LABOUR needs to be “brave” by putting more resources into special educational needs, Devon County Council’s leader, a Conservative, has claimed.

Cllr James McInnes, who represents Hatherleigh and Chagford, said the government needs to make hard decisions around the funding of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to provide better help for families.

Devon County Council is one of many local authorities struggling with the costs of SEND provision, and the council this year secured a £95 million Safety Valve grant from the government which is is to receive over nine years.

The cash comes with strings attached, including requirements for the county to tackle its deficit, which reached £163 million this year, and to reassess how it spends its money on the service.

“We need to address SEND as I don’t think the support for it has been as good as it could have been,” Cllr McInnes said.

“We’re addressing that, but we need to be talking to national government about the effects of the legislation we’re working to and the money the government is bringing forward to support it.

“The overwhelming majority of children with SEND could be supported in mainstream schools, and the government needs to be brave enough to put more resources there.”

Cllr McInnes stated that if better provision for SEND children was funded in mainstream schools, this could relieve pressure on education, health and care plans (EHCPs), of which there is a significant backlog in Devon.

EHCPs are legal documents that describe a child or young person’s special educational needs and the support they require.

EHCPs should be completed within 20 weeks. However, some parents in the Devon County Council area, which excludes Plymouth and Torbay, have waited longer than a year. Annual reviews of EHCPs are also being delayed.

Cllr McInnes believes that greater provision in mainstream schools could also reduce the need for children to be put in specialist or private schools or, which the council has to fund.

He added that “children and their families are at the heart of what we are doing”, and that the council is “not just cutting and saving money, but making sure the money that is being used lets children and families develop”.

Cllr McInnes said the council is trying to ensure children who need special placements can stay the county, as places outside Devon are more expensive.

He added that he is “not concerned about the oversight” of the Department for Education, which is ensuring Devon meets the requirements linked to its Safety Valve grant.

“We welcome it as it keeps the pressure on us,” he said.

Earlier this year, a report by Schools Week, an education website, showed a third of councils with Safety Valve deals face bankruptcy, despite being set to receive more than £1 billion in government bailouts before the end of the decade.

Bradley Gerrard