One of the pledges I made when elected in the summer was to become a champion for special educational needs in Mid Cheshire.

I promised to work hard to ensure all children, regardless of their situation, have access to the support and learning that they need and deserve.

Last week the National Audit Office published its report on SEND. It is a document which makes difficult reading, with the current system found to be broken and in need of serious reform.

In the last decade the number of children identified as having SEN, particularly those with education, health and care (EHC) plans requiring more specialist support has increased by 140 per cent.

Over that time, the funding has doubled from £4.8bn to close to £10bn a year, and demand for SEN provision is forecast to continue increasing. And yet despite spending more money, outcomes for children with SEN have actually gotten worse.

But more than that, we have created a system that not only sets children up to fail, it is adversarial, causes immense trauma for families and actively incentivises bad outcomes.

I was pleased that my colleague Catherine McKinnell MP, the Minister for School Standards, agreed with me during a debate on the report in Parliament last week that we need to rebuild the system from the ground up.

We need to work quickly to improve early intervention and rebuild trust between parents and mainstream schools that they foster inclusive and nurturing environments for children with additional needs.

We also need to improve the mental health support available for young people, increasing access to CAMHS and the availability of educational psychologists.

To do this we will need support from across the Government, working in partnership with local authorities.

I’ve personally experienced as a parent what the current adversarial system is like for SEND children.

Every part of the system feels broken but I am determined to work with the Government to rebuild it.

This will take time and it is vital that we get it right so that our children can reach their full potential.