Government pledges education bill in King’s Speech

3 mins read

Wednesday 17 July 2024

Tags: social care, attendance, free school meals, king's speech, opening of parliament, children wellbeing's bill, mental health bill, children not in school register

The new Labour government has pledged to enact new education policies in today’s King’s Speech.

King Charles III set out the government’s legislative agenda, including plans for a children’s wellbeing bill in England, at the State Opening of Parliament.

In the full speech [PDF], the government explains that the new bill will include:

  • Requiring all schools to cooperate with the local authority on school admissions, SEND inclusion, and place planning.
  • Requiring free breakfast clubs in every primary school.
  • Creating a duty on local authorities to have and maintain Children Not in School registers, and provide support to home-educating parents.
  • Ensuring greater consistency between academies and maintained schools by requiring all schools to teach the national curriculum.

Elsewhere, the government is committing to establish a Fair Pay Agreement in the adult social care sector and a new mental health bill.

Contact’s view

Una Summerson, Contact’s Head of Policy, says:

“The current SEND system is underfunded, forcing schools to reduce what support they can offer. SEND law is routinely ignored. We welcome the government’s requirement that local authorities work closely with schools to help them address issues around SEND and admissions.

“We also welcome the new government’s decision to move responsibility for SEND under the Minister for Schools. This is a move that reflects how central good SEND support is to the whole school system. And it recognises that wider reform – on things like the curriculum and attendance – has a huge impact on the school experience of children with additional needs. 

“We hope the Children Not in School register will increase council accountability for providing appropriate education support for these children. But we cannot see the registers used to enforce the existing, punitive way non-attendance has been dealt with up until now.

“Likewise, while we are pleased to see a commitment to provide free breakfasts to all children, the government must make sure it provides alternatives to those children who can’t access school meals in the usual way – an issue we’ve campaigned on for lunchtime meals.

“Together with families and other charities, Contact will continue to work with policy makers and politicians to improve support for disabled children and unpaid carers.”

The new ministers working on disabled children’s services

With a new government comes a new team of ministers working in areas supporting disabled children and their families. These are:

  • Catherine McKinnell MP, Minister of State for Schools with the SEND portfolio in England.
  • Janet Daby MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State with children’s social care portfolio.
  • Stephen Morgan MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State with attendance, behaviour and mental health support responsibilities.
  • Sir Stephen Timms, Minster of State for Social Security and Disability (including DLA/PIP. Universal Credit and cross government disability issue).
  • Stephen Kinnock MP, Minister for Care at DHSC, with SEND on his list of responsibilities.