Commenting as the government today publish a response to the PAC Committee report on support for children and young people with special educational needs, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said:

"Everyone knows how much work there is to do to fix the broken SEND system and how urgent the problems are.

"The government has been clear it sees SEND as a high priority and we are hoping that it will soon start to come forward with solutions based on its work with the sector to date.

"This report lays out a clear set of helpful recommendations that would go some way to improving things if enacted. It is positive that these recommendations have been accepted by the government, with timeframes for completion, and it’s vital these targets are achieved.

"In NAHT’s written submission to the committee, we made it clear that mainstream schools, like all settings, seek to provide the best possible education but without the appropriate level of resource, staffing, training or building facilities, school leaders and their staff are hamstrung and often unable to implement the full provision pupils with SEND need and deserve.

"Clearly, the needs of children and schools wait for no one, and it’s therefore essential that fresh funding is provided in the meantime in the government’s spring spending review.”