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The Secretary of State for Education and Skills
DfES
Sanctuary Buildings
Great Smith Street
London SW1P 3BT
Dear Secretary of State,
Formal complaint against Buckinghamshire County Council as a
Local Education Authority under s496 and s497 EA1996
I am writing to make a formal complaint under s496 and s497 EA1996
against Buckinghamshire County Council with regard to the consultation exercise
being undertaken currently by them with regard to Council Tax expenditure.
Please find enclosed a print-out of the questionnaire currently
posted on the Council's web site. You will see that participants are invited to
indicate which 'possible budget cuts you would find the most
acceptable.' These 'possible cuts' include:
- 'Reduce capacity for providing statements for pupils with
special educational needs'
and
- 'Reduction in the number of Educational Psychologists who help
children with difficulties.'
We believe that proposing and consulting on such cuts to
educational services is both unreasonable under the terms of s496 and unlawful
under s497 EA 1996.
1. Making and maintaining statements
a. s496: acting unreasonably
The duty to make and maintain statements of special educational
needs arises under s324(1) EA1996 when statutory assessment shows that it is
'necessary for the authority to determine the special educational provision
which any learning difficulty (a child) has may call for.' This decision
must be based on separate assessments of individual children's needs under s323
of the same Act.
Reducing capacity for providing statements on budgetary grounds,
and in clear disregard for the number of actual children for whom a statement
may be deemed necessary following assessment during the funding period in
question, would inevitable lead the Authority to act in breach of the s324(1)
duty with respect to individual children with special educational needs whose
needs can not be met by their schools.
Under the terms of s496, Buckinghamshire CC is acting unreasonably
in respect to their proposed performance of their duty under s324(1).
b. s497: failure to discharge a duty
The LEA has a duty to publish information with respect to the
general arrangements made by the Authority for 'organising the making and
maintaining of statements in their area including any local protocols for doing
so' under The Special Educational Needs (Provision of Information by Local
Education Authorities)(England) Regulations 2001, Regulation 2 and the
Schedule. By instigating consultation with the public on whether the number of
statements made and maintained should be reduced the LEA is acting in breach of
its duty to provide information (indeed, it is providing misinformation) about
its duties under s324, which is to make statements when 'necessary' with
respect to individual children's needs as opposed to budgetary constraints.
We would also suggest that you take preventative action to avoid a
breach of sections 323 and 324 of the Education 1996 by Buckinghamshire CC,
such action being to direct or discourage it from engaging in public
consultation of this sort.
2. Reducing the number of Educational Psychologists
a. s496: acting unreasonably
The duty on an Authority to identify amongst the children for whom
they are responsible those who have special educational needs and for whom it
is necessary for the Authority to determine any provision which any learning
difficulty may call for is set out under s321 EA1996. It is a duty which is
owed, ultimately, to individual children, whose parents are able to appeal
against decisions not to assess and not to issue statements. It could not be a
legitimate reason for declining an assessment or a statement for the Authority
to say that there were too few EPs as a result of a budgetary decision to
reduce their number. It is 'unreasonable' in a statutory sense for an Authority
to propose to place themselves in such a position with regard to their clear
legal duty under s321.
b. 497: failure to discharge a duty
The Special Educational Needs (Provision of Information by Local
Education Authorities)(England) Regulations 2001, Regulation 2 and the Schedule
place on LEAs a duty to publish information with respect to the general
arrangements made by the Authority for 'organising the assessment of
children's educational needs pursuant to section 323 of the Education Act
1996.' Again, by instigating consultation with the public on whether the
number of EPs employed by the Authority should be reduced the LEA is acting in
breach of its duty to provide information (again, it is providing
misinformation) about its duties under s321, which is to undertake assessments
of individual children's needs when 'necessary', as opposed to when permitted
by budgetary constraints.
I ask the Secretary of State to use her powers to order
Buckinghamshire County Council to withdraw immediately those items on their
Council Tax public consultation questionnaire with regard to reducing
statements and reducing the numbers of psychologists employed by the
Authority.
Yours faithfully,
John Wright
for IPSEA
cc Director of Education, Buckinghamshire County Council, County
Hall, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire HP20 1UJ. |