Parents, professionals and people with an interest in educating children with special needs have been invited to help influence the county's future policies.

A series of 'open house' online focus groups are being staged to help develop Staffordshire County Council's Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) services.

Participants will review ideas and suggestions so far before the authority presents a SEND development strategy for formal public consultation in the autumn.

Mark Sutton, Staffordshire County Council's Cabinet member for Children and Young People, said: "In the last few years the number of Staffordshire children with a special educational need or disability has risen to nearly 17,500.

"We are working hard to keep up with that increase and have invested in additional staff and increased capacity so we can do more to a consistent standard across the county.

"We are currently working with parents of children involved, teachers and other interested parties to develop our plans so that all children and young people with special educational needs are able to reach their full potential."

A planned series of meetings with parents, professionals and interested parties scheduled for Spring was cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

From now until the beginning of September there will be a series of 'open house' online focus groups. People can find out more about how to take part here.

Mark Sutton added: "We're hearing from parents and users of SEND services what they like and what they think can be improved.

"Naturally we have our own ideas too, so we're pulling it all together and asking people what they think before we come back with more detailed proposals in the autumn.

"People will be able to comment again then. This is important and we want to work with everyone to do the best we can for our children."