Greater Manchester meeting on SEND must deliver results

MP Lisa Smart has said that delivery on changes to special educational needs (SEND) provision is key, after Schools Minister Georgia Gould met with Greater Manchester MPs and parents to hear their concerns. 

The Minister was in Stalybridge as part of a fact-finding mission across the country, and the message could not be clearer – there are too many families that this is not working for currently. 

Liberal Democrat MP Lisa Smart said: “SEND provision across the UK is in a desperate state, and it needs genuine national reform if it is to start providing what local children – and their parents – need.

“I found the Minister to be very genuine in her desire to listen, but that should be the very least we expect. It’s good that the Minister came, but the litmus test is what happens as a result.”

The MP was able to talk to the Minister directly about SEND cases, raising a lack of holiday provision, high staff turnover leaving families unsupported, and funding cuts. 

The MP for Hazel Grove constituency said: “Grown up politics is about building solutions that work for people, and we do need people who are prepared to change the way that the Government approaches SEND provision across the board.

“Parents and children deserve better support than they are getting.”