Supplementary evidence from the Special
Education Consortium (ST 34)
I am writing on behalf of the Special Educational
Consortium to thank you and the members of your committee for
the opportunity to give oral evidence to your enquiry on the draft
School Transport Bill. As you heard from us, the parents we represent
are greatly concerned that this Bill may reduce the transport
entitlements available to their children with special educational
needs (SEN). You asked us to look for examples of good practice
in SEN transport, but unfortunately a trawl of our evidence from
members and local groups could only report negative experiences.
It may be that a systematic review of current SEN transport arrangements
would help identify and spread best practice more widely.
I thought it might be helpful to reiterate our
recommendations for amendments and additional safeguards in the
Bill that could protect children with SEN from a reduced entitlement:
1.
a requirement that applications for pilot schemes
must demonstrate how the proporals will not undermine existing
transport entitlements for children with SEN in the pilot area;
2.
inclusion of children with SEN within the groups
of children for whom schemes may seek to improve provision—this
would be appropriate given the positive duties on the public bodies
to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people in the
draft Disability Discrimination Bill;
3.
a requirement that an analysis of the impact of pilot
schemes on children with SEN should be built into evaluation,
including the views of parents, children and local voluntary organisations;
4.
particular consideration of the interests of children
with SEN in transition arrangements for the pilot schemes; and
5.
a removal of the presumption in the Prospectus accompanying
the Bill that children with SEN should share transport to school.
This should be replaced with a requirement to consider the individual
needs of each child with SEN when determining their school transport
arrangements, looking to use mainstream transport options where
this meets the child's needs.
24 May 2004
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