§ Mr. EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children aged up to 10-years-old suffer from cortical visual impairment(a) in England, (b) in the north-west and (c) in Lancashire; and what provision is made for young people suffering from cortical visual impairment in each of the counties of England. [32922]
§ Jacqui SmithI have been asked to reply.
A study undertaken by the Institute of Child Health in Liverpool in 1996 estimated the prevalence of children affected by cortical visual impairment at 5.8 per 10,000. I understand that many children have additional disabilities. The Special Educational Needs (SEN) framework provides for individual children's educational needs to be identified, assessed and catered for as quickly as possible. For children with severe or complex needs, local education authorities carry out a multi-professional statutory assessment and issue a statement of SEN setting out each child's needs in detail and the provision to be made for meeting those needs by the education and health services.