Official Report: Minutes of Evidence

The Chairperson (Mr Mathison): We are here to consider where we are with the Committee's inquiry into SEN provision and the transformation agenda. We have officially taken our last piece of evidence, but members may wish to consider other matters before we bring it to a close and move to agree recommendations. There is a memo from the Committee Clerk in the tabled papers setting out, in a fair degree of detail, the evidence that we have heard, including a breakdown of the key evidence from stakeholders who made specific recommendations to our inquiry. I hope that members have had an opportunity to look at it.

The first thing that I would like to establish is whether members have any additional evidence or correspondence that we need to engage in with the Department of Education or the Education Authority before we bring the inquiry to a close. In asking that, I am conscious that we have not completed our deliberations on the SEN regulations. My feeling is that if we wait for that process to run, we could be waiting for a while. That could hamper our ability to get a Committee report agreed. We may wish to reflect our initial thinking on the SEN regulations in the report, but we may not be able to make conclusive recommendations.

I am happy to open that up to members, first, if there is any additional evidence for the inquiry that you feel we are missing at this stage. As the Clerk's briefing shows, we have heard from a wide range of stakeholders in the inquiry, so I hope that we can move forward. Do members have views on whether anything else is required?

Mrs Guy: Do we have anything on transitions in there? Are we waiting for Alma to come to see us?

The Chairperson (Mr Mathison): We are scheduled to hear from Alma and Caleb's Cause in the next number of weeks. We have not heard from them directly as part of the inquiry. We heard evidence from the Children's Commissioner on transitions, and we got a clear statement from him on the need to legislate in that space. I certainly want to encourage that as a recommendation.

The Committee Clerk: Alma is coming on 3 June.

The Chairperson (Mr Mathison): Is there scope to factor her evidence into the inquiry at that stage?

The Committee Clerk: Yes. We hope to have a first draft of the SEN report with you by that date. You can add your section on transitions after Alma's evidence, if that is OK.

The Chairperson (Mr Mathison): I am not hearing anything from other members, so I assume that we are content to move to prepare a first draft of the report. Do you need to hear members' recommendations? Do we need to have that discussion today, or can we pick it up after the first draft?

The Committee Clerk: If anyone feels that something has not been reflected in the initial brief, please get in touch with me. That is just the headline evidence so far. There will be three sections: governance, current provision and the transformation agenda. When you see that in the round, you may wish to make conclusions and final recommendations. The paper that the Children's Law Centre wrote for the Committee preceded some of the developments that have happened, with the code of practice being issued. I will check whether the Children's Law Centre wishes to update that. It will be a separate exercise from the SEN regulations.

The Chairperson (Mr Mathison): It is a stand-alone piece. OK. I ask members to note that if recommendations come through from the evidence that they wish to put on the agenda for inclusion in the report, they should go through me or the Committee Clerk. We will revisit the matter over the coming weeks.

The Committee Clerk: Yes. We hope to have a draft with you by 3 June.

The Chairperson (Mr Mathison): That is great. Having reflected on the evidence, I think that we would all agree that an awful lot of activity is going on with the reform agenda. Some of the evidence has highlighted the complexity of the Department's agenda and plan. I am keen to see the report honing in on where the areas of focus need to be in order to make a real, practical difference for children, their parents and educators. We will keep an eye on that over the next couple of weeks. I invite members to come forward with clear recommendations if there is anything in particular that they wish to highlight.

Do members have anything to add at this stage? No. OK.