NDCS responses to consultations

Here you can find out about which consultations NDCS has responded to, and read our responses. You can also find our responses to calls for evidence on this page.

July 2009

Most deaf children get their hearing aids from the NHS. But for those who receive them through private health care, NDCS has broadly welcomed proposals in a Department of Health consultation on changes to the way this is regulated.

January 2009

NDCS has responded to a Government consultation on changes to disability discrimination law to ensure that deaf children are fully protected from discrimination.  The changes attempt to fill a major gap that has been left in discrimination law since a recent judgement was made by the House of Lords.

January 2009

Newly built schools in England and Wales are required to comply with Government guidance on acoustics - known as Building Bulletin 93. This was subject to a limited review in early 2009. NDCS has responded to highlight the lack of focus on compliance within the guidance, resulting in classrooms where it is more difficult for deaf children to listen and learn effectively.

August 2008

NDCS responded to a BBC Trust consultation on BBC's services and content for children, which closed in August 2008. NDCS has enjoyed a warm relationship with BBC Children's and took the opportunity to highlight how BBC Children's can make further progress to make TV accessible for deaf children and young people.

November 2009

In a response to the Department of Health consultation on the social care green paper, Shaping the Future of Care Together, NDCS highlighted  the importance of Disability Living Allowance to deaf children and young people, and their families. 

October 2009

The Children, Schools and Families Select Committee will be holding an inquiry into Children’s Centres in late 2009. NDCS has submitted evidence highlighting the lack of information on how accessible Children’s Centres are to deaf children and their families, despite the importance of early years support for deaf children.

August 2009

NDCS has submitted a second paper to the Lamb Inquiry, recommending that action be taken to address capacity issues around the ability of schools and teachers to work with children with low incidence needs.  

August 2009

Ofsted will be conducting a major review of special educational needs and disability over 2009 and 2010, looking at what works well and what doesn’t. NDCS has submitted a paper giving some initial thoughts on what the review might consider.

July 2009

NDCS has responded to a consultation by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority on the proposed new primary curriculum and personal, social, health and economic education curriculum, highlighting the need for more guidance for teachers on adapting them for deaf children.

NDCS response to QCA Primary Curriculum Review (219 kb)

NDCS response to QCA PSHE questionnaire (113 kb)

July 2009

The Lamb Inquiry, led by the chair of the Special Educational Consortium, has been looking into how parental confidence in the special educational needs system can be improved. Taking into account feedback from NDCS Family Officers and Legal Caseworkers, NDCS has prepared a formal submission of evidence and recommendations for the inquiry to consider.

July 2009

In response to a Department for Children, Schools and Families consultation, NDCS has called for children to be given an individual right to appeal decisions on special educational needs assessments and placements, disability discrimination and exclusions. NDCS has also called for support to be given to children to allow them to bring cases.

July 2009

NDCS has fed in comments on draft guidance, arguing that local authorities must make sure that deaf children are assessed and provided with the necessary support when they move to college or sixth form.

June 2009

NDCS submitted evidence to the Social Work Taskforce on the need for the Government to  assess whether there are sufficient numbers of specialist social care staff trained to work with deaf children; and take appropriate action to address any recruitment shortfall.  We also highlighted the need for appropriate training for all social workers in the assessment of deaf children and their families and meeting their social care needs and a post qualification accredited training a in specialist social work with deaf people.

May 2009

March 2009

In response to a double-bill consultation from the Department for Children, Schools and Families on its vision for 21st century schools and on a proposed school report card, NDCS has highlighted that in 21^st century school system, virtually all deaf children should be achieving as well as their hearing peers. NDCS has also highlighted concerns over teacher training, acoustics in new-built schools and a lack of awareness by Ofsted inspectors of deafness.

February 2009

Following the publication of an interim report by the independent review of the primary curriculum, led by Sir Jim Rose, NDCS has submitted a response highlighting that deaf children should not be treated as an afterthought in any new curriculum initiatives.

January 2009

NDCS has responded to a call for evidence from an influential committee of MPs in Parliament on mainstream teacher training, setting out our concerns that teachers lack support and guidance on how to work with deaf children and on how to differentiate the curriculum to meet their needs.

January2009

Ofsted have been working to develop strong school-level indicators to improve the information available to schools on well-being issues and to evaluate the school’s contribution to promoting pupil well-being. NDCS has responded to a consultation outlining Ofsted’s proposals in this area, highlighting the lack of information available to parents of deaf children on the school’s ability to promote the well-being of deaf children specifically.

NDCS’s response is embedded within the consultation document and begins on page 19.

December 2008

In 2008, the Government passed legislation – the SEN (Information) Act – that will require the Government to collect and publish more information about outcomes for children with special educational needs. NDCS strongly supports this legislation as a means of shining a spotlight on outcomes for deaf children. NDCS has been asked to input into a brief consultation on the implementation of the Act by a consultancy firm to highlight the needs and expectations for parents of deaf children. See the report below from Capita for more information on the context of our response.

Capita SEN Information Interim Report _ExecutiveSummary_ (77 kb)

December 2008

NDCS is co-chair of the Safeguarding Deaf Children Inter-Agency Group, along with NSPCC. On behalf of the group, NDCS and NSPCC have highlighted key issues relating to the safeguarding of deaf children in response to key questions raised by Lord Laming, who is conducting a review into child protection arrangements following the ‘Baby P’ case in Haringey.

December 2008

Ofsted have consulted on a range of proposals for how it assesses children’s services and inspects services for children in care and safeguarding. NDCS has responded, calling on Ofsted to have specific regard to the needs of deaf children, whilst highlighting the need for better data to allow Ofsted to make evidence-based assessments. NDCS’s response begins on page 22.

November 2008

NDCS has responded to a Department for Children, Schools and Families consultation on parents’ complaints about school issues, calling on the Department to ensure that the complaints procedures are accessible and responding to specific proposals on, for example, involving children and young people, mediation and conciliation services and the formation of an independent review service.

You can download the response here.

November 2008

In response to Government proposals to amend the regulations affecting independent schools, NDCS stressed the need for the proposals to take into account the need of parents and prospective parents to receive clear and accessible information about how the school will meet the needs of their deaf child.

July 2008

The Department for Children, Schools and Families issued a consultation on making outdoor play spaces more accessible and child-friendly. Our response highlights a number of issues relating to deaf children’s enjoyment of play.

July 2008

You can read NDCS's response to this consultation here. 

July 2008

The Government has commissioned an independent review into children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), which issued a call for evidence in early 2008.

With 40% of deaf children estimated to have mental health difficulties, compared with 25% of all children our responses argues that the review needs to take into account the needs of deaf children, and the barriers that exist to promoting well-being and preventing difficulties from emerging.

June 2008

The Department for Children, Schools and Families proposed to strengthen the legislative framework for special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCOs). For example, draft regulations were tabled that required that all SENCOs be qualified teachers. NDCS broadly supported the draft regulations.

April 2008

Sir Jim Rose has been asked by the Department for Children, Schools and Families to review the curriculum for primary school children. Our response highlights the need for the primary curriculum to be accessible to deaf children.

May 2008

The Select Committee into Children, Schools and Families conducted an inquiry into the role of Ofsted. NDCS and RNID submitted joint evidence arguing that Ofsted needed to do more to take the needs of deaf children into account. Read the RNID and NDCS joint response here. 

January 2008

In 2007, John Bercow MP was asked by the Department for Children, Schools and Families to lead an independent review into services for children and young people who have speech, language and communication needs. Given the difficulties that many deaf children face, NDCS submitted a response to Bercow’s call for evidence in January 2008.

November 2008

The Department of Education has undertaken a review of its current Literacy and Numeracy programme and published the findings of this review with proposals for the way forward. NDCS Northern Ireland responded to this consultation to highlight our concerns over the Department’s increased emphasis on the use of phonics.

November 2008

NDCS Northern Ireland responded to the consultation with support for the Department’s aim to ensure that all learners have equality in access in qualifications. However, we registered our opposition to certificate indications and called for equitable and fully accessible examination system.

September 2008

The Northern Ireland Executive issued its response to the independent review of mental health and learning disability which published almost 700 recommendations – NDCS responded with a particular focus on child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHs), highlighting the need for community based services for deaf children.

October 2009