Children with Special Educational Needs

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:16 pm on 9 July 2019.

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Photo of David Rees David Rees Labour 2:16, 9 July 2019

First Minister, whilst I appreciate very much the legislation that Welsh Government's put into place to ensure that families are able to benefit from the additional learning needs support that they should be getting, we still get many letters from constituents expressing the challenges they face on a daily basis in being able to ensure that their children can get access to that support. Last week, I had a constituent who contacted me and said they had a diagnosis for their child, but they were getting difficulties in getting the local authority to actually deliver the support that diagnosis identified. Now, one of the important things, therefore, we need to ensure is that, whilst we put the legislation in place, we are able to ensure and enforce that that legislation is delivered by local authorities so that families no longer have to face the challenges that the legislation was there to change. Would you therefore look in the Welsh Government and see how we can actually ensure local authorities deliver the support needed when a child has a diagnosis, has those needs identified but, in a situation like this—he's going into a new school in September and doesn't know whether the support that has been given in a statement will be given to him yet.