WORCESTER'S MP is 'furious' because he says county council leaders have 'backtracked' on a promise to meet him over special educational needs provision in the county.

Tom Collins, Labour's MP for Worcester, said leaders at Worcestershire County Council had previously agreed to regular meetings to help improve special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

However, county council leaders say they are prepared to meet both MPs, but not as frequently as every two weeks.

Worcestershire County Council were heavily criticised in a recent report by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission for their failures in delivery of support for children and families with SEND.

MPs Tom Collins and Chris Bloore (Redditch) attended the council’s overview and scrutiny panel meeting in September and asked if senior leaders would meet regularly with Mr Collins so he could help to ensure the council’s action plan was effective.

Mr Collins said in the meeting, Cllr David Chambers, Cabinet Member responsible for Education, agreed to the MPs’ request for regular meetings.

Tom Collins MP said: “I am furious that the council leadership have gone back on their word and are now trying to lock us out.

“Having been heavily criticised for a closed approach to delivery, this was an opportunity for the council to do things differently in cooperation with local leaders, families and professionals. This action shows that council politicians have learnt nothing; they don’t want to change, they don’t want to collaborate, and they don’t know how to meaningfully improve.

“Most of all I am upset for the children and families who the council refuse to step up and support in an open and productive way.

“This is not the end. The council’s closed and defensive culture cannot carry on, it is failing the people of Worcestershire. Chris and I are meeting with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and will raise the issue higher if needed."

Chris Bloore MP said: “Children and families are being let down. They shouldn’t have to stand for this incompetence in leadership.

“In the recent budget, Labour committed an extra $1bn as a first step to improve SEND services, but things won’t improve unless local leaders are also prepared to take the issue seriously.

“We're going to keep up the pressure because too many children are missing out on the education and the life chances that they deserve."

They say the commitment to meet them was made at Worcestershire County Council’s Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Panel meeting on Wednesday, September 25.

Tom Collins and Chris Bloore subsequently wrote to the Council to set up regular meetings but say on November 19, the county council's chief executive wrote to them 'reversing this commitment'.

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Cllr David Chambers, Cabinet Member for Education at Worcestershire County Council, said: “We remain fully committed to improvements in SEND services in Worcestershire and we can assure residents that we absolutely take our role within these improvements very seriously.

“We are in direct talks with the Department for Education, which is now led under a Labour government, and the improvements being planned are all being submitted to them to ensure that a jointly approved programme is delivered.

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“The offer I made at the scrutiny meeting for periodic meetings with the MPs still stands firm and if the MPs had approached me directly, I would have been happy to discuss this further.

“Whilst we are not in a position to be able to agree to meet every two weeks, we along with other members of the partnership, which include NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire, are committed to attending periodic meetings with them.”