Dozens of SEND families have reported that Surrey County Council have not yet provided their child's tuition for September causing families enormous stress. The Council is risking breaching their legal rights to an education. These are our most vulnerable SEND children who can’t cope in mainstream school- almost 500 children in Surrey need this type of education. I spoke to the BBC and am raising it with the Education Secretary with my Surrey Lib Dem MP colleagues.

Olly is 24 years old and has microcephaly and global developmental delay. His mum, Cara, says he does not have the mental capacity to live independently yet has not had a capacity assessment. She has been fighting for two and a half years to get him the support he needs.

Numerous families have reported that Surrey County Council have failed to secure their child’s Alternative Provision or EOTAS for the next academic year. In some cases, concerns have been raised for months, often with no direct communication. Providers have also allegedly been ‘explicitly instructed’ by Surrey to stop all provision beyond current approval dates. Alongside fellow Surrey Lib Dem MPs, I’ve written to the council calling for transparency on the scale of this issue and clear action to ensure no child is without vital provision this September.

Last week, I presented Christopher’s Law to Parliament, which would tighten safeguards in the Mental Capacity Act, potentially saving countless lives. I spoke about three mothers. Each one has tragically lost a son due to failings in this Act. Earlier this year, the government committed to reviewing and reforming this law, so I have written to them, alongside these three mothers, calling on them to make time for a second reading of Christopher’s law, which realises this commitment.

Yesterday I spoke during the debate of the Hillsborough Law, which would create a legal duty on public bodies to tell the truth. The government is finally listening to Hillsborough victim’s families. It is galling that there continues to be a conspiracy of silence on SEND misconduct. I have given the government evidence that potentially hundreds of SEND children are avoidably killing themselves due to public authority negligence and misconduct, including my constituent Jen Bridges-Chalkley aged 17. Appallingly we don’t even know how many avoidable child suicides there are because there is no national preventable death tracker. 

Among the hundreds of dead, Fiona lost her Christopher, Annabel lost her Charlie, and Jo lost her Harley. This is the cost of Parliament failing to act when it learned in 2014 of failures in the Mental Capacity Act 2005. These three mothers came to Parliament today, not only in grief but to save lives. I presented a Bill to Parliament, Christopher’s Law, with cross-party backing to honour that.