News: campaigns and alerts


Primary/secondary transfer - new deadline

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The DfES has belatedly (and in response to a plea from IPSEA) given LEAs a deadline for amending statements of pupils transfering from primary to secondary schools thus September. It is June 14th. As from next year, all statements for pupils transfering between phases will have to be amended by February 15th.


Background notes

'Wirral LEA agree to drop illegal policy of refusing to quantify special educational provision in statements of special educational needs ...'  
 

See IPSEA's letter of complaint

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National parents' charity, the Independent Panel for Special Educational Advice (IPSEA), today (4 March 2002) welcomed Secretary of State Estelle Morris's firm action on their formal complaint against Wirral LEA.

In April 2001, Wirral MB adopted a policy under which they decided not to quantify Learning Support Assistance in Statements of Special Educational Needs. IPSEA believed that as a result, children with special needs in Wirral would be at risk of not getting the help at school which they need, and which they were legally entitled to. So, when a copy of the policy was sent by a Wirral parent in October 2001, IPSEA immediately submitted a formal complaint to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, on the grounds that the LEA were failing to fulfil their duties in law towards children with special educational needs.

John Wright of IPSEA explains why the charity took this step:

"Children with special needs have a legal right to receive the special education provision specified in their 'Statements'. If an LEA refuse to write down in a Statement how much help a child should receive, then obviously the legal right to receive a particular level of help goes out of the window. That was the problem for Wirral children and their parents.
We are delighted that the Secretary of State has intervened to persuade the LEA of the error of their ways! This will benefit all children with special educational needs in the Wirral. We hope that this outcome will encourage other parents in other LEAs which are pursuing similarly illegal policies - which rob children with special educational needs of their legal right to help - to call on the Secretary of State for her support."

According to the Secretary of State's letter to IPSEA, Wirral have confirmed that they:

  1. have ceased their blanket policy of not quantifying provision in statements
  2. are reviewing their procedures for making statements to ensure that all statements are drafted in accordance with legal requirements
  3. and that statements will make clear to schools and parents the provision to be made to meet the needs of the individual child.

Wirral parents whose children have special educational needs should keep these assurances to hand in case it should be necessary to remind officers of the Authority of them.

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The Secretary of State has told IPSEA that Wirral will ensure that statements are drafted in accordance with legal requirements

Wirral parents whose children have special educational needs should keep these assurances to hand in case it should be necessary to remind officers of the Authority of them.

23 July 2001: Will the Welsh Assembly press ahead with the discredited Code?

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Despite the Westminster Government withdrawing the new Code at the last minute, acknowledging that it would have weakened LEAs' duties to quantify provision in Statements of Special Educational Needs, it seems that the Welsh Assembly is not to be diverted from that goal.

So far, the Welsh Office has refused to reveal its new Code to the public gaze. Rumour has it that they are waiting for some national or global diversion before laying the Code before the Assembly. The Welsh Office response to David Wolfe's opinion for IPSEA is, apparently, that they have got their own legal advice which contests David Wolfe's conclusions.

If this is so, IPSEA invites the Welsh Office to forward a copy of their advice, in order that we can post it on the web site and let all visitors - particularly those living in Wales - judge for themselves.

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11 July 2001: Government withdraws Code of Practice

After a fierce late-night debate in the House of Commons yesterday, which ended with MPs insisting on a vote on whether to approve the Code of Practice, the Government today withdrew the new Code of Practice.

This is an apparently unprecedented move, but the strong last-ditch opposition from MPs and peers to the loss of the advice on quantification may have taken ministers by surprise.

MPs quoted the experience of constituents and IPSEA in yesterday's debate, with Labour backbenchers as concerned about the issue as the Opposition parties. The legal opinion obtained by IPSEA was also cited.

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The Government says:
"The revised SEN Code ... was withdrawn on 12th July. We will be revising the section of the draft Code dealing with quantification of provision in statements to address concerns raised by parents and others. A revised draft will be laid before both houses of Parliament after the summer recess and, if approved, will be implemented from 1st January 2002. The approved version will be posted on the website when it is available. The 1994 Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Educational Needs ... remains as statutory guidance until such time as a revised Code is approved by Parliament."

10 July 2001: Lords motion asks Government to take a little longer to get Code right

Baroness Blatch (the sponsor of the 1994 Code of Practice) today tabled a motion asking the Government to think again on the continuing inadequacies of the revised Code currently before Parliament:

"This House calls on Her Majesty's Government to withdraw the draft Special Educational Needs Code of Practice laid before the house on 20 June and to re-lay it in an amended form so as to make it clear that provision should be quantified in Part 3 of a statement unless there are exceptional reasons for it not to be so; to advise local education authorities to be aware of the need to identify children with special educational needs amongst those attending schools and those who are excluded from school or being educated at home; and to provide clear guidance on the criteria a local education authority should apply when deciding if they have a duty to undertake statutory assessment of children with medical conditions which hinder or prevent access to educational facilities."

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Withdraw the draft Special Educational Needs Code of Practice and ... re-lay it in an amended form.

9 July 2001: Special Education Consortium briefs MPs


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The Special Education Consortium today expressed its concern over aspects of the Code of Practice currently before Parliament:

The greatest concern centres on the removal of the text in the 1994 Code that says that the special educational provision set out in a statement 'should normally be specific, detailed and quantified (in terms, for example, of hours of ancillary or specialist teaching support)…' This text is replaced by text (paragraph 8:36) which starts positively 'A statement should specify clearly the provision necessary to meet the needs of the child. It should detail appropriate provision to meet each identified need…' but is then modified by '…as necessary.' This is weaker than 'normally' in the 1994 Code.
It is clear that the organisations within the Consortium for whom these aspects of the drafting are of greatest concern are those who provide direct support, through their help lines, to parents of children with special educational needs. These organisations are well placed to see the difficulties caused for parents by any lack of clarity in the description of special educational provision in a statement.
Many members of the Consortium believe that in the longer term better systems for funding schools will enable more schools to provide for pupils with a wider range of needs without the need for a statement. Until such systems are in place there is a more general concern that any changes in the Code that erode the specificity of a statement will have a disproportionate effect on the placement of children with special educational needs in mainstream schools. This is because it is the detail in a statement that can give parents the confidence that their child can be supported in mainstream and the lack of it that can undermine such confidence.

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"any changes in the Code that erode the specificity of a statement will have a disproportionate effect on the placement of children with special educational needs in mainstream schools"

2 July 2001: New Code is unlawful


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IPSEA has obtained legal opinion that the new Code, currently before Parliament, errs in law in its advice on quantification. The barrister, David Wolfe of Matrix Chambers, says that the advice:
  1. Is unlawful;
  2. Will be read as reducing the requirements for quantification of provision;
  3. Will thus reduce the protection for children and encourage vague statements; and
  4. Will achieve exactly what the DfES says it is not trying to achieve.

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Download full text of opinion as Word 97 document. See also the IPSEA briefing.
14 February 2001: Parents urge MPsand peers to veto new Code


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IPSEA has written to almost 7000 parents of children with special educational needs who have contacted its advice lines over the last three years, urging them to lobby their MPs. This is in support of the briefing produced by IPSEA, together with Action on Entitlement (see www.aoe.org.uk), which calls on MPs and members of the House of Lords to block the publication of the new Code of Practice unless it makes clear to LEAs that special educational provision in Statements should be quantified and unless it makes clear that professional advice should describe how much help a child needs.

Speaking for IPSEA, John Wright said: ‘This is the largest mobilisation of parent opinion we have ever attempted as an organisation. It is absolutely vital that MPs get the message from parents in order to deter this Government from its apparent goal of weakening statements. We are calling on other charities and organisations concerned with disabled children to alert all of their members. They can use the AoE Briefing in its full or edited form, as they see fit.’

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28 September 2000: Action on Entitlement puts campaign on the web


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Action on Entitlement, the consortium of organisations opposing the threat to children’s right to the support they need posed by the redrafting of the Code of Practice, launches its web site with a briefing on the threat and a letter parents can write to MPs.

A spokesperson commented that all organisations concerned with special needs and/or inclusion, whether in AoE or not, were now united in hostility to the Code, and were only divided in whether to give the Government a graceful way out.

‘We must stop this Code,’ she said, ‘it is a travesty. It is neither reliable nor honest about the law protecting children. It is a lawbreakers’ charter.’

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Go to www.aoe.org.uk and sign up!
19 July 2000: IPSEA asks the Secretary of State for explanation


See also: IPSEA’s correspondence with the Secretary of State:

IPSEA asks the Minister to explain exactly what the Department means by ‘set out’.
The Minister responds: the change in wording is deliberate – the Government wants to discourage quantification in favour of ‘flexibility’.

IPSEA, one of the leading national charities providing advice and support for parents and carers of children with special educational needs, has today called on the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, David Blunkett, to explain what his Department intend by amending the special education regulations to remove an LEA's duty to ‘specify’ provision in a Statement and substitute the duty to ‘set out’ provision.

This confusion is one of a number of major flaws in the contents of the draft Code on Special Educational Needs, in the extent of the consulation and In the timing of the consultation:

IPSEA believes that under the guise of consultation on the Code of Practice the DfEE are trying to effect the most sweeping change to special education law in almost 20 years - weakening the duty on LEAs to make clear in a Statement of Special Educational Needs how much help a child with learning difficulties/disabilities should receive. Such a change will, quite simply, undermine the whole purpose of Statements, which is to protect provision for special needs children.

The draft is confused as to the basic duty of LEAs with regard to special educational provision when children have statements, stating at one point that an LEA must "provide" special educational provision and at another that an LEA must "arrange" provision. The confusion is compounded by advice that a school can use the money it receives in respect of a child with a statement for a purpose other than making the provision set out in the Statement.

Consultation with schools is minimal. Only 1 in 10 schools is being consulted. This despite major changes being proposed with regard to how schools provide for non-statemented children with special educational needs. Those schools who are getting the draft Coda will have a deadline of October 13th., but because of the summer holiday the period for consultation will be halved.

What the Department has done to ensure that parents' organisations have been consulted is less clear. Certainly, many of the smaller charities and individual parents who have contributed to previous consultations were not included in this.

Commenting for IPSEA, John Wright said:

“We are shocked by the poor quality of this document and by what seems to us to be an attempt by the DfEE to undermine children's rights by the back-door. We will be calling on parents’ and disability organisations and all concerned professionals to make their voices heard - holiday or no holiday.”

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For copies of the draft revised Code and the Regulations, contact:

Andrew Taylor
Special Educational Needs Division
Department of Education and Employment
Area 2T6
Sanctuary Buildings
Great Smith Street
London SW1P 3BT
Tel: 020 7925 6363 Fax: 020 7925 6648
E-mail: andrew.taylor@dfee.gov.uk
21 June 2000: Minister announces delay to next session for SEN and Disability in Education Bill


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In spite of the pledge in the Queen’s Speech, the legislation will not be enacted this session. In answer to a parliamentary question, David Blunkett said:
“Our commitment to legislate on SEN was made in the Queen's Speech and remains in place. However, it has now become clear that it will not be possible to introduce a Bill this Parliamentary Session …
"In view of the inevitable delay, and without the option of carryover, we have decided to publish a draft Bill in this Parliamentary Session, giving the opportunity for comment and feedback before introduction of the Bill."

Elsewhere, a DfEE spokesman said that the issues most commented on in the consultation were inclusion and compensation for school students who were discriminated against.

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18 March 2000: Jacqui Smith opens consultation on new SEN Bill


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Responses to the consultation need to be returned to the DfEE by 28 April 2000. The document can be downloaded from the DfEE website at www.dfee.gov.uk/sen and the disability website at www.disability.gov.uk. Copies, including those in Braille, audio and large print formats, can also be obtained by telephoning 020 7925 5528.

Jacqui Smith, under-secretary of state for education, said the new Bill would:

  • offer parents of children with SEN access to an independent parental supporter to give them information about services available;
  • strengthen the right to a mainstream place;
  • establish independent conciliation arrangements for resolving disputes with parents;
  • comply with the orders of the SEN Tribunal within specified timescales.

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Downloadable from DfEE site:
http://www.dfee.gov.uk/sen
or Government’s disability site:
http://www.disability.gov.uk
In book form from:
020 7925 5528

February 2000: Children’s rights group wins major concession


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The Action on Entitlement press release:

The DfEE has, for the first time, conceded that they are duty-bound to ensure that statements are worth the paper they are written on. In a response to Action on Entitlement, Chris Wells of the SEN Division said on 4 February that where an LEA usually does not specify the hours of extra help children needed, ‘the Department will act, using the power in s497 [of the 1996 Education Act], to ensure that LEAs meet their obligation’.
It has taken 18 months of sustained pressure by Action on Entitlement, an umbrella group of organisations offering advice to parents, to win the admission that most statements must specify and quantify the extra support children need, and that if they do not they are not lawfully written. This is important because statements that are written vaguely leave parents impotent to challenge cuts in much-needed provision such as time with a specialist teacher or one-to-one help from a support assistant.
Now the members of Action on Entitlement will be bringing to the DfEE's attention cases of LEAs who make a habit of refusing to write lawful statements. If you are a parent who has a reasonable belief that your LEA does this, ring Action on Entitlement on 0181 948 1746, or contact it through a member organisation.

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Action on Entitlement is a consortium of charities and voluntary organisations which all offer advice directly to parents. It is a single-issue pressure group, working to defend the legal entitlement of individual children with special needs.

It includes major national organisations such as the Advisory Centre for Education, the Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus, the Centre for Studies in Inclusive Education, the Down's Syndrome Association, the Independent Panel for Special Educational Advice and Network 81, as well as local groups.

Phone 0181 948 1746.


17 November 1999:Queen’s Speech announces proposed new legislation


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The DfEE press release stated:

The new Bill will build on the document A Programme of Action – Meeting Special Educational Needs, published in November 1998. The Action Programme set out the Government's agenda for improving standards and achievement for all children with special educational needs. Included in the SEN Bill there will be:

  • a duty on LEAs to offer a parent partnership service and provide schools and local agencies (including those working with children below compulsory school age) with information about the services available. The service would include providing parents of children identified as having SEN with access to an independent parental supporter;
  • a requirement on LEAs to establish conciliation arrangements for resolving disputes with parents;
  • changes requiring Local Education Authorities to comply with orders of the SEN Tribunal and continue to improve the effectiveness of the SEN Tribunal to ensure a better service for parents and children with SEN.

The press release quoted David Blunkett as saying:

"This Bill will improve the quality of education for children with special needs by making it easier for parents and children to secure the type of education they want. It will strengthen the right to a place in a mainstream school for those with special needs who want it, in all cases where it is appropriate."

PUBLIC ENQUIRES:
0171 925 5555

e-mail: info@dfee.gov.uk


12 November 1999: Review of the Tribunal announced by DfEE


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Terms of reference:

  • to review the functions of the Special Educational Needs Tribunal and the likely future need for those functions;
  • to consider the powers, remit, constitutional status, membership and activities of the Special Educational Needs Tribunal;
  • to consider whether, on efficiency grounds, some or all of the functions ... can be carried out within an alternative organisational framework including by another public, private or voluntary body or otherwise within government;
  • to review the efficiency or otherwise of the ... Tribunal in carrying out its functions.

The Review will have particular regard to:

  • the overriding objective that special educational provision should meet the needs of individual children; and
  • compliance with the Human Rights Act 1998.

Closing date: 15 January 1999

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Review letter and questionnaire at:
http://www.dfee.gov.uk/sen/review.htm
More information:
Sue Ashford of the DfEE's SEN Appeals and Therapies Team:
0171 925 5819


3 November 1999: SEN Update 3 issued by DfEE


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Points include:
  • DfEE expects to ‘consult on a revised Code of Practice next summer, and ... the revised Code to come into effect at the start of the 2001–2002 academic year’.
  • DDA requirements where schools provide non-educational services (such as parents’ meetings).
Full document at:
www.dfee.gov.uk/sen/update.htm
Queries/comments to:
Glenn Bedford, SEN Division, DfEE, Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BT
Tel: 0171 925 5545
Fax: 0171 925 6986
glenn.bedford@dfee.gov.uk

20 September 1999: Consultation on SENT Regs and conciliation procedure


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Proposals include
  • changes to procedure for submitting evidence;
  • time-scales for implementation of orders;
  • new conciliation procedures.

Closing date of consultation period: 12 November 1999.
Obtain copies from:
Anne Robertson/Sue Ashford of the DfEE's SEN Appeals and Therapies Team:
0171 925 5089/5819

July 1999: Circulars on exclusion issued


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Circulars 10/99 and 11/99 issued by DfEE, both called ‘Social Inclusion: Pupil Support’, the first for schools and the latter for LEAs. Latter ‘explains the administrative and legal responsibilities of LEAs for: managing attendance, including legal action for enforcing attendance; providing education outside school; pupils at risk of exclusion; educating and re-integrating excluded pupils; pupil referral units.’
Ashley Haworth-Roberts, School Inclusion Division, DfEE
Tel: 0171-925 5637
e-mail ashley.haworth-roberts@dfee.gov.uk
www.dfee.gov.uk/circulars/10-99/
www.dfee.gov.uk/circulars/11-99/11-99.htm

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