§ Mrs. Iris RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many classroom assistants were trained in Braille in each of the last five years, broken down by board area. [176872]
§ Mr. GardinerTraining of this nature is generally sourced directly by schools in response to the needs of individual pupils and this information is therefore not readily available. However, Education and Library Boards have, in some cases arranged training in Braille for classroom assistants. The North Eastern Education and Library Board trained five classroom assistants in 2002; one in 2000; and one in 1999 while the South Eastern Education and Library Board trained one classroom assistant in 2001.