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EDUCATION (ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR LEARNING) (SCOTLAND) ACT 2004
OTHER APPROPRIATE AGENCIES TO HELP IN EXERCISE OF FUNCTIONS UNDER THE ACT
Consultation paper
Additional Support Needs 03

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Background

1. Section 23(1) of the Act allows an education authority to request help from another appropriate agency in exercising any of its functions under the Act. In making the request, the education authority must specify what things the other agency would be expected to do. For example, this could be carrying out a specific assessment or providing respite care or physiotherapy. Section 23(4) further allows Scottish Ministers to make regulations setting specific time limits for the appropriate agencies to comply with such a request for help.
2. An appropriate agency is already defined in section 23(2) as any other local authority and any Health Board (for example, including therapy services and paediatric services) and anyone else Scottish Ministers specify by way of an order.
3. Appropriate agencies as defined by section 23(2) are referred to in several sections of the Act. These sections cover different functions of the education authority in relation to contacting appropriate agencies for information and advice and when considering whether or not a child or young person meets the criteria for a Co-ordinated Support Plan.
4. This paper therefore has two purposes. The first is to consider who else should be added to the appropriate agency list. The second is to set a realistic timescale for appropriate agencies to respond to requests for help from an education authority. The paper also asks for your views on some specific issues. We are, however, happy to receive views and suggestions relating to any aspect of this paper.
5. To help you to respond to the consultation, a response booklet has been produced as part of the consultation pack. The questions which are included in this paper are also included on page 9 of the response booklet.

Criteria for a Co-ordinated Support Plan (section 2)

6. Eligibility for a Co-ordinated Support Plan depends on a child or young person having additional support needs arising from enduring complex or multiple factors and that those needs require significant additional support to be provided by the education authority in exercise of any of their other functions as well as those relating to education or by one or more appropriate agencies (as defined in section 23(2)) as well as by the education authority.
7. It is recognised that the voluntary sector has an important role to play in providing services to children, young people and their families. Consideration should be given to this sector being included as an appropriate agency for the purposes of providing additional support outwith that provided by the education authority, as one of the criteria for a Co-ordinated Support Plan. However, the voluntary sector encompasses a wide range of different organisations and the support provided by them may not be appropriate in this particular context. If the voluntary sector is to be included then what is meant by the term will have to be defined clearly.
8. For a voluntary organisation to be considered an appropriate agency in terms of the CSP, it will have to be providing significant additional support to help a child or young person benefit specifically from education. For example, organisations that provide behaviour management support may be appropriate while the fact that a child attends a club like the Brownies may not be.

Duty to seek and take account of views, advice and information (section 12)

9. Under the Act, the education authority have a duty to seek and take account of views, advice and information of such appropriate agencies and other persons as the authority considers appropriate when they are establishing if a child or young person has additional support needs, or when determining what additional provision to make for them and where the authority are establishing if a Co-ordinated Support Plan is required, or continues to be required. They must also seek and take account of views when preparing a Co-ordinated Support Plan.
10. The voluntary sector (see earlier comments) and the Further Education sector are possible appropriate agencies. The role the voluntary sector could play here may be slightly different from that discussed above because the support they provide will not have to be significant and additional but will still have to be for the purposes of supporting a child or young person's education. The Further Education sector has been considered because secondary pupils can attend colleges, on day placements for example, and therefore, it would not be unreasonable for colleges to be in a position to provide information, advice and support if requested to do so.

Provision of information on occurrence of certain events (section 13)

11. Section 13 places a duty on education authorities to provide information about any child or young person with additional support needs to other appropriate agencies where the authority consider that those agencies will have a role in supporting the child or young person once they have left school education. The education authority must also consider what provision, if any, other than education, the local authority are likely to provide themselves to the child or young person on their ceasing school education. The section requires these things to be done at least 6 months before the child or young person leaves school, but they could be done earlier. Information to other agencies may only be passed on with the consent of the child's parent or the young person. Where information has been passed on, education authorities must then inform such other agencies of the actual date when the young person does leave school.
12. The appropriate agencies identified for this section could include the voluntary sector (see comments above), Further Education, Higher Education and Careers Scotland.

Other agencies to help in exercise of functions under the Act (section 23)

13. Section 23 places duties on other appropriate agencies to help an education authority to do certain things to help the education authority exercise its functions under the Act.
14. The other appropriate agencies identified for this section could include the voluntary sector (see comments above), Further Education, Higher Education and Careers Scotland.

Time limit for complying with requests for help

15. Appropriate agencies must comply with requests for help from education authorities unless to do so would be incompatible with their own statutory or other duties or would unduly prejudice their ability to carry out their functions. Scottish Ministers are enabled to specify, by regulations, the time period within which the appropriate agencies should comply with requests and can also provide for exceptions to complying with the time limit set.
16. We are proposing that appropriate agencies must comply within six weeks of the date the request was sent by the education authority.

Time Limit Exception

17. We propose that the regulations should state that an appropriate agency need not comply with a request within the time limit if it is impracticable to do so because-

• A process of assessment or examination in pursuance of the request cannot take place or the results of that process are not available before the expiry of the time limit
• The child or young person fails to keep an appointment for an examination or test during the 6 week period
• The appropriate agency has to seek advice and information from another agency and that agency have not provided the advice or information before the expiry of the time limit

Scottish Executive Education Department
Additional Support Needs Division
November 2004