14 June 2007
We received a petition asking:
"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Recognise that many children with special needs are not getting the vital services that they require and that PCT’s and LEA’s should be held accountable for not providing the support these children need to reach their full potential!"
Details of petition:
"In my personal situation Speech and Language therapy has been taken away from children in Year 1 and above, in my local area ( west-norfolk )my son is 6 years old he has autism and is non-verbal- Speech and language therapy is VITAL for my son, he needs to form an effective communication system as do hundreds of children in Norfolk and i dare say all over the country! We need to make PCT’s and LEA’s become accountable for not providing our children with these services and make sure that our children get the provisions that they so deserve!! I am appaled by the treatment of people with special needs and desperatly want things to change!"
Read the Government’s response
The Special Educational Needs (SEN) Code of Practice, which provides statutory guidance for schools and local authorities and which they must have regard to, sets out clearly a local authority’s responsibility about provision of speech and language therapy.
As communication is so fundamental in learning and progression, the Code recommends that addressing speech and language impairment should normally be recorded as educational provision in a child’s statement of SEN, unless there are exceptional reasons for not doing so.
We expect schools, local authorities and primary care trusts (PCTs) to co-operate closely in meeting the needs of children with communication difficulties. The prime responsibility for the provision of speech and language therapy rests with the local PCT. However, where the PCT is unable to provide speech and language therapy for a child whose statement of SEN specifies it as educational provision the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that provision is made rests with the local authority. This is because the Education Act 1996 says that where a child has a statement of SEN, the local authority "shall arrange that the special educational provision specified in the statement is made for the child" (unless the child’s parents have made other suitable arrangements).
If therefore the PCT is unable to provide speech and language therapy the local authority has a statutory duty to ensure the necessary provision is made, this may be, for example, by employing or contracting their own speech and language therapists.
In May the children’s communication charity I CAN, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and the Department of Health (DH) announced a strategic partnership to roll-out I CAN’s Early Talk programme to up to 200 Sure Start Children’s Centres across England to improve the speech, language and communication skills of children in the early years. I CAN’s Early Talk programme is a unique, evidence-based programme designed to aid the communication development of all pre-school children through integrated therapy and educational approaches.
The DfES is also supporting a new Inclusion Development Programme which aims to build the confidence and competence of teachers and other staff in relation to areas of SEN and disability that causes most difficulties. In its first year (2007-08) the IDP will focus on speech, language and communication needs and dyslexia.
The IDP will operate via the National Strategies and involve close co-operation with specialist voluntary organisations, such as I CAN, and other interested parties to develop training materials, drawing on the best of what is already available, and cascading training down through local authorities to schools.
DfES is currently working closely with a range of organisations to develop a Communication Trust which will aim to raise the profile and awareness of communication disability, particularly in relation to children for whom speech and language is their primary disability. The Trust will look to promote and support the delivery of effective programmes to help develop the capacity of the education workforce to include and support such children.