AQW 1574/08

Mrs Naomi Long
Alliance Party
East Belfast

Tabled Date: 09/11/2007
Answered On Date: 23/11/2007
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to indicate which body is responsible for informing parents in relation to any changes in paramedical therapy provision delivered to children with special needs in a school setting.

Answer:

The responsibility for arranging therapy provision, when this forms part of special educational provision in a child's statement of special educational needs, falls to the Education and Library Boards under The Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1996, but responsibility for providing the therapy rests with the DHSSPS through the Health and Social Services Boards and Trusts, as the employer of the therapists. In this instance responsibility for advising parents of any changes in the statement, such as speech and language therapy provision on the basis of advice received from a Health and Social Care Trust, lies with the Education and Library Board. For those children who do not have a statement of special educational needs, but who are receiving therapy provision, it is the responsibility of the local Health and Social Care Trust to advise parents of any changes in that provision.