Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with the Department of Health on joint working to produce best practice guidance for education and health professionals to ensure that children with cerebral palsy have their needs identified and supported.

Mr Edward Timpson

Under the Children and Families Act 2014, health bodies identifying a 0-5 year old child with special educational needs (SEN) or a disability must discuss this with the parent and bring the child to the attention of the local authority so they can consider whether an education, health and care plan is needed. The Department for Education is working with the Department of Health and NHS England to support health commissioners and clinicians to play their part in the SEN reforms.

In early years settings practitioners must consider the individual needs, interests, and stage of development of each child in their care and whether a child may have SEN or a disability requiring specialist support. Providers must review children’s progress between the ages of two and three. Where SEN or disability is identified, practitioners should develop a targeted plan to support the child’s future learning and development involving other professionals as appropriate.

We provide funding to Early Support to support the implementation of the SEN reforms. As part of this, Early Support worked with Scope to produce guidance to parents and others on cerebral palsy, which was published in 2012. This guidance is published online at: http://www.ncb.org.uk/media/923252/earlysupportcerebral_palsy_final.pdf

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