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

Debate contribution by Mr Robbie Butler on 26 February 2024.

MLA

Mr Robbie Butler

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist 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 4231178

Read the official Assembly record

Text

That will teach me, won't it? I was laughing at the Chair of the Education Committee for making a mistake, but I made mine on purpose. I was thinking about your comment about crazy biscuits, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker, and about how I could be funny. I do not need to be funny, because this is a serious debate. We have no hesitation in supporting the motion, and we hope that there will be unanimity in the Chamber and that the modest amendment that we have tabled will also be accepted. Parenting is not easy for any of us. Anyone who has had the privilege of being a parent will know that it is not easy. It is one of the most significant and life-altering occurrences that you can have the privilege of having. From birth right through life, all of us will be faced with challenges, difficulties, opportunities and potential, but there is another reality. That reality is that life's opportunities, difficulties and challenges are not equal. We are not all born the same. Some of our most amazing young people are born with difficulties or disabilities, and some develop issues that require them to have additional support throughout their formative years. Sadly and with growing regularity — the proposer of the motion has spoken to this — more children are having difficulties and are not being afforded the appropriate — I would go as far as to say "adequate", never mind "appropriate" — help at a really important moment in their life. The Minister will, I am sure, refer, as he has done since taking up post, to the significant challenges that the full educational sphere faces. Most of that will probably be fiscal, but the unarguable point is that the most detrimental impacts are being faced and felt by some of our most vulnerable children. If that does not ensure that we make them our priority, I am not sure what will. It is not all doom and gloom: we get it right at times. I pay particular tribute to our special schools, which are absolutely amazing. I have paid many visits to some but, sadly, not all of them over the years: Fleming Fulton, Harberton, Parkview and Glenveagh. I cannot commend the staff enough for the fabulous service that they give to our young people in those locations. I will also mention Mencap, which has battled beyond expectations and capacity for many years to support families and young people. However, sadly, our special settings do not have the capacity to meet demand. Those schools and settings are now overcrowded, and the teachers and support staff struggle to meet the needs of individual children. I know that the EA and the Department have moved, over the last couple of years, towards supporting more of our children through specialist provision in mainstream schools, which is known as SPiMS. There are many instances of good learning and good examples that we can pick from there. I know that the Minister, at some stage in his argument, will talk about the lack of funding and investment over the years and will say that that has led to a lot of the issues. However, one thing that I will repeatedly say to the two parties — the one that sits to my right and the one over there — is that funding is only one part of it. Failure to have government here for five out of eight years does not negate our responsibility in the transformation of education and the provision of opportunities for our young people. I hope that that is picked up in a mature fashion by the parties who have exercised the veto over the last couple of years. It has, sadly, become a regular occurrence for me, as an MLA — I am sure that it is the same for the MLAs in the Chamber — to assist constituents who are finding it difficult to get a statement for their child or to get additional support that sometimes does not need a statement. The reality is that — this is becoming a calendar event — young children are missing out on their first day at school. It is simple: missing out on your first day at school, whether it is nursery school, primary school or first year — year 8, as it is called now — is just not acceptable. When I think about the start in life that some of those young people have had and about the fact that that has been compounded by the systems we have in place that dictate that they will face the most disadvantage in getting one of those spaces, it breaks my heart. I know that that is the case for many Members in the room. The motion calls on the Minister:

"to ensure that the end-to-end review of special educational needs produces an action plan that will be implemented urgently".

I have met the Department and the EA a number of times specifically on that point. I urge the Minister to detail in his response a clear timeline and his clear ambition that the project is recognised as a serious priority and say that it will be addressed in the appropriate way. We need to address the failings and systemic shortcomings of the past, treat our children who have additional needs with equality and dignity and show them that we value them as we do all our children. I had the privilege of serving on the previous Education Committee from 2020 to 2022. We, along with the previous Chair, Chris Lyttle — I pay tribute to Chris and the outgoing Committee — made sure that work was done to ensure that special educational needs remained a number-one priority for the Committee.

Already, after our first two meetings, I know that the Chair will ensure that that is the case for the newly constituted Committee.

Absolutely.

I thank the Member for his intervention, and I will try to answer him as briefly —.

Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. This is going to get crazy biscuits now. To answer the Member briefly, if that is ok, the EA of our phase inherited a real catastrophe and was faced with an almost impossible situation. At this point, I am reserving judgement, because I believe that some of the people who are there, and who were there, have been doing, and did, their best. The problem has been compounded because we have not been here. The education years are the nurture bed for life for all children, regardless of who they are. I think that we can all accept that. Those are the years in which we prepare our young people and encourage them to achieve the best outcomes that they can in life, whether those be in further education, higher education, in the workplace or in whatever adventures they want to undertake. Sadly, however, and for many years, young people with a disability or a learning disability have faced an unfair and unknown challenge, because there is a shortage of options and a lack of support as they move into that transitional phase. That is why I tabled the amendment. An Assembly report from 2016 into post-education provision for young people with a disability or a learning disability found that that was the case back then. There was a lack of suitable provision to transition and a systemic process coupled with a lack of information for parents and young people to navigate that next stage of their life. A clear inequality exists. Although there are inarguable challenges to be faced in the creation of worthwhile and valued opportunities, that is unconscionable as a goal if we do not commit to broadening and maximising our commitment to creating a society in which those young people are afforded the very best opportunities and the very best and highest levels of support to fulfil their potential as valued members of society. I have to ask this: can we call ourselves a truly inclusive and empathetic society? I ask Members to support the amendment.

1,351 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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