§ Ms BuckTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what powers he has to make provision for the assessment of special educational needs of children living in accommodation centres. [77803]
§ Mr. Stephen TwiggClause 28(1)(f) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill provides Government with the power to provide education in an accommodation centre. Clause 35(7) states that the education provider shall make appropriate facilities available for a child with special educational needs unless it is incompatible with the special educational provision his learning difficulty calls for; the provision of efficient education for other children resident in the centre; or the efficient use of resources. Clause 35(9)(b) empowers the education provider to ask the LEA to conduct a statutory assessment of a child's SEN, under section 329A of the Education Act 1996.
An LEA's duties under Part IV of the Education Act 1996 to assess, and where necessary, to make provision for children in their area who are of compulsory school age and have special educational needs, will apply to children residing in accommodation centres as such children will be in the area of a LEA for the purposes of this part of the 1996 Act.