§ Mrs. Ann WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement summarising the provision which is currently made within the education system for deaf children; and what plans he has to improve that provision.
§ Mr. FallonThe Education Act 1981 focuses on the special educational needs of the individual child, including deaf or hearing-impaired children, and places the responsibility for making appropriate educational provision for them with each local education authority. While that Act places on each local education authority a duty to keep its special educational needs provision under review, many of this Government's current policies, notably the national curriculum, as well as my Department's grants for education support and training scheme to support specialist training for teachers of the deaf, are acting to lever up the standards of educational provision for children with these needs.