Debate contribution: Special Educational Needs and Disability: Investment and Transformation

Debate contribution by Mr Nick Mathison on 26 February 2024.

MLA

Mr Nick Mathison

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

26 February 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Special Educational Needs and Disability: Investment and Transformation

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4231132

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. Moved.

I am still learning the processes.

I beg to move

Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. Take 2. I am now able to say that I am delighted to move the motion. I am sure that we all agree that the need to invest in and transform our special educational needs and disability system in schools must be an immediate priority for the Assembly and the Executive. It is not overstating it to say that our current system is failing children, parents and schools. We need to ensure that reform is implemented as soon as possible so that we can deliver for our most vulnerable learners. The many issues that we see in our SEND system should come as a surprise to no one. Those issues have been ongoing for a significant number of years. There have been numerous reviews and scrutiny reports undertaken on the issue, including those from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC); the Northern Ireland Audit Committee (NIAO); the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People (NICCY); and, most recently, the Ipsos independent review of special educational needs. Over 150, and possibly more, recommendations have been made in this space, yet we are still experiencing the problems that were identified many, many years ago. Placements are made on a crisis management basis every year, needs are identified too late and interventions do not come when they are needed. Communication between the Education Authority (EA) and parents is poor and, at times, non-existent, and cross-departmental work between Health and Education remains a noble ambition but, in reality, is not delivered on the ground. Every Member will have experience of being contacted by constituents who are at their wits' end trying to secure a placement with provision that adequately meets their child's needs. That is not a big ask: provision that adequately meets their child's needs.

Many parents end up feeling that they have no alternative other than to go to the media to give their case profile to secure a placement. Parents describe the concept of "the fight" that they must undertake to give their child access to that most basic human right: an education.

In December 2023, there were over 215 children in crucial transition years who were still on the waiting list for a statement of special educational needs (SEN) and surpassing the legal 26-week limit. Some of the children on the list had already been waiting for over 52 weeks for the statement to be finalised. Far too many children are being left behind their peers, placed in a school that is not appropriate for their needs or left at the start of the school term without a placement altogether.

I thank the Member for his intervention. I cannot promise that I will take too many more, as I have a lot to get through. There seem to be serious questions about the Education Authority's ability to get a handle on the matter. I hope that we will hear from the Minister about a plan of action to address that. I will sum up the last section of my remarks by saying that learners find themselves in a system that focuses just on delivering the placement and getting the box ticked rather than on the provision that is appropriate for them. That cannot be acceptable. A lack of meaningful support for children at the point when needs are identified means that many parents have no option left to support their child other than to go for the parental request for a statutory assessment. That was discussed during the Minister of Education's Question Time today. Shortages of educational psychologists in the EA mean that families face huge delays in the process, and the 26-week statutory time frame that I have referred to is regularly breached. Valid exceptions criteria are regularly brought into play, and the process is delayed. I want to be clear: parents of children with special educational needs or disabilities should absolutely be able to pursue their legal right to acquire a statement of special educational needs and to acquire the protections in law that their children are entitled to. However, we should not be operating a system where a statement is sometimes the only mechanism by which a child with additional needs can receive support. Support for learners with SEN should simply be normal practice that is embedded at every level of our education system. Early intervention must become the norm. The motion and my comments are clear in assessing the situation as one of failure. However, I want to acknowledge the work that the EA and the Department are undertaking through the end-to-end review of SEND. The principle that they set out and that I have heard at many engagements with them of all children and young people getting the right support from the right people at the right time and in the right place is welcome and receives my full support. That is the ambition that we should all aspire to. It is my understanding, further to the Minister's contribution in the Chamber today, that an action plan is due in the summer or perhaps early autumn, which is encouraging. However, I must be clear: it must be a clear action plan to deliver meaningful transformation. It cannot be another suite of recommendations; it cannot be another report; it cannot suggest that another review is required. Parents have waited long enough, and they need to hear clearly what the Department will do, when it will do it and how success will be measured. Anything less than that would be a wasted process that will achieve nothing. I also hope that the motion is clear that action is needed now. Long-term transformation is vital if we are going to get this right and not be back in the Chamber having this debate year in, year out. However, there is a need for action now if we are going to make sure that the parents who are already looking to September with huge anxiety can be reassured that the Department is working as hard as it can to ensure that their children get a placement. In August 2023, there were 149 children with statements of special educational needs, many with complex learning needs, still awaiting the allocation of a school placement. Immediate action must be taken now to ensure that we do not see those mistakes being repeated, especially for pupils in those key transition stages. I hope that, today, in his response, the Minister will clearly set out what his Department is doing to address SEN placements in those key transition years for September 2024. We cannot repeat what we saw last year, where parents described feeling that they were utterly broken by the process of acquiring a statement. Sometimes, histrionic language is used in the Chamber and Members overstate their case to make a point, but that is a phrase that parents have used with me repeatedly while sitting in my office: that they feel broken and that nobody is listening. We cannot let that continue. We should not have a system that is based on a fight. We should not have to fight for something that parents of children without any additional needs simply take for granted: a school placement. You apply, and you get your place. We cannot accept that a fight is necessary. That is not acceptable or normal. None of us should tolerate it. I welcome the independent review of education's acknowledgment that there is a serious problem in how we confirm those places for children with SEN. Its recommendation around the ending of the system of those placements being treated as supernumerary is something that the Department needs to take away. Parents should have confidence that their child will have a place, not that they will be tacked on to the end of some other mainstream admissions process. Money alone will not address the issues. It is clear, however, that investment is required. Money will be needed to make this happen, but we need that investment to be strategic. It needs to be done on a recurring basis, and it needs to allow the Department and the EA to plan properly to transform the services. I welcome suggestions that there will be an earmarked capital budget for SEN, and I hope that that can progress. I mention briefly the non-teaching staff pay and grading review. It is imperative, if we are going to transform SEN services, that that work is taken forward and that business case is delivered. We cannot transform the system if we do not have expert and committed staff there to deliver it.

I am afraid that I am really running short of time. Apologies. I thank the parents involved with SEN Reform NI, particularly for their engagement on the issues and their willingness to share their stories so personally. They should not have to share those painful personal stories to get the issue on the agenda, but they have done so in the hope that what we do in this place can bring about some change for them. It was an absolute privilege to meet some of those parents and children here today. It was a big deal for some of them to make the trip here and be present. It really is appreciated. This is not a situation that we can accept for our children. Crisis has become the norm. It is time to meaningfully commit to investing in transformation and action. I finish my remarks with some reflections from a special school principal whom I had the opportunity to meet last week. She made the stark observation that many of the pupils in her care have life-limiting conditions and that some, sadly, may not complete their time in school. She was clear that those children cannot wait for another report or another debate; they need action now. I hope that the Assembly will speak with one voice on the issue today and support the motion.

That is karma.

1,676 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:43 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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