Buckinghamshire’s Labour MPs say the government is investing £8 million locally to deliver new SEND places quickly, rejecting claims a special school has been cancelled.
Callum Anderson, Emma Reynolds and Laura Kyrke-Smith have written to Cllr Steve Broadbent (Leader of Buckinghamshire Council) to address claims that the government has cancelled a local special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) school in the county. A similar claim was made this week in Parliament by Greg Smith MP, the Conservative Member of Parliament for Mid Buckinghamshire, which the MPs also refute.
In the letter, the MPs made clear that the SEND school announced towards the very end of the previous Conservative government was not supported by a delivery plan, an approved business case, or secured funding. As a result, the proposal remained at a very early stage and would not have opened until well beyond 2030.
They warn that describing the proposal as a cancelled school risks misleading families and raising expectations about a project that was never in a position to be delivered.
They also stressed that their priority is ensuring children and young people with SEND in Buckinghamshire receive the support they need as quickly and effectively as possible.
The MPs highlighted immediate action that the Labour government is taking to tackle the SEND crisis head-on. The government has committed £8 million of capital funding for Buckinghamshire to expand specialist units in mainstream schools, adapt existing provision, and create new places within special schools - enabling additional SEND places to be delivered much more quickly.
The MPs said they agree with the Council that the priority must be to bring forward SEND places without further delay and to ensure children are supported in good local provision wherever possible. All three have offered to work across parties with the Leader and Cabinet
to make sure this happens.
Aylesbury MP Laura Kyrke-Smith said: “Supporting children and young people with SEND should be beyond party politics. We want
to work constructively with the council to deliver realistic, properly funded provision that keeps children closer to home and meets local need.”
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