Last September the Department for Education had published the draft provisions that will form the basis for the Children and Families Bill, expected to be introduced into parliament in early 2013. The proposed changes were initially outlined in the Green Paper published in March 2011 and followed up in the Next Steps document of May 2012. A number of the recommendations are currently being piloted in a series of Pathfinders which were due to report their findings in summer 2013 but have recently been extended by a further 18 months. The Education Select Committee has conducted its pre-legislative scrutiny and has, today, published the report of its findings.

The Education Committee concludes that “the general thrust of the draft clauses is sound, but the legislation lacks detail, without which a thorough evaluation of the likely success of the Government’s proposals is impossible.” It also points out a number of weaknesses in the draft clauses and suggests how the government can address these; for example, it recommends that extended Pathfinders engage with post-16 Education providers and, crucially, recommends that “the revised Code of Practice remains a statutory document, subject to consultation and laid before Parliament.”

CSIE welcomes this report and is reassured that most of the key issues highlighted by the Special Educational Consortium (SEC), of which CSIE is a member, are being addressed.

At the same time, we are deeply disappointed to see that the Education Committee recommends that the term “special educational needs” continues to be used in new legislation. In its written submission to the pre-legislative scrutiny, CSIE had suggested that this term has outlived its purpose and should be abolished, as it is weakly defined and does not serve children and young people well. We had also protested that some of the draft clauses seem to reinstate aspects of 1990s legislation that was repealed by the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001. We remain very concerned that clauses may be introduced in new legislation which could undermine parental choice of school or compromise disabled children’s rights, and will continue to raise these concerns with the Department for Education.