§ Mr. Laurence RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what funding is available for the education of child] en with Prader-Willi Syndrome; and if he will make a statement. [149683]
§ Jacqui Smith[holding answer 9 February 2001]: Funding is not made available for specific categories of special educational need. Rather, funding is allocated and distributed via local education authorities (LEAs), who have a duty to provide appropriately for all children in
362W1 Foundation Modern Apprenticeships, formerly known as National Traineeships, were introduced nationally in September 1997.
2 Advanced Modern Apprenticeships, formerly known as Modern Apprenticeships, were introduced nationally in September 1995.
Note;
1. The Trainee Database System (TDS), from which these data are taken, is less complete than Management Information supplied to the Department by Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) (around 95 per cent).
2. In addition, the postcode information on the TDS, from which parliamentary constituency data are compiled, are 95 per cent. complete.
3. TEC Management Information does not provide information at parliamentary constituency level.
Source:
WBTYP trainee database
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 £21.5 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 are increasing Education Standard Spending by over £1 billion in 2001–02 and we expect LEAs to passport extra resources to education in full. It will be for individual LEAs and schools to decide what to spend on particular areas of the service.
We have also made £82 million of supported expenditure available for special educational needs in next year's Standards Fund (2001–02). This compares to £55 million this year. 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, the provision of information and advice to parents, 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.
At the individual pupil level we are also working to promote better and more consistent practice, towards all pupils with special educational needs. In particular the revised SEN Code of Practice should promote more consistent practice by schools and LEAs. While individual pupils with SEN will vary in their needs it is important that schools and others adopt a consistent and rigorous approach in identifying and providing for these needs.