§ Rev. Martin Smythasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on his policy on providing for the special educational needs of pupils in schools, and the advice given by his Department to education and library boards as to how they should best meet these needs; and how many children in each of the education and library boards have been assessed as having special educational needs.
§ Dr. MawhinneyArticles 6 and 32 of the Education and Libraries (NI) Order 1986 place the duty of meeting the special educational needs of pupils in schools on the education and library boards.
Detailed advice was issued to Education and Library Boards in DENI Circular 1987/21, "Education and Children with Special Educational Needs". I have arranged for a copy to be placed in the Library.
Figures are not yet available of the numbers of children assessed as having special educational needs. The latest available figures relate to pupils determined as handicapped at January 1986 and are shown in the following table.
630W
Education and Library Board Number of pupils Belfast 1,309 Western 821 North-Eastern 760 South-Eastern 860 Southern 447 Total 4,197
§ Rev. Martin Smythasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what additional resources have been provided by his Department to meet the special educational needs of children in Northern Ireland schools; and if he will make a statement.
§ Dr. MawhinneyAs a result of the provisions of the Education (NI) Order 1987 transferring from 1 April 1987, responsibility for the education of mentally handicapped children to the Education sector, £4 million capital funding has initially been made available for new and improved accommodation and a further £2.8 million has been provided for additional recurrent expenditure.
§ Rev. Martin Smythasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is his policy towards the provision of higher education for children over the age of 16 years with special educational needs; and if he will make a statement.
§ Dr. MawhinneyThe Government's policy is that the educational provision made in institutions of further and higher education in Northern Ireland should be available, where practicable, to young people with special educational needs who have the capacity, motivation and maturity to benefit from the courses provided.