HL Deb 03 March 1980 vol 406 cc132-4WA
The Duke of ATHOLL

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What response they have received from Scottish interested parties to the recommendations of the Warnock Committee on the Education of Handicapped Children and Young People; and if they will make a Statement.

The MINISTER of STATE, SCOTTISH OFFICE (The Earl of Mansfield

Consultations with interested bodies in Scotland produced responses which were, as in England and Wales, almost wholly favourable. In particular the central recommendation that the statutory categorisation of handicapped pupils should be abolished met with very widespread approval. The only reservation commonly expressed was that many of the advances recommended could not be accomplished by local authorities and the various other bodies responsible unless augmented resources were made available to them.

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State has decided therefore that in legislation which he hopes to lay before the Lower House in due course, he will provide for the abolition of categories of handicap. There will of course be consultations on the practical implications of this and it is hoped that these consultations would extend to questions relating to the rights of parents in the special education field. This is a matter on which separate consultation is about to be put in hand in relation to children in ordinary schools and it would be necessary to consider whether and to what extent similar arrangements can appropriately be applied in both these fields. Many of the other recommendations in the report, for example those relating to nursery education, teacher training and further and higher education, have substantial implications for central and local government expenditure and must be considered in the light of the overall economic situation and the need for restraint which it entails.