Lib Dem MPs welcome accountability for Surrey County Council SEND services with Cllrs Clare Curran and Maureen Attewell stepping down

Liberal Democrat MPs in Surrey are hopeful that this is the beginning of a process of accountability for Surrey County Council as key Conservative Cabinet members from the Children, Families and Lifelong Learning Department step down.

This follows sustained pressure from Surrey’s Liberal Democrat MPs, who have consistently called for accountability and urgent reform in the Council’s handling of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
Pressure has been a key part of the Surrey Liberal Democrat campaign. Just yesterday, Zöe Franklin MP raised serious concerns in an interview with BBC Radio Surrey, questioning the Council’s decision not to respond to MPs on individual cases.

This policy, championed by Councillor Clare Curran, stated that Surrey County Council “will no longer provide a response to individual cases where a more appropriate alternative route is available”. Cllr Clare Curran u-turned after being challenged by Will Forster MP.

Surrey Conservative MPs also criticised this policy in a letter to Surrey County Council.

In a letter in February to the Secretary of State, Bridget Phillipson MP, Surrey Lib Dem MPs raised appalling performance and governance failures by Surrey County Council including:

1. 1,809 Surrey children were out of school with special educational needs and disabilities SEND for over a third of the time in 2023/24, with devasting consequences for their life chances which Monica Harding MP raised with the Prime Minister.
    
2. County Council Leader Tim Oliver, directly mislead MPs in a formal written response over the disclosure of complaint volumes compared to other local authorities.
    
3. Surrey County Council did not disclose to its Council Scrutiny Committees for over 14 months that it had more breaches of statutory responsibilities relating to SEND children raised to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSO) than any other in the country
    
4. Appearing to reclassify complaints as “enquiries” to manipulate complaints volumes
    
5. A leadership culture contemptuous of families in crisis with Cllr Maureen Attewell dismissing on public record Surrey SEND parents as merely “articulate parents.”

In a joint statement, Surrey Liberal Democrat MPs said:

“As Surrey MPs all we want is to improve the lives of those we represent. Never again should Surrey County Council disgracefully dismiss the agony of Surrey families as merely ‘articulate Surrey parents’.

We are keen to work with Surrey County Council in delivering the best possible outcomes for SEND children in Surrey and hope this is the start of a wider cultural shift in prioritising the delivery of SEND education.”