§ Dr. Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will bring in legislation to give parents of children with special needs the right to state a preference for their child's school from amongst local education authority special or ordinary schools, grant-maintained schools and schools run by a recognised charity; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. ForthThe Education Bill, currently before Parliament, significantly extends the rights of parents of children with special educational needs over the school their child should attend. It enables parents of children with special educational needs to express a preference for the maintained school which should be named in a statement or to make representations in favour of a non-maintained or independent school. In all cases, if the local education authority does not comply with the parents' wishes, parents may appeal to the special educational needs tribunal, whose rulings will be binding.
§ Mr. Win GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will publish for each local education authority the number of appeals made against statements of special educational need; and what is the estimated cost of running the appeals system in each local education authority in each of the last three years.
§ Mr. Win GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will provide information on the staffing and other costs which go to making up his estimate of setting up the tribunal system for hearing appeals about statements of special educational needs.
§ Mr. ForthWe shall be consulting on the details of the tribunal's establishment and procedures. Initial estimates are based on the Department's own experience of staffing and administrative costs in handling appeals and reflect consultation with other Departments which sponsor tribunals.