HC Deb 23 April 2001 vol 367 c112W
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many of the teaching assistants providing classroom support for children with learning difficulties have received training in special needs education. [158081]

Jacqui Smith

This information is not held centrally.

Through the Department's Standards Fund programme, we are supporting expenditure on special educational needs (SEN) training and development for teachers, headteachers, special educational needs co-ordinators and teaching assistants. It is envisaged that, of the overall £82 million available for SEN in 2001–02, £30 million will be spent on training. This is an increase from SEN training expenditure of £26 million in 2000–01 and £21 million in 1999–2000.

From September 2000 we have made available introductory training materials for recently recruited teaching assistants, which include coverage of the special educational needs framework, and in October of last year we published "Working with teaching assistants: a good practice guide".

Mr. Nigel Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of enforcement of the legislation relating to the employment of people with learning difficulties. [158347]

Ms Hodge

My Department monitors Employment Tribunal cases and case law on the employment provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA). It also carries out targeted research on how the DDA's employment provisions are working. "Monitoring the Disability Discrimination Act 1995—Phase 2" (an interim report published in March 2000 by Income Data Services Ltd.), provides a statistical analysis of Employment Tribunal cases and a commentary on case law.

Of the 487 Employment Tribunal cases where the disability was known and the case reached a hearing, 18 concerned specific learning difficulties (e.g. dyslexia) and 3 severe learning difficulties. The Disability Rights Commission, as part of its statutory role for monitoring the DDA, will be taking forward with my Department the next phase of the project later in 2001.