§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans she has to increase funding allocated to deal with children diagnosed with difficulties in the autistic spectrum disorders. [18910]
§ Mr. TimmsFunding is not made available for specific categories of special educational need. Rather, funding is allocated and distributed via local education authorities (LEAs), which have a duty to provide appropriately for all children in their area. This includes the duty to identify children's individual special educational needs and to deliver the most appropriate provision to meet those needs.
More than £23 billion is available annually for the education of school children, including children with special educational needs. Over £1 billion of this is used by LEAs to provide additional support for children with special educational needs.
We have also made £91 million of supported expenditure available for special educational needs in next year's standards fund (2002–03). This is five times the amount available in 1997–98. The fund can be used for a range of activities, including training for staff in special educational needs, improvements in speech and language therapy provision for children with communication difficulties and the greater inclusion of children with SEN in the mainstream. This latter includes early intervention for pupils with SEN, training on child development and behaviour management, and improved links between special and mainstream schools.