To ask the Minister of Education for his assessment of the need to provide additional Special Education Needs Coordinator cover for schools that offer Specialist Provision in Mainstream Schools and Specialist Learning Support Classes.

I recently published the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Reform Agenda and five-year Delivery Plan which sets out the actions that are needed to ensure that children and young people with SEN can benefit from greater inclusion and receive the right support from the right people at the right time and in the right place.

Included in the delivery plan is an action to design and implement a Leadership Programme for SEN Learning Support Coordinators/ SEN co-ordinators (SENCo’s), along with an early action to review the quality and appropriateness of specialist provision in mainstream schools.

As set out in the Code of Practice (1998) paragraph 2.13 …The time and attention which SENCo’s will need to devote to their responsibilities will depend on the circumstances of particular schools. Boards of Governors and Principals should therefore give careful thought to the SENCo teaching commitments and responsibilities to ensure that structures within the school allow the SENCo functions to be carried out most effectively.