§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the impact on the budgets of local education authorities of recent court judgments concerning special educational needs, with special reference to the four cases of Phelps, Jarvis, Anderton and a 16-year-old referred to as G. [134226]
§ Jacqui SmithThe impact on budgets of individual local education authorities of recent court judgments will depend on the number of further cases successfully brought before the courts. It is not possible to predict the likely number of such cases but it should be noted that in the Phelps case, so far the only one of the cases in which the facts have been considered and in which the court decided there had been negligence, the judgment recognised that
the professionalism, dedication and standards of those engaged in the provision of educational services are such that cases of negligence will be exceptional.