More than £11million a year is being spent by Dorset County Council on specialist school placement for children with additional needs.

Almost all of the places are out of the county with the costs and need for places rising each year.

Now, in an attempt to ease the situation, Dorset will join a consortium of South West councils which acts as a broker for places.

Speaking after Monday’s shadow executive meeting which approved joining the group, Mr Parry said: “Members recognised the importance of our commitment to SEND (special needs and children with disabilities) provision across Dorset.

“Approval by the Committee to be part of the Independent Special School Provision – Framework Tender and Award, secures access, if required, to a broader range of special school and college placements, that can deliver better outcomes for children and young people.

“This will also enable the Council to meet procurement regulations, by opening up access to a range of options from a framework and thus avoiding spot purchasing for all placements.”

Cllr Steve Butler, brief holder for children’s services said there would be no additional cost to join the group: “All we are saying is that there is a potential to spend, but if we don’t use it, we won’t pay for it.”

A paper produced for the meeting by Commissioning and Market Development Manager for Children’s Services, Tom Smith, said that the framework agreement might encourage more facilities to be set up in Dorset.

“Independent special school and Specialist Post 16 Institutions placements are a vital part of the overall provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). They provide good quality educational placements where often complex needs cannot be met from local maintained schools,” he said in a report on the issue.

“This tender offers economies of scale to providers and greater bargaining power to the participating local authorities, so we expect to be able to make placements at more competitive rates than through current spot purchasing arrangements…”

“The framework will also seek to stimulate the market to provide more placements in Dorset and close to Dorset.”