Written questions by Roca.

What steps are being taken to help Cheshire East Council reduce its SEND assessment waiting times.

The department provides special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support to local areas through a structured approach that balances support, challenge, and assurance. Through our SEND improvement support, a dedicated SEND Adviser is providing targeted advice and challenge to help Cheshire East Council streamline assessment pathways, ensure consistent decision‑making, and improve multi‑agency contributions so that assessments can be completed within statutory timeframes. The department, in collaboration with colleagues from NHS England in the North West, regularly engages with Cheshire East Local Area SEND Partnership to understand any further needs and provides support and challenge as appropriate, as well as monitoring progress.

What the real terms per pupil funding was for schools in Cheshire East at (a) primary and (b) secondary level in each financial year since 2010.

The table below provides per pupil funding units from the 2018/2019 to 2023/2024 financial years. This represents the funding provided for schools in Cheshire East each year in the schools block of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG).The department cannot provide comparable funding for Cheshire East back to 2010, due to the changes in the funding system since that time. The scope of the per pupil funding before and after 2018/19 are not directly comparable. In particular, in 2018/19 the central services provided by local authorities were split out from the schools block funding, and instead became funded separately through the central school services block from that year onwards.The figures in the table below are provided on a cash basis. The department also publishes real-terms statistics on schools funding at the national level which does not distinguish by phase. The department uses the GDP deflator to calculate real-terms funding levels. The schools funding statistics for the 2023/24 financial year are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-funding-statistics. The methodology used to calculate the statistics is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/methodology/school-funding-statistics-methodology. YearDSG Schools Block Unit of Funding PrimarySecondary​2018/19£3,842£4,909​2019/20£3,863£4,931​2020/21£4,019£5,134​2021/22£4,373£5,562​2022/23£4,488£5,700​2023/24£4,686£5,9622024/25£4,923£6,275These figures do not include funding for growth, premises or additional funding received through supplementary grants.