Government's Lack of Accountability Failing Educational Psychologists

1.00.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 2nd Oct 2007

"The Assembly Government is clueless about the length of time a child has to wait to see an Educational Psychologist" said Kirsty Williams, Lib Dem spokesperson for Education after her questioning of the Minister for Education confirmed a worrying trend for WAG to not properly monitor the implementation of its policies.

"While the Assembly requires an LEA to complete the process from referral to Statementing within 26 weeks it does not apparently monitor whether this is indeed happening across Wales as a whole."

The Minister has responded that information on waiting times for referrals to Educational Psychologists is not held centrally.

"In an age where over 10% of the UK's school population has had some sort of mental health problem and childhood depression is a major concern, Educational Psychologists provide a key service to children, parents and teachers. Currently some children wait years to be statemented, by which time their problems have worsened and become harder to resolve.

"Yet again we are seeing a case where, despite having laid out targets to the LA, WAG is not monitoring whether these are being met and ultimately therefore whether the system is serving vulnerable children to its maximum capacity or whether the improvements in waiting times that are so often called for by interest groups are indeed needed.

"At a vital period in a child's development it is essential that they receive the support they need as quickly as possible so as to prevent long term difficulties and currently the Government is clueless as to whether this is the case. Is this because it does not want hard evidence that the under-funding of this service has led to short fallings in its provisions?

"I am not calling for yet more bureaucracy to further invade the time of LEAs and educational professionals, nor am I calling for the Assembly Government to remove LEAs ability to act to local demand and circumstance. I am calling for a greater degree of transparency so that the system and those administering it can be held to account by both service users and lobbyists.

Notes:

WRITTEN ASSEMBLY QUESTION

TABLED ON 17 SEPTEMBER 2007

FOR ANSWER BY THE MINISTER FOR CHILDREN, EDUCATION, LIFELONG LEARNING AND SKILLS

ON 24 SEPTEMBER 2007

What is the average waiting time for a child to see and Educational Psychologist once a need has been identified. (WAQ50373)

What is the target waiting time for a child to see and Educational Psychologists once a need has been identified. (WAQ50374)

Jane Hutt: Information on waiting times for referrals to Educational Psychologists (EPs) for children with special educational needs (SEN) is not held centrally. Similarly, the Assembly does not set target waiting times for such referrals.

Generally an EP may be asked to provide support to a pupil with SEN where there has been little or no progress following intervention by the school and the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) at School Action (as described in paragraph 5:43 of the SEN Code of Practice for Wales). At this stage the EP may be asked to advise the school and the SENCO on how best to support the pupil through an individual Education Plan (IEP).

However the role of the EP is multi-faceted. As well as supporting a child's education and development and contributing to a statutory assessment of special educational needs, they may also assist with school improvement, contribute to Local Educational Authorities (LEAs) in a strategic role and contribute to early identification and intervention.

When an LEA decides to undertake an assessment of a child's special educational needs, there are specific time frames for doing so set out in the Special Education Needs and Disability Act 2001. Once an LEA has received a request for an assessment, they will have a maximum of six weeks in which to seek and receive advice from appropriate agencies including EPs where appropriate. The whole process from referral to statement should not exceed 26 weeks and the process is set out in summary within paragraph 8.134 of the SEN Code of Practice for Wales 2002.