§ Bob SpinkTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of outreach programmes carried out by moderate learning difficulty schools in mainstream secondary and primary schools; and if he will make a statement. [159382]
§ Margaret HodgeThe Department for Education and Skills has not conducted an assessment of special school outreach programmes which support pupils with moderate learning difficulties based in mainstream schools. Ofsted has responsibility for school inspections, including an assessment of any support that schools offer to other schools. In his annual report for 2002–03, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools noted that 'good support is provided by the special schools for pupils attending mainstream schools and colleges and this contributes significantly to the quality of the programmes. A small number of schools also provide outreach support and advice to staff in mainstream schools. However, the role of special schools in this respect is weak and developing slowly.'
The Government's new SEN Strategy—Removing Barriers to Achievement—launched in February 2004, encourages special schools to do more to share their expertise with mainstream schools in support of greater inclusion. While there is clearly scope for them to develop this aspect of their role, it is important that the quality of advice and support they offer is of a high standard. Some special schools already achieve this, but it is clear from HMCI's report that the quality overall is variable. The SEN strategy therefore includes the development of generic minimum standards for SEN support services which would extend to outreach offered by special schools. It is envisaged that these will be used for self-evaluation by local authorities and schools and in Ofsted inspections and will be a form of quality assurance for schools obtaining support from external sources.
Mr. HolbanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many area special educational needs co-ordinators have been created to support non-maintained schools; [157836]
(2) what the Government's target for training for each special educational needs co-ordinator is; when this target is scheduled to be met; and what progress has been made in meeting it; [157837]
(3) what proportion of registered early years settings have special educational needs co-ordinators. [157838]
§ Margaret Hodge[holding answer 1 March 2004]: All SENCOs based in early years settings will have benefited from three days relevant training by 2004. We are currently in the process of evaluating how local authorities are delivering the new SEN training materials. We are also asking local authorities how they are ensuring that SENCOs based in yearly years settings receive the appropriate training to be able to deliver services to meet local needs.
SENCOs are based in private, voluntary and independent sector early years settings. It is a requirement that all publicly funded early years provision has a SENCO. These SENCOs are supported by approximately 850 Area SENCOs who have been 86W employed to support early years settings. Encouragingly the assessment of LEA/EYDCP plans for 2002/03 revealed that 90 per cent. of local authorities had Area SENCOs in place. Figures for 2003/04 will be available later this year.