HC Deb 22 April 1985 vol 77 cc360-1W
Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list the number of handicapped children who have been educated in ordinary primary and secondary schools in the West Midlands county in each school year since 1979–80; and what resources have beeen allocated to local education authorities in that area to enable them to put into practice effectively the provisions of the Education Act 1981 since its introduction.

Mr. Dunn

The information is as follows:

Number of Handicapped Pupils in Ordinary Schools in the West Midlands County in January of each year.
Year Number
1981 1,041
1982 1,169
1983 1,566
1984 1,402

Comparable information for 1980 is not available.

Account is taken of the costs of educating children with special educational needs in assessing each authority's grant-related expenditure, which underlies the annual distribution of the rate support grant settlement. It is for individual local education authorities to decide how to use the resources available to them.

Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what financing he intends to make available to local education authorities to enable them to improve facilities in teacher training courses for instruction on special needs of handicapped children within ordinary primary and secondary school environments.

Mr. Dunn

My right hon. Friend has made it clear that he expects local authorities to contain within existing provision any additional expenditure which they may incur in implementing criteria for the approval of initial teacher training courses issued in April 1984, including the requirement that students should be introduced to ways of identifying children with special educational needs, helped to appreciate what the ordinary school can and cannot do for such children, and given some knowledge of the specialist help available and how it can be enlisted. Training in special educational needs in ordinary schools has been designated a national priority area under the in-service teacher training grants scheme, introduced in 1983–84. In the financial year 1985–86, £13.4 million in total will be made available to LEAs towards the cost of employing replacement teachers for those released for training in the various priority areas designated under the scheme.