Special educational needs implementation
Deputy Charlie McConalogue asks about the promised implementation plan for the EPSEN Act. The Minister awaits a resource-allocation review before determining how much of the Act can be implemented.
The programme for Government committed to publishing an implementation plan for the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 to ensure a timeline would be provided for each child with special needs in gaining access to an individual education plan. What is the position on publication of that plan? It is distinct from the current review taking place under Eamon Stack of the allocation of special needs hours.
Comment on this
The Deputy is referring to the programme for Government and the commitment given in it to publish a plan to implement the part of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 that has not yet been brought into operation.
Perhaps the Deputy and I know more about this area than other Members of the House. I will await the conclusions of the special group examining the reallocation of resources model, which I expect to receive next April. They will give us much greater clarity on how best to proceed to implement as much as we can of the rest of the EPSEN Act which has not yet brought into operation because of resource implications.