§ Mr. GowTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what are the responsibilities of the East Sussex county council to provide speech therapy and physiotherapy for those children who need those services at Hazel Court school, Eastbourne.
§ Mr. Kenneth BakerResponsibility for the provision of speech therapy and physiotherapy services has rested with health authorities since the reorganisation of the National Health Service in 1974. Although an amendment to the Education Act 1981 contained in the Education Reform Act 1988 enables local education authorities, such as East Sussex, to provide non-educational provision, (which includes speech therapy and physiotherapy) for children with statements of special educational needs, this has not affected health authorities' general responsibilities.
Local education authorities will be aware that the recent High Court case of R v Lancashire county council ex parte CM ruled that speech therapy could be considered as either educational or non-educational provision.