§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on local education authorities' progress in developing special educational needs development plans. [94724]
§ Jacqui SmithFrom 1 October 1998 LEAs have a statutory duty under Section 5 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 to carry out all their functions to promote high standards. Education Development Plans are three-year plans whose purpose is to draw together the main actions, which LEAs are taking in pursuit of this statutory duty. They will increase accountability to schools, local partners and to Government.
Targets for special schools and information on how LEAs plan to improve standards achieved by pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN) in their schools must be reflected in the main body of the EDP. The SEN Annex (Annex 4) gives further more detailed information about the LEA's policy.
All LEAs now have an EDP, and almost all have been approved for three years from April 1999 to March 20002. The Department will continue to monitor and evaluate EDPs during this period.
§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if a premium will be available for work-based training of those with special educational needs. [94752]
§ Mr. WicksThe funding which the Department provides to Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) for work-based training includes an element to cover the additional costs incurred in providing quality training for those with special training needs.
§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many pupils in England carried statements of special educational need in each of the last 10 years; and what proportion of the total of pupils they represented. [94680]
§ Jacqui SmithThe available information is shown in the following table.
Number and percentage of pupils with statement of special educational needs in England Position in January each year Year Number of pupils with a statement of special educational needs Percentage of pupils with a statement of special educational needs 1999 248,041 3.0 1998 242,294 2.9 1997 234,629 2.9 1996 227,348 2.8 1995 211,307 2.6 1994 194,541 2.5 1993 178,029 2.3 1992 160,759 2.1 1991 153,228 2.0 1990 159,485 2.1 1989 155,191 2.1
§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has for improving the transition planning for those aged 16 years with special educational needs. [94753]
536W
§ Jacqui SmithThe Government intend to change the law in order to require local education authorities to conduct the 'transition review' of a child's statement during academic year 9. At present the transition review takes place after the child's 14th birthday, which means that the review may not in practice be undertaken until year 10. Where the young person leaves school at age 16 he or she may therefore have had only one review which has focused on the personal 'transition plan'. The proposed change will ensure that 16-year-old school leavers who have statements of special educational needs will have had the benefit of at least two and in most cases three annual reviews at which planning for their transition from school has been actively and effectively addressed. Further guidance on good practice in transition planning will be provided in the revised SEN Code of Practice.
§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to encourage local education authorities to alter the balance of their provision for children with special educational needs between(a) privately funded institutions, (b) publicly funded special schools and (c) inclusion in mainstream schools, respectively. [94729]
§ Jacqui SmithIt is for local education authorities to decide the pattern of provision they need to meet the special educational needs of pupils in their area.
Where parents want a mainstream setting for their child, our policy is to try to provide it. Equally, where more specialist provision is what is sought, it is important that parents' wishes are respected. Our approach has been practical, rather than dogmatic, with an acceptance that the key objectives must be to safeguard the interests of all children and to ensure that they achieve to their full potential. We are advocating inclusion by choice and have underlined that there remains a continuing and vital role for specialist schools.
We are seeking to join up the different sectors (maintained, independent and voluntary) and establish more effective links between the special and mainstream schools. Through the establishment of the SEN regional co-ordination projects local authorities are being encouraged to work with each other and with the voluntary and private sectors to better plan and meet the needs of pupils with special educational needs.
§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what initiatives he has taken to improve the education provision within the special needs sector within Sefton Metropolitan Borough. [94587]
§ Jacqui SmithThe Government's Programme of Action: Meeting Special Educational Needs, published in November last year, announced a package of measures designed to improve special educational needs provision across the country. As part of the targeted support available to local education authorities in 1999–2000, Sefton Metropolitan Borough was allocated £182,987 under the Special Educational Needs Standards Fund Programme and a further £152,800 under the Schools Access Initiative to make more primary and secondary schools accessible to disabled pupils.
These targeted resources are additional to the substantial increase in resources available to local education authorities via the Standard Spending Assessment. Sefton's Standard Spending Assessment for 537W 1999–2000 was £122.2 million, an increase of £5.7 million on the previous year. It is for local education authorities to determine, within the total resources available to them, the level of resources available for special educational needs provision.
§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many primary and secondary children with(a) learning and (b) physical difficulties are accommodated within the mainstream school system in Sefton Metropolitan Borough. [94588]
§ Jacqui SmithThe information requested is not held centrally. However, in January 1998, of the 27,882 pupils in maintained primary schools in Sefton Metropolitan Borough, 369 were pupils with a statement of special educational needs and 4,239 were pupils with special educational needs but without a statement. Of the 19,744 pupils in maintained secondary schools in Sefton Metropolitan Borough, 506 were pupils with a statement of special educational needs and 2,020 were pupils with special educational needs but without a statement.