In a report last year, the then Education and Skills Select Committee said local authorities should be required to outline the support they provide to SEN children and the reasons for that pattern of services. But the government has responded by saying the SEN Code of Practice already fulfils this remit by setting out services councils are legally obliged to provide.
The rejection prompted an angry response from Labour MP Barry Sheerman, chair of the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee that replaced the education committee.
"It appears the government is still unwilling to concede that a national framework for special needs education, and provision maps for each area, should be introduced to make the system more transparent and allow parents to make informed decisions," said Sheerman. "For it to say the code of practice provides this is to misunderstand what we recommended. We were seeking a framework for provision, not for procedure."
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