Additional Support for Learning Bill passes Stage 2

Following months of intensive lobbying, this important piece of legislation has passed the second stage of its journey through the Scottish Parliament, with an important new section on assessments for deaf children.

The Scottish Government's Bill has been approved by the Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee, and NDCS Scotland has worked hard to ensure that a further amendment to give deaf children the automatic right to have their additional support for learning needs assessed.

The Bill, which must pass one final debate in the Scottish Parliament before it becomes law, now proposes new measures to:

• widen access to Tribunal to appeal placing request decisions for a child who has additional support for learning needs, regardless of whether they have a CSP or not (at present, only those with a CSP could go down this route of appeal);
• allow the Tribunal to specify a start date for a placing request;
• introduce the right to make an assessment request at any time;
• introduce the automatic right to assessment for deaf children;
• widen referral procedures for pre-3 children with additional support for learning needs (at present, only referral from the NHS is accepted);
• introduce a range of measures to ensure that parents have access to information and are more aware of their rights under the Additional Support for Learning Act.

NDCS, in partnership with other children's charities, is also pushing for a greater focus on the collection of data on children with additional support for learning needs.  As highlighted by our successful Pick a Number campaign, the national pupil census only records those children who have CSPs or IEPs in place, which gives an incomplete picture.

NDCS Scotland will continue to lobby MSPs to support the passage of this important piece of legislation during the final debate, scheduled for Wednesday 20th May 2009.

Take a look at the ASL Bill as Amended at Stage 2 - April 2009 (125 kb)

Read more about how NDCS Scotland has been campaigning on this issue >

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