This petition is nearly ended and so far it has only achieved just over 12,000 signatures. It has led to a response from the Government but it usually needs 100,000 signatures to enable MPs to have a debate in Parliament. A discussion about this would be very significant. The initial commitment of 10,000 took place in the first few weeks in March and it is still only a couple more 2,000 signatures since then. This petition is very positive and if we could promote it for Sarah Williams to try to reach 100,000 it would be fantastic. There has been a significant amount of support in Devon and there are only four locations that have not yet signed it. There is one location in Wales and Northern Ireland and two in Scotland. However to achieve 100,000 we will need to achieve a significant impact in the next 3 weeks. The 634116 petition can be obtained from here and here is its content.

Increase funding for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) education

I would like the Government to increase funding for SEND education, so that local authorities can provide more school places for children with SEND. Parents shouldn’t have to fight to get their child the education they need.

I believe there is a national crisis regarding SEND school places. SEND education needs more funding so that local authorities are able to build more specialist SEND schools. There are so many families nationally with children that have no specialist SEND schools locally. This isn’t something new, This is a crisis that’s been going on for many years & there’s not enough funding in many areas. I believe that the Government need to look into this and make more funds available to help with SEND Education, so families that have children with special needs/disabilities are able to get a specialist school setting for their children they deserve without having to fight for a place.