There should be separate alternative provision (AP) settings for boys and girls and an increased focus on this area of the sector, the shadow education secretary said today.

Speaking at a New Schools Network panel event urging reform of the wider AP system, Laura Trott said that there is some “amazing practice” in the sector, but that it is “too varied” and “patchy”.

And she said it was disappointing that AP was not featured more in the government’s schools White Paper and plans setting out the government’s reforms of special educational needs and disabilities support.

Ms Trott said: “I think in a school system which is generally working pretty well, this is the bit where, some excellent pockets of provision aside, we do need to do more work, and we do need to do more thinking. And it was disappointing that AP wasn’t a key part of the schools White Paper, because I think this isn’t a system that has been thought through, designed in the interest of children. So that needs to change.”

Improving alternative provision

Asked what changes she would make to improve practice, the Conservative MP for Sevenoaks said that there should be separate AP provision for boys and girls.

Ms Trott said: “I believe very, very strongly that this is a system where there is some amazing practice, but it’s too varied, it’s patchy and the quality is not good enough across the board.

“I think, actually, we should have separate provision for girls and boys because if you look at the attendance of girls to APs, it is actually particularly low.”

In her Conservative Party conference speech last year, Ms Trott told delegates that girls should have separate provision from “violent young men” and called for every local area to have specialist AP settings.

Ms Trott also said today that multi-academy trusts should “have an AP attached to them”.

The shadow education secretary added that this would be “helpful” because it would tie the performance of MATs to “the children who are excluded” and keep them within the system.

She made the comments on a panel alongside Lord Storey, former education spokesman in the Lords; Nic Brindle, chief executive at the YES Trust; and Dennis Simms, former AP head and author of IntegratED’s AP Quality toolkit.

Among the areas of discussion was the prevalence of unregistered AP providers and the impact this has on the quality of care.

Speaking today, Lord Storey said that the number of children in unregistered provision is a “national disgrace”, and this needs to be addressed “quickly”.

Earlier this year the New Schools Network produced a report calling on the government to create new national standards for AP and set an expectation that all students in the sector are registered at a state school.