university student from Warwickshire, who was diagnosed with autism after a mental health breakdown in Year 10, told PA: “These ministers that have spoken to young people and heard from young people, if they were to resign or move places not only will the people that come and replace them potentially not be as good as them and not have the same priorities, they won’t have any of the knowledge of all the young people that people have spoken to.
“For the last six months, any of the consultations we’ve had with ministers, if the ministers change, it’s gone out the window.”
He added: “I think that my main worry goes across the board of not just the politics at the moment in terms of what’s happening within Downing Street, Westminster, but actually the whole concept as a whole because actually when there’s turmoil things don’t get done and things start getting used as political football and people take a stand in different places and when that happens young people are the ones that are going to be affected.”
The chief executive of Kids Charity, Katie Ghose, told PA the Government needs to “stick to its guns and deliver urgent action”.
“We cannot have a situation where children with Send suffer because of disruption in politics,” she said. “This issue, which affects people all over the country, is too important for that.”
The Department for Education will look through submissions to the consultation before issuing a response.
