Children with Special Educational Needs

Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown Excerpts

Wednesday 30th March 2011 Westminster Hall

[Alun Cairns]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising that point. That is certainly an issue that causes worry among many parents. However, we need to recognise that the school funding formula almost leads to a perverse incentive for schools to classify children as having SEN. Very often, what is needed is additional support in the classroom, rather than a classification of SEN. It is the perverse incentive that is the root of that problem, but I accept absolutely that the issue needs to be teased out and clarified while the White Paper is being drafted.

The whole statementing process is meant to take 26 weeks, but we need to add in the delays due to the tribunal, which I have mentioned. If a parent is dissatisfied with a statement, they can appeal to the tribunal again. Delays such as the August-to-January delay that I mentioned earlier in relation to the assessment appeal will also be incurred in the case of a statement appeal. Parents who have to go through two appeals and the 26-week statementing process can therefore be left waiting for a total of 16 months to get a statement confirmed. That delay in securing the right SEN support can be damaging, particularly to a young child of four, five or six, as 16 months is a significant percentage of a child’s life.

The Green Paper highlights the Government’s will to speed up the process, and proposes cutting the 26-week period to 20 weeks. That is welcome, but the wait for the tribunal hearing also needs to be addressed if we are genuinely to speed up the process from start to finish. The Green Paper, however, talks about a mediation requirement. In principle, I can see the attraction of that, but I question its merit in practice because of the new delay that that could introduce. An insistence that mediation should take place before the right to appeal would be detrimental due to that delay, and I ask the Minister to allow mediation to take place in parallel with the wait for the tribunal hearing. In reality, discussions already take place right up to the day of the tribunal. It is most frustrating for an authority to agree to something on the morning of a hearing when the parents have been asking for it for the previous six to eight months.

Furthermore, I am not wholly convinced that mediation will work in practice. Parent partnerships already exist to allow for mediation, but few people take up the option because the relationship has usually broken down. We need to consider the pressure on the parent of an autistic child who has to battle month after month with a school and a local education authority, and then face a tribunal.

The Green Paper highlights extended choice for parents, but we need to recognise that legislation already offers parents significant choice. It is often the disagreement caused by the difference between the wishes of parents and the offer from the local education authority that leads to tribunal proceedings.

[Dr William McCrea (South Antrim) (DUP)]

Might not the term “mediation” often be used to talk the parent out of getting their child statemented, and to let the school authorities off their responsibility to ensure appropriate education for the child?

[Alun Cairns]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. It underlines a point that I plan to make later about the support that parents need. Mediation could possibly work, but we need to understand the breakdown in relationships and the support that parents therefore need.

I turn to the statement itself and the issues that can lead to disagreements and appeals. More often than not, draft statements are vague and imprecise. Parents will seek to make changes in order to gain an appropriately detailed statement that guarantees the provision that they need. Let me offer an example relating to the provision of speech and language therapy. A poor statement would read, “The child will have access to a communication programme,” whereas a well-prepared statement would record, “The child will have direct speech and language therapy with a therapist once a week for a period of 30 minutes.” That detail is important because if the speech and language therapist is sick for a period or goes on maternity leave, a local authority will rarely move to reappoint a suitably qualified individual, even if they can, given the shortage of therapists. If the provision is specified in a statement, parents can demand it, even from the private or third sector, if necessary. Clearly, it is in the interest of the local education authority to draft a vague statement to prevent such demands reaching the High Court.

That leads me to the backdrop of the tension that develops between parents and local authorities. Parents want a detailed, appropriate statement. They sometimes request that support be given more frequently than is offered, or seek a placement in a specific school, possibly out of county, and that has financial consequences. In a small number of cases, an independent special school is requested. Parents may even press for one-to-one support in a mainstream school. Those demands, which stem from the choice already afforded to parents in current legislation, will always have cost implications. That is usually at the core of the differences between the two parties.

Section 86 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1988 states:

“The duty imposed”—

that is, the duty on the authority to comply with parents’ preferences—

“does not apply…if compliance with the preference would prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources”.

A similar term is used in the Green Paper, which states on page 17:

“unless it would not meet the needs of the child”

or

“would be incompatible with the efficient education of other children”.

It is obvious why such clauses and statements need to be included in legislation and Green Papers, but as long as they are, we will always end up with parents rightly demanding more for their children and local authorities seeking to reduce provision on the basis of cost. I do not see how legislation could be drafted without such a clause to protect the public purse, but it will always be the point on which disagreements will arise.

One option could be a better definition of what a parent can expect, but that focuses on inputs rather than outputs and runs against the principle of facilitating the best outcomes possible, which is at the core of the Green Paper. I have no doubt that many measures in the Green Paper will make a significant difference in supporting children with special educational needs. Early identification, a multi-agency approach, and assessment by health visitors in particular—the number of health visitors is to increase—are extremely welcome. The simplification of school action and school action plus is welcomed by parents, because they are often seen as a delay to the statutory assessment that I referred to earlier.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dr William McCrea (South Antrim) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure to speak under your chairmanship, Mr Brady. I thank the hon. Member for Vale of Glamorgan (Alun Cairns) for bringing this very important subject to the Chamber. I was a little hesitant—I am sure that my hon. Friend the Member for Upper Bann (David Simpson) felt the same—about taking part in the debate, even though I have a passion for the subject, because there is a difference between the arrangements in our part of the United Kingdom under the devolved Administration and those on the mainland. However, we can learn from each other’s experiences, and it is vital that we do. The devolved Administration should examine the current proposals and see what can be taken from them and what can be learned from them.

Some of the statements made by Ministers on this subject are certainly helpful. According to the pack prepared by the Library for the debate, the Government say that they will tackle the problem, which has never been addressed before. It then mentions a number of things that the Government propose. This Minister—the Children’s Minister—says:

“We have heard time and time again that parents are frustrated with endless delays to getting the help their child needs and by being caught in the middle when local services don’t work together.”

The Under-Secretary of State for Health, the hon. Member for Guildford (Anne Milton), who is responsible for public health, says:

“It is vital that children, whatever their needs, get the best possible start in life.”

The Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning says:

“This Government wants to do more to help people overcome barriers that hold them back.”

All those statements are grand, but quite often we have had fancy statements from Ministers in the past. We will judge them by what they do, because statements of special educational needs will, without adequate finances, just be statements.

[Mr Matthew Offord (Hendon) (Con)]

The hon. Gentleman is talking about statements by Ministers and politicians. Many parents are concerned not only about the statement of special educational needs that their child receives, but about the quality of the education that their child receives. That is about the way in which their child is able to learn and whether their school, whether it be a private school—an independent school—a school in the voluntary aided sector or whatever, is able to assist them. The issue is more the help that is provided, rather than the statement for the child.

[Dr McCrea]

Yes. I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. The statements by Ministers that I read out contain fundamental principles that the Government are setting down. There is a review of this area, and the Government intend to make progress. All those fundamental statements by Ministers are important. All I am saying is that we will judge them by the actions thereafter, because the statements by Ministers will amount to nothing but air if they are not followed through and action is not taken to give the best possible educational opportunity to children with special needs.

Like my hon. Friend the Member for Upper Bann, I have special needs schools in my constituency and I know that many parents are battling for their children. When it comes to the statementing of children, my experience as a Member of Parliament is that my constituents have great difficulty in getting help when they really need it. Let us be honest: there are parents who do not have a great interest in the educational attainment of their children. Every parent should have a great interest in that, but not every parent does. Not every parent has the capacity to understand the great need for education for their children and how to get the best possible education for their children with special needs.

There are other parents, who have a real concern, yet they come up against walls, barriers and obstacles, which in the past they were not able to get over. We must ensure that we give the best possible advice and help to parents at what is a critical time, because many of the children whom we are talking about are losing years of their lives educationally that they will never be able to get back. It is vital that parents get the best advice at the right time and that therefore the child gets the best possible education, because that sets the stage not only for their educational attainment, but for their job prospects and everything else. It is vital that parents get help at the appropriate time. If that is what the Minister is setting her mind to, that will be of great help.

The Government also propose to ensure that assessment and plans run from birth to the age of 25. If I may, I will relate some of the experiences that I have had. In Northern Ireland, when children in special schools turn 18, they go outside the education system. They may have a mental capacity of seven, but they have a birth certificate that says that they are 18, and they leave their special school and go outside the education system. I am passionately angry about that, because what other child stops their educational attainment and advancement at seven years of age? No other child is allowed to stop at seven. Because the person has a birth certificate and a body that say that they are 18, they are moved aside. They have very special educational needs, but those needs are not being met after a particular age. That is a disgrace and an indictment of any society that allows it. I have in the past begged Ministers to intervene in this matter; I believe that they must tackle the issue. I trust that we will get answers on that.

Many parents are frustrated when it comes to getting statements for their children. Many do not have a sufficient understanding of what they need to do to get their child statemented and they come up against an education system that fights against that. There is a constant battle and, to be honest, many parents give up. The only person who loses is the child. We are talking about children and young people who need our help. That is where we as politicians come in. We set the guidelines.

[Mr Mark Williams]

Coming from one of the devolved nations as well, I fully agree with the hon. Gentleman. There are lessons to learn from those of us in Wales. I am glad that the Minister is to have a meeting with my colleagues in Autism Cymru to talk about some of the issues; we have managed to fix up a meeting. The hon. Gentleman is right to highlight the corrosive effect on young people. There has been a lot of talk in this debate about the rights of parents, and I absolutely concur with that, but we are also talking about the rights of children. That is why early diagnosis and follow-through are so important. We are stacking up huge problems for children from key stage 1 right the way through the education system and into young adulthood, as the hon. Gentleman said, if we do not address these issues at the earliest opportunity.

[Dr McCrea]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I wholeheartedly agree with what he said. May I draw attention to this issue? We have talked about parents battling, but why should parents alone have to battle on this issue? Many do not even know how to battle, and parents should not have to know how to battle. We are putting the responsibility on the parent, and if the parent does not battle, the child loses out.

[Mrs Sharon Hodgson (Washington and Sunderland West) (Lab)]

The hon. Gentleman is making an excellent contribution. I was one of those parents who battled through the system, as I will say in my contribution. Does he agree that more should be done to help to support parents? Often, parents feel that they are the only ones who have ever been through this experience. There is no signposting; it is almost as though the provision that is available is a big secret. Should local authorities provide more information to parents on what is available and how to find their way through the system?

[Dr McCrea]

I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention. I wholeheartedly agree. Many parents are in a panic because they do not know at all how to surmount the barriers that are put in their way. They want to do the best for their children—I am speaking about those who want to do the best for their children—and want to battle for their children. Parents have come to me in tears. They say, “I’m fighting for my child, because I will not always be here. Therefore, I want to give my child the best opportunity.” Parents have come to me who are broken mentally because they have tried their best, but it seems that obstacles and barriers are always placed in their way. That is not what our society should be doing. We should be signposting the way. When we come to a barrier, there must be a way over it, if we are to have the best education for our children, and especially those with special needs.

In conclusion, I once again thank the hon. Member for Vale of Glamorgan for bringing this important issue before us. I am delighted that the Government have identified some of the issues and have proposed measures, but the proof of the pie will be in the eating.