On Wednesday 9 November 2022, the government confirmed the new Department for Education (DfE) ministerial portfolios.
Who are the ministers?
- The RT Hon Gillian Keegan – Secretary of State for Education
- Claire Coutinho MP - Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing
- The RT Hon Nick Gibb – Minister of State for Schools
- The RT Hon Robert Halfon MP – Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education
- Baroness Barran MBE – Minister for the School System and Student Finance
What does this mean for the SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper?
SEND and Alternative Provision both fall within Claire Coutinho’s remit as Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing. The DfE continue to work with ministers to consider carefully the several thousand responses they have received throughout the consultation period, and are using this feedback, along with continued engagement with the system, to inform the next stage of delivering improvements for children, young people and their families. The DfE will update us as soon as they have more to share.
I have been delighted to meet the new Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing and hear directly from her, her commitment and interest in this area and how this has been informed by the experiences of parents of children with SEND in her constituency. I am hopeful she will provide stability and that this will move the much-needed reforms in the SEND system forward
Dame Christine Lenehan, Director of the Council for Disabled Children