Learning support reform planned

The Record of Needs system is being replaced

A Bill aimed at modernising support for school pupils who need extra help has been published in Scotland.

Education Minister Peter Peacock said the proposals in the Additional Support for Learning Bill were a step forward in meeting children's needs.

The legislation will replace the 20-year-old Record of Needs (RoN) system with a new system which will include a Co-ordinated Support Plan (CSP).

Mr Peacock said the RoN system, which deals with issues like bullying and ill health, "had become outdated and bureaucratic".

It should also capture a wider range of youngsters requiring support Rev Ewan Aitken Cosla

The proposals won support from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla), which said they would assist efforts to improve social inclusion.

However, the National Autistic Society in Scotland (NAS) voiced concerns that the bill would be a backward step for some parents fighting for assistance for their children.

The Bill is intended is to ensure that every child who has additional support needs - due to factors which might include disability, reading difficulties or a traumatic event - receives the necessary support.

Mr Peacock said the new system would lead to improvements and he promised that pupils served by the current Record of Needs system will not lose out under the new arrangements.

He said: "This Bill is a further step in our plans to tailor the education system to the needs of every child.

"It will ensure more pupils get access to the support they need, not just from education services but from social work and health services.

"We want to build on the better aspects of the current Record of Needs system and build a more active and co-ordinated range of services for children who need them."

Mr Peacock also promised "a new parental right to request a specific type of assessment and free mediation services for parents in the light of any disputes over learning support".

Peter Peacock unveiled the proposals

Cosla spokesman, the Reverend Ewan Aitken, said: "The Bill will put in place a more flexible and less bureaucratic approach to identifying and addressing the educational support needs of youngsters, on the presumption that they should, as far as possible, be educated in mainstream schools.

"It should also capture a wider range of youngsters requiring support, including many children with social and emotional difficulties arising from family and other circumstances, that adversely affect their schooling."

NAS Scotland voiced a series of concerns about the proposals.

A spokesman said it recognised there were existing problems but told BBC News Online: "We fear that parents will now have to fight again for their children to get the right support under the CSP when it comes into force.

"The Scottish Executive has given a guarantee that children and young people with a RoN but who don't qualify for a CSP following reassessment will continue to receive the support they need at school.

"The NAS would like parents to have clarity on how the executive proposes to ensure that these children will receive the support they need.

"We have concerns that these children will be treated less favourably compared with children who qualify for a CSP in terms of adequate and appropriate support."

The spokesman added: "Once the CSP is in place, the NAS believes it will be even harder for children with autistic spectrum disorders to get the new CSP.

"In particular, children with Asperger syndrome will lose out because they tend not to have co-ordinated support from both health and education agencies as their needs are wrongly perceived as less severe."