56. The Government acknowledges that unmet needs can be a significant barrier to school attendance for pupils with SEND. We are committed to addressing these needs through the SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan, backed by £2.6 billion of investment over the next three years to 2025. 57. The SEND and AP Improvement Plan sets out reforms to create a more inclusive and responsive system that meets the needs of children and young people with SEND. A key focus of the plan is on early identification and intervention, ensuring that pupils receive the right support at the right time to prevent needs from escalating and impacting attendance. 58. The plan introduces new national standards for SEND provision, which will clarify the support that children and young people should expect to receive. This will help to reduce inconsistencies in provision and ensure that all pupils with SEND have access to the resources they need to thrive in school. This will include clearer guidance on how schools and local authorities can work together to support pupils with SEND who are struggling with attendance. 59. The Government is investing in a number of initiatives to support the implementation of the SEND and AP Improvement Plan. This includes funding for early language and communication support, additional training for teachers and staff, and the expansion of specialist provision. These measures are designed to address unmet needs and ensure that pupils with SEND receive the proper resources to improve their educational outcomes and attendance. 60. This includes our national Change Programme, which launched in September 2023. The Change Programme will involve 9 trailblazer local authorities and will test and refine the reforms, including the new national standards and the performance framework, as well as the new approach to alternative provision. The trailblazers will also test the inclusion of attendance as an outcome within the performance framework. 61. Through this programme, we will create new routes for children and young people to access specialist support and for mainstream schools to access specialist resource more easily. This will support children and young people to get back on track, and wherever possible, re-integrate successfully into mainstream education and attend regularly. The Department is also asking local authorities and schools to consider what else they can do to improve inclusive practice by raising the standard for what support is ‘ordinarily available’ in schools, supported by community-based specialist teams that can help spot needs early, and put support in place quickly. 62. The Change Programme will run from September 2023 until August 2025 and will provide both real-time lessons that can be shared widely and provide the evidence base to support future funding or legislative changes. Improved attendance is a key focus of the work.