Liberal Democrats have called upon Surrey County Council to improve and expand its provision of services to children with Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND).

The County Council spends a total of £237 million on SEND services for children and young people, educates 822 SEND students outside of the county, and spends nearly £27 million on travel costs for SEND students.

Liberal Democrat County Councillors are now calling on the County Council to invest in more SEND provision within Surrey in order to reduce the number of placements outside of the county, as well as reducing travel costs and times for children and parents alike.

This call follows an OFSTED inspection in October 2016 where Surrey County Council was found to have significant areas of weakness in its SEND practices and that there was “overwhelming” lack confidence in the local area’s leaders and SEND services.

In short, we believe that it should not be necessary for children to be placed out of County for their needs to be met and that we have the skills and commitment in Surrey to be able to create our own specialist units to address SEND needs which would both improve the lives of children and their families and provide for their needs closer to home.

This Investment in Specialist Units within Surrey, if made, will be life changing for those who use the facilities, and their wider family members. Let’s do it and make a real difference.