Harrogate visit inspires leading Lib Dem to raise schools issue and special needs in House of Commons

Munira Wilson MP, raised issues with the growing demand and lack of resource for SEND (special educational needs and disability) provision following conversations with local educational staff during a visit to Harrogate and Knaresborough.

An experienced senior businesswoman with a professional, political and social track record, Munira visited Coppice Valley Primary School last October with Harrogate Lib Dem Coun Peter Lacey and Tom Gordon, the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Harrogate & Knaresborough.

In the course of the debate, the Lib Dems’ Spokesperson for Education spoke about her visit and conversations with staff in Harrogate on SEND, specifically citing issues that schools and local authorities are facing when it comes to SEND funding and high needs deficits.

Munira said: “Since 2016 we have seen an upward trend in the number of children with special educational needs, but in the same time period the number of speech and language therapy vacancies have soared.

“Too many vulnerable children are not getting the support they need to thrive and achieve their potential, and too many parents are fighting an adversarial system because of the growing demand and lacking of resource."

Tom Gordon said it was an issue that kept coming up on the doorstep in Harrogate."When it comes to reform on SEND this Conservative Government has been slow.

"There's been delay after delay, not helped by the political chaos and endless chopping and changing of Prime Ministers and Education Ministers,” he said.

“The Liberal Democrats have already set out some of our ambitious policies when it comes to SEND."

Last March, the Government’s new national plans for improving education for disabled children and young people were described as “wholly insufficient” by several disabled people’s organisations.

The plan promised new national standards for the SEND and alternative provision system which the Government said would place “a greater emphasis on the important role” played by mainstream settings in meeting the needs of “the majority of pupils with SEND”.