Schools standards minister Georgia Gould slapped down comments about SEND from Reform figures, which have included claims of children being ‘naughty’ and bad parenting

The education minister leading efforts to overhaul the special education needs and disabilities system has criticised Reform UK for “blaming” parents.

Schools standards minister Georgia Gould slapped down comments from party figures, which have included claims of children being “naughty”, bad parenting and an overdiagnosis of SEND issues.

She fiercely rejected the idea of parents doing something wrong and warned such claims impact children’s sense of identity and belonging at school.

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Asked about Reform, Ms Gould told The Mirror : “I’ve seen comments about over diagnosis, comments about parents being the issue, about these being just naughty children.

“I think that when I speak to parents and young people, those comments have a real world impact for how they feel about themselves and their communities, how children feel with their sense of identity and belonging at school. I completely reject the idea that this is something that parents are doing wrong.

“Any parent – I would do the same – would want to get what’s best for their child and I think we should be working alongside parents, listening to them and changing things together, not blaming them for the system failures we’re seeing.”

In recent months, Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice has spoken out multiple times about the SEND system. He has claimed there has been an “over-diagnosis” of kids with SEND and said it was “insane” to see children wearing ear defenders in classrooms.

The Boston and Skegness MP also suggested some parents were trying to make money through the SEND system. He said middle class families were “playing the game” by allegedly trying to save VAT on private school fees by getting an exemption through the SEND system.

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Earlier this year, Nigel Farage similarly claimed there is an overdiagnosis of mental illness and other general behavioural disabilities within children that is “creating a class of victims”.

Dr David Bull, Reform’s chairman, was later criticised by Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson for claiming that “many of these kids are naughty kids, bad parenting”.

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Ms Gould has been touring the country in recent weeks after Labour inherited a SEND system on its knees. She has been speaking with experts, parents and children ahead of the Government’s SEND White Paper, which will be published in the new year. Parents are anxiously waiting for the reforms to be announced, with many having lost faith in schools, councils and the Government after their kids were let down by the system.

But Ms Gould said she is optimistic, telling The Mirror: “I think this process I’ve been on, travelling around the country, has given me so much faith. People are desperate to help, even parents who have been really badly failed, want to come and talk, want to share their experience and they want to be part of the solutions.

“In every single system, whether that’s in health, in speech and language, young people – everyone – are full of ideas on what we can do differently. I just think we need to pull on that kind of energy, that kind of optimism that is out there.”

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Ms Gould admitted that there is a huge challenge ahead but that the commitment was there from people across society. “Teachers go into this profession because they want to serve all children, and more and more children have found they can’t be educated within mainstream classrooms,” she said.

“Teachers want that to happen and they’ve got ideas about how we can support them to do it. So I think the appetite to really deliver for children with special educational needs is everywhere. The commitment’s there, and so that gives me a huge amount of hope, although I don’t underestimate the scale of a challenge.”

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The Government has already announced at least £3billion to create tens of thousands of new specialist places, as well as better training for teachers and dedicated SEND leads in every Best Start Family Hub nationwide.

A Reform UK spokesman said: “Minister Gould’s comments are surprising, given that her own Health Secretary admitted that there is an overdiagnosis of mental health conditions and a GP survey recently confirmed the same. Numerous experts have also confirmed this. One in five children in England are now identified with SEND, and Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) have trebled since 2015.

“It is clear that there is a crisis when it comes to the overdiagnosis of SEND, driven by incentives that encourage families to pursue diagnoses in order to access extra support. This is piling unsustainable financial pressures on schools and local authorities.”

Health Secretary Wes Streeting earlier this year said there was an “overdiagnosis” of mental health conditions with “too many people being written off”. But earlier this month(DEC), he admitted his comments were “poor” and vowed to fix a system failing those with mental health issues.