These questions need answers

April 2001

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Before the new Code of Practice is approved by Parliament, these questions need to be answered by Ministers.

IPSEA would be glad if any MP would like to take these forward.

Question 1:
What will the new Code say on specifying provision?

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To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment to read in to the record the text he intends to include in the new Code of Practice on Special Education as guidance to LEAs on their duty to "specify" special provision in Statements, which will replace the guidance in the current Code of Practice, that is:

"The provision set out in this section (Part 3) should normally be specific, detailed and quantified (in terms, for example, of hours of ancillary or specialist teaching support)..."

Question 2:
If a child's Statement does not quantify provision, where are they protected?

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To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment to indicate where, in the new legislation, a child whose Statement fails to quantify provision in Part 3 derives the legal entitlement to the amount of provision their needs call for?

In view of the fact that there is no factual answer to this question, i.e. there is no section of the law which provides entitlement in the absence of quantification in Part 3, the following supplementary question might be useful:

Will the Secretary of State consider again an amendment to the SEN Bill which would make it mandatory for statements to quantify provision in Part 3, in order that all children can receive their entitlement to provision (which has been the main aim and function of special educational law In this country for two decades, now)?

Question 3:
Where is the law on quantification of speech therapy?

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To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment to cite the legal basis for the categorical assurance which Lord Davies gave Lord Baker in the House of Lords that, in the future, under the new legislation, in a case such as that of Jonathan (described by Lord Baker -- see Hansard House of Lords, 20 February 2001, col 613 to 614), "the hours of speech therapy will be specified" in a Statement (col 631).

Possible supplementary question

Jonathan's statement said simply -- and vaguely -- "Therapy from a speech and language therapist". Is the Secretary of State able and prepared to repeat Lord Davies's categorical assurance before this House, that such vagueness, in future, will not feature in children's Statements?

See Jonathan's story at:
www.aoe.org.uk
Go to Briefing for MPs and Peers 2001

Question 4:
Is it Government policy that parents should not have a right to be told by professionals how much help their children need?

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To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will confirm that, as implied by Baroness Blackstone in the House of Lords (Hansard House of Lords, 20 February 2001, col 725), it is Government policy that parents of a child with special educational needs should not have a right to be informed of the opinions of the professionals who have assessed their child on the amount of special educational provision required to meet their needs, but rather, Government policy is to leave it to the discretion of individual professionals as to whether they record their opinion on how much help a child needs when they write their reports?

Possible supplementary question

In view of the need for parents to be given the fullest possible information on their child's needs in order to arrive at sound judgments with regard to their children's education (to say nothing of Human Rights and Freedom of Information issues) will the Secretary of State take the opportunity afforded by the current SEN Bill to amend the law and create a clear legal duty on professionals to Include their opinion on the amount of help a child may require in their written assessment advice ?

Question 5:

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To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, given the fact that the current Code of Practice on Special Education advises LEAs that provision In a Statement "should normally" be detailed and quantified, whereas in his own statement to the House on March 20th he reported that the new Code will advise only that provision "may often" be quantified, whether he is aware of the clear risk, arising from this change in wording, of the new Code weakening the right of children to have Statements which guarantee them a specific level of help?

Supplementary question

Given the twists and turns performed by his Department over the wording of this part of the new Code (last July it was to say "set out" rather than "specify" and omit the word "quantify"; in December it changed to "quantified as necessary"; now it is to be "may often" quantify) can the Secretary of State be surprised at the high level of suspicion that exists in the minds of parents and the voluntary sector and the fact that the belief remains strong that the only solution is for the new legislation to make absolutely clear that all statements should quantify the special education provision a child is to receive?

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