Inclusion in England. Rhetoric or patchy practice?

The UK government has signed up to the various conventions that promote educational inclusion (e.g. The Incheon declaration). Yet the policies around special educational needs send confusing messages with demand for assessment outstripping specialist and segregated resources. The current media panic echoed by politicians is that the SEND system is broken. This makes talk about inclusion seem nothing more than rhetoric. An examination of national statistics will be used to define the problem at a national level and suggest that it is the mainstream system that is broken and in need of attention. In contrast, our research with schools finds some really good practice around inclusion. How can these two positions be reconciled?