Oxfordshire MPs criticise council's SEND provision

Parents held a protest outside Oxfordshire County Council's headquarters in Oxford in November

BBC Parents outside the council — Parents held a protest outside Oxfordshire County Council's headquarters in Oxford in November

Four MPs have said the improvement of a county council's special educational needs and disabilities provision has been "glacial".

Oxfordshire's Conservative MPs also told the Department for Education they were experiencing difficulties dealing with the authority.

The county council - run by a Liberal Democrat, Labour, and Green coalition - said it was "resolved" to improve the service.

It also called for adequate funding.

The MPs - Victoria Prentis, Robert Courts, David Johnston, and John Howell - have requested a meeting with the government.

They said they are becoming increasingly concerned by the number of cases they are seeing related to the issue.

The MPs said they were "particularly concerned that children are missing out on entire key stages of their education, through no fault of their own".

'Grandstanding'

The government said it was committed to publishing an improvement plan for the special needs system early in the New Year.

James Davies, from Launton, who is trying to get a special school place for his six-year-old son, told the BBC: "It's the contact that's the issue… we heard nothing and we chased and we chased.

"We're having to take it to a tribunal which will probably be in about a year's time.

"Life is stressful enough as it is and actually the local authority have made it a lot worse… he's years behind where he should be."

Parents have previously protested outside the authority's headquarters, saying their children were being "let down".

Discussing the system at a full council meeting, the authority agreed to resolve "to improve its service delivery practices as soon as reasonably possible".

Calum Miller, councillor for finance, said: "What we need urgently is not letters from grandstanding local MPs, but rather a real effort to properly fund this sector."

Councillors rejected proposals to involve parents in an advisory group, and for the people overview and scrutiny committee to prioritise looking at the system.

A government spokesperson said: "Local authorities have a responsibility to ensure that there is appropriate education for all children in their local area and we have increased high needs funding to £9.1bn overall this year, a rise of over 40% since 2019."