§ 34. Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what educational progress has been made in integrating disabled children with those who are not disabled.
§ Dr. BoysonFor a number of years the general trend has been increasingly to provide special educational treatment within the mainstream of education where this is in the educational interest of a particular child and the nature of his disability permits. Handicapped pupils are frequently placed in special units or designated classes within ordinary schools and others attend ordinary classes with the appropriate specialist support. There are also a number of interesting new initiatives whereby varying degrees of integration are being achieved between special schools and ordinary primary and secondary schools. Many local education authorities give priority to handicapped children when considering admissions to nursery schools and classes, and in allocating resources in the nursery education building programme my Department gives a weighting to projects intended to provide for children with special needs.