Member's statement: Children with Special Educational Needs
Member's statement by Mrs Michelle Guy on .
- MLA
- Mrs Michelle Guy
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 7 September 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Children with Special Educational Needs
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5669584
Read the official Assembly record
Text
My focus in the Chamber this afternoon is on children with special educational needs and how they continue to be failed by the education system here. We have had children with statements without access to the provision to which they are entitled. This year, yet again, we have seen families starting the school term without certainty about something as fundamental as how their child will get to school. We have seen tenders being issued late in the summer; parents finding out at the last minute that trusted relationships with individual drivers are changing; and escorts not being in place for children who need them, including non-verbal children. For families who are already navigating the almost daily challenges of our system, facing the annual uncertainty, stress and anxiety around school transport is simply not good enough. Achieving better value for money in school transport matters. I am aware of the waste, duplication and poor procurement practices that exist across our education system, and we absolutely have to tackle them, but saving money cannot come at the expense of the well-being of children with additional needs. Reform has to be planned around the needs of the child. Parents should have confidence that the people who transport and, where required, escort their child have been properly vetted and appropriately trained and that they understand their child's individual needs. We cannot look at transport in isolation. If a child has to travel a significant distance because there is no appropriate local SEN placement, the costs increase, as does the stress on the child and their family. All of that is indicative of a much wider failure to plan and provide local, appropriate SEN places for children who are coming through the system. SEN parents should not have to fight every step of the way for an assessment, for a statement, for a school place and then, days before the term starts, for certainty about how their child will get there. The Education Minister needs to step up and take responsibility. He needs to ensure that the needs of those children are a priority and that the Education Authority delivers a service in which families can have confidence, because these annual failings cannot continue.
369 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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