If a child with additional support needs (ASN) qualifies for a coordinated support plan (CSP) then “they must have one”, says Chloe Minto a solicitor at the Govan Law Centre’s education law unit.
CSPs, she is clear, are “not discretionary”. But at the Govan Law Centre, they are constantly asking “where are the coordinated support plans?” she says.
CSPs are important, says Ms Minto, because they “bind local authorities to doing certain things”. Or, as Megan Farr, policy officer for the Scottish children’s commissioner, puts it, CSPs give children and families the “right to remedy” and recourse to the Additional Support Needs Tribunal.
But, like Ms Minto, she says the problem is children “rarely” have them.
Both experts gave evidence last week to the Scottish Parliament’s Education, Children and Young People Committee as it continues its inquiry into additional support for learning (ASL).
Education directors want to see more CSPs
In Scotland, according to official statistics on schools published in December, 259,036 pupils have an ASN, or 37 per cent of all pupils; just 1,318 (0.5 per cent) of pupils with an ASN have a CSP.
The “cynical explanation” suggested by Green MSP Ross Greer is that councils are reluctant to progress CSPs because they want to shield themselves from “potential legal redress through the tribunal system”.
However, education directors say that they want to see more CSPs put in place - but they struggle to meet the criteria.
Dr Lynne Binnie is chair of the ASN network at education directors’ body ADES and head of education for inclusion at City of Edinburgh Council.
“From an ADES perspective, we are concerned,” she told the ASL inquiry. “We feel strongly that there should be statutory plans that give legal recourse - of course we do. We very clearly feel it’s the criteria.”
She says that the law needs to be changed in order to broaden the criteria for a CSP.
To receive a CSP, children have to require significant additional support from education and another agency or department - for example, social work or health.
But Dr Binnie told MSPs that when agencies other than education are asked if a child requires intensive support for more than 12 months, the answer is almost always “no”.
She said: “We talk frequently about CSPs and feel confident that across our employees we do understand the criteria and the process for a CSP.
“Undoubtedly, the clear issue is the criteria for a CSP and the need for education to be coordinated across multiagency partners.”
Nicola Dickie, director of people policy at local authorities’ body Cosla, also told the ASL inquiry last week that the number of CSPs had decreased over time because support previously delivered by external agencies is increasingly being delivered in school.
Mental health counsellors in secondary schools
The Scottish government has a policy of funding a mental health counsellor in every secondary. This policy means, she said, that schools now deliver in-house counselling that previously would have been delivered by Camhs.
Dr Binnie said another example was speech and language therapy. Now, teachers are being given the tools by speech and language therapists to deliver interventions in class, whereas previously therapists worked with children on a one-to-one basis.
“If that was happening for more than 12 months, they would meet the criteria for a coordinated support plan,” Dr Binnie said.
She added: “The presumption of mainstreaming and the moving of resources from tiered statutory services to universal services in schools, I think, is one of the reasons we do have reduced coordinated support plans.”
In evidence to the committee in February, headteacher Peter Bain said that whether or not a CSP could be put in place depended on “the strength of the partnership arrangements” around a school.
Where partnerships between education, health and social work were strong there was “likely to be a more effective success rate for establishing CSPs because they almost always require interagency support”, he said.
However, where it was weaker he said that CSPs were “often not progressed as they should be, because authorities cannot get partners to agree who will do what”.
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