Special needs act is failing vulnerable children

Published on Wednesday 8 October 2008 23:13

SPECIAL-NEEDS children in Scotland are being failed by a new act designed to protect their right to learn, accord-ing to new figures.

Statistics gathered by Labour show the Additional Support for Learning Act has seen a dramatic fall in the number of children recorded as receiving support.

Rhona Brankin, Labour's education spokeswoman, said the statistics showed the act needed serious review.

For example, 446 children in Aberdeen had a "record of need" before the act; now only 48 have the new version, called a co-ordinated support plan. Another 1,110 have been identified as having additional support needs but do not have support plans.

Ms Brankin said: "The kids who previously had a record of need are not getting the kind of qualitative support they are needing.

"The figures are astounding. They expected in the region of 50 per cent of kids who had a record of need would get a co-ordinated support plan because some kids who had a record of need didn't have the requirement for co-ordinated support because they just had extra support from the school."

A spokesman for the Scottish Government conceded that the act, brought in by the previous Executive, needed to be improved.

He said: "This is why we've brought forward measures to identify and help more children who need it, while giving councils record funding levels for local needs – 34.9 billion over three years."

He added: "We have become much better at ensuring pupils with additional learning needs get suitable support and have convened a working group to look at how to promote best practice."