Responding to the government's announcement of further details on how £740m to fund 10,000 new places for pupils with SEND will be used - with new figures on school places also being published, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union, NAHT said:

“It is positive to see the government continuing to focus on addressing the special educational needs (SEND) crisis.

“We have been clear that if the vision is for more pupils with SEND to be taught in mainstream settings, they will need to be given the necessary resources so the right level of provision can be put in place to meet increasing demand.

“Currently, schools often lack the facilities, specialist staffing, and funding required.

“This must just be the beginning of sustained investment and reform if the government is to truly get to grips with the SEND crisis.”

Responding to further details of an extra £300m for schools and colleges for essential maintenance to improve the condition of their buildings, Mr Whiteman added:

“While welcome, far more needs to be invested to restore the school estate to a satisfactory condition, and that really should be the minimum ambition.

"A previous Department for Education survey suggested this would cost £11.4bn. We urge the Treasury to use the three-year spending review in June to commit to a major school rebuilding programme.”

NB: Today's new data release shows there are approximately 8,000 more secondary pupils on roll in special schools than reported capacity. It says this is due to the number of schools at or over capacity (around two thirds), but also may be a result of the way capacity has been measured which does not take account of type of need.