Lisa Lloyd has two children with autism and says the current system is underfunded. She's been speaking to MPs across the house in the hope of influencing change.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 It's estimated that 17% of pupils in England have special educational needs. But many parents
00:06 say their children don't get the support they need. Whether that's a shortage of trained
00:11 staff in mainstream education or the struggles to get a place at a specialist school.
00:16 Lisa Lloyd is a mum from Maidstone. Her two children have autism. She's mostly happy with
00:22 the support they get now, but she says it was a fight.
00:27 To stop other parents going through the same, she co-launched Send Reform England.
00:31 There's a huge problem at the moment and it's very well known across the public. Unfortunately
00:40 the public don't have faith in a lot of the parties at the moment. Their children are
00:45 out of school. This is forcing parents to homeschool, forcing parents out of work and
00:50 then forcing more people onto benefits.
00:53 Send Reform England have protested outside Parliament before. Then only one MP turned
00:58 up. Today MPs from across the house have been inside here. It's general election year, there
01:04 have been some interesting ideas heard today.
01:06 Send Reform is desperately needed and it makes up a huge part of my case. I know it's country
01:13 wide but our budgets have been slashed and people come to me absolutely desperate for
01:17 help.
01:18 What sort of things are you hearing from your constituents?
01:21 People desperate for initial assessment reports for their children. Just that one to one support
01:26 in school. Schools are doing their best but they've had their budgets slashed and they
01:29 can't afford it.
01:31 Treat Send children, children with special education needs, as children, as people who
01:35 need support and help. And the government's letting them down. And I think any politician,
01:41 any government in waiting, any new government, needs to show those parents that they care
01:45 about their children and they're going to invest in them.
01:48 And I think it's important that we raise the profile of the challenges that many families
01:53 are facing in making sure that their children get the support they need and work with government
01:59 to make sure that the right amount of resources is put in place. Clearly at the moment there
02:03 seems to be a gap in that, that we're not getting enough resources to provide the support
02:07 in education.
02:08 So what's your message to them here?
02:14 Send a manifesto please.
02:17 Yes please.
02:18 You were on the cabinet, I know you're not there now, but do you think the current government
02:22 as it is, it's doing enough for children with special educational needs?
02:26 Well I think this area does need more funding. But I also think, I know, that the amount
02:32 of funding has increased. They've put the funding up year on year. Demand has gone up
02:37 too. And so it's about making sure that funding gets to the right places as well as the total
02:42 level.
02:43 Latest polling would suggest Labour would form the majority at the next general election.
02:49 What reform might they bring to send education?
02:52 Because at the moment we're really not equipping teachers to teach every single child in their
02:58 classroom. Teachers don't have the skills they need to be confident teaching children
03:03 with additional needs.
03:04 Where's this money going to come from? Where's the money going to come from for this?
03:09 So we have got a commitment as the Labour Party to reform the taxation for private schools,
03:15 to remove the tax loopholes that private schools currently enjoy and to put that money into
03:20 increased resources in our schools.
03:23 The event today was only a drop in. Organisers hope this will influence change.
03:28 Gabriel Morris for KMTV in Westminster.
03:30 [BLANK_AUDIO]