§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if children with learning difficulties who are currently attending special schools for children with learning difficulties will be automatically protected under the disability discrimination legislation. [41340]
§ Mr. BurtThe definition of disability in the Disability Discrimination Bill, subject to the provisions of schedule 1, provides that a person has a disability for the purposes of the Act if he has or has had a physical or mental impairment which has or had a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Children who meet this definition will be protected by the provisions of the Disability Discrimination Bill and by complementary provisions of the Education Act 1993.
§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many children with learning difficulties are estimated to be covered under the Disability Discrimination Bill. [41343]
§ Mr. BurtCentrally maintained statistics are not kept in a form that will provide this information. The definition of disability in the Disability Discrimination Bill does not correlate directly with information held by the Department of Health about children who have learning disabilities,836W or to definitions used by the Department for Education and Employment to collect information about children with learning difficulties.
Evidence from epidemiological studies suggest that there are about 30,000 children under the age of 16 in England with severe or profound learning disabilities, but others with a mild or moderate degree of learning disability.
Under the Education Act 1993, a child has special educational needs if he or she has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of that age. This difficulty in learning may be entirely unrelated to any disability. It has been estimated that up to one in five children may have special educational needs at some time in his or her school career.
In view of the existing comprehensive protection under the 1993 Act and code of practice on the identification and assessment of special educational needs, the House has agreed that education should be excluded from the scope of part III of the Bill. Subject to that, the other relevant provisions of the Disability Discrimination Bill will apply equally to children with special educational needs as to all other people.
§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what financial assistance will be available for children with learning difficulties to enable legal action to be taken on their behalf under the provisions of the Disability Discrimination Bill. [41345]
§ Mr. BurtThe majority of actions taken under the new right of access will be via the small claims procedure, where the proceedings are informal, legal representation is not required and no costs can be awarded. Where actions are taken in open court of proceed to higher courts, legal aid will be available to children with learning disabilities provided they meet the normal means and merits tests. Children are assessed for legal aid according to their own means and not their parents. A child is therefore more likely to be financial eligible than an adult.