The government outlined plans for the closure of the 20 remaining long-stay hospitals in England for people with learning disabilities. It confirmed that the original target date of April 2004 would not be met, and said hospitals would instead work to individual closure timetables agreed with their Strategic Health Authorities.
Source: Press release 16 December 2003, Department of Health (020 7210 4850)
Links: DH press release
Date: 2003-Dec
A report said that the proportion of United Kingdom pupils with special educational needs who were educated within mainstream schools was above the average of other developed countries.
Source: Education Policy Analysis 2003, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (+33 1 4524 8200)
Links: Report (pdf) | DfES press release
Date: 2003-Nov
A joint committee of MPs and peers said that it endorsed the aim (in the draft Mental Incapacity Bill) of introducing a comprehensive statutory framework to define mental capacity. But it said the Bill needed to say much more about protection against abuse and exploitation of those lacking capacity. There was no mention in the Queen's Speech of a Bill on mental incapacity (previously promised in December 2002). Campaigners said the delay was regrettable, and published a briefing which argued that the Bill did not lead in the direction of legalised euthanasia.
Source: First Report (Session 2002-03), HL 189-I and HC 1083-I, Joint Committee on Draft Mental Incapacity Bill (House of Lords and House of Commons), TSO (0870 600 5522) | Why the Mental Incapacity Bill is not about Euthanasia, Making Decisions Alliance (020 7802 0316)
Links: Report | Guardian report | MDA briefing (pdf) | Community Care report | Age Concern press release
Date: 2003-Nov
A report warned that the government would miss its deadline to move people out of learning disability hospitals: 16 long-stay hospitals would remain open past the April 2004 target date, with some not closing until 2006.
Source: Time to Move on: A hospital is not a home, Turning Point (020 7702 1458)
Links: Turning Point press release
Date: 2003-Nov
A bulletin summarised the information available on special educational needs and related information about special schools in England. It also provided analyses of trends in special schools; schools; pupils and staff; as well as the incidence and placement of pupils with SEN across primary and secondary schools and further analysis of SEN statistics.
Source: Special Educational Needs in England January 2003, Statistical Bulletin 09-03, Department for Education and Skills, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Bulletin (pdf)
Date: 2003-Nov
The report described a project in which group activities and interaction were used to boost the self-esteem of young children with special educational needs. It was found to help the children to develop confidence and advocacy skills.
Source: Peter Burke and Sue Montgomery, Listen to Me, School of Nursing, Social Work and Applied Health Studies /University of Hull (01482 465965)
Links: Community Care article
Date: 2003-Oct
A schools inspectorate report said that schools were taking seriously their responsibility to adopt an inclusive approach to children with special educational needs, although pupils in primary schools were making better progress in learning than those in secondary schools. A second report highlighted examples of good practice in local education authorities that had satisfactory or better provision for pupils with SEN: the report noted that LEA support to schools varied greatly.
Source: Special Educational Needs in the Mainstream, HMI 511, Office for Standards in Education (07002 637833) | Special Educational Needs in the Mainstream: LEA policy and support services, HMI 556, Office for Standards in Education
Links: Report 511 (pdf) | Report 556 (pdf) | OFSTED press release
Date: 2003-Sep
A new book offered a comprehensive analysis of funding arrangements for pupils with special educational needs in mainstream schools. It examined the policy context for formula funding, and the design and accountability issues for the construction of a revised formula.
Source: Alan Marsh, Funding Inclusive Education: Economic realities, Ashgate Publications (01235 827730)
Links: Summary
Date: 2003-Jun
A report examined special educational needs in young children aged 3-6 (up to the end of year 1 in primary school). Pre-school attendance, especially in high quality settings, was found to provide all young children with a better start to primary school, but particularly those at risk of SEN. There was a positive impact on children s cognitive development (in both language and non-verbal skills), which remained evident at the end of year 1 in both better reading and mathematical skills.
Source: Pam Sammons, Brenda Taggart, Rebecca Smees, Kathy Sylva, Edward Melhuish, Iram Siraj-latchford and Karen Elliot, The Early Years Transition & Special Educational Needs (EYTSEN) Project, Research Report 431, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report (pdf) | Brief (pdf)
Date: 2003-Jun
A survey found that Learning Disability Partnership Boards in England were struggling to identify, meet and plan for the needs of older family carers of people with learning disabilities. (Older families were defined as those where a person with a learning disability lived with at least one family carer over the age of 65.)
Source: Planning for Tomorrow, Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities (020 7802 0304)
Links: Report (pdf) | FPLD press release
Date: 2003-Jun
The first-ever all-party parliamentary group on learning disability was formed. Over 60 MPs and peers agreed to become members of the new group.
Source: Press release 20.6.03, Mencap (020 7454 0454)
Links: Mencap press release
Date: 2003-Jun
A report said that tens of thousands of families caring for people with severe or profound learning disabilities at home were in crisis due to a lack of support from local authorities: 8 out of 10 carers had reached breaking point, after struggling to cope with the demands of caring 24 hours a day.
Source: Breaking Point: A report on caring without a break for children and adults with severe or profound learning disabilities, Mencap (0808 808 1111)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf) | Mencap press release
Date: 2003-Jun
A report examined the likely impact of a statutory mainstreaming presumption in Scotland for children with special educational needs (from August 2003). It was found that there would probably be a 9 per cent increase in SEN children educated in mainstream schools. Few local councils were able to provide evidence of either strategies to meet the requirements of mainstreaming, or 'best value' reviews of SEN.
Source: Moving to Mainstream: Inclusion of pupils with special educational needs in mainstream schools, Audit Scotland for Accounts Commission and Auditor General (0131 477 1234)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf) | Key points (pdf)
Date: 2003-May
A report said that people with autism and Asperger Syndrome did not fit existing ways of thinking about disability, nor the eligibility used to measure support needs of people with disabilities and their families. It was found that over a third of carers admitted they did not understand the benefits system, with 64 per cent of those who had claimed saying they had problems filling out the forms.
Source: Steve Broach et al., Autism: Rights in Reality - How people with autism spectrum disorders and their families are still missing out on their rights, National Autistic Society (020 7833 2299)
Links: Links (pdf) to report and summary
Date: 2003-May
The government published its first annual report on progress in implementing the programme of action set out in the 2001 White Paper on learning disability. The report contained the government's response to the Learning Disability Task Force's own annual report. Campaigners said that, despite some progress, the government needed to put learning disability services higher up its agenda, partly so that local authorities and health services would also see them as a greater priority.
Source: Making Change Happen: Government's first annual report on learning disability 2003, HC 514, Department of Health, TSO (0870 600 5522) | Press release 1.4.03, Mencap (020 7454 0454)
Links: Links to report removed by DH | 2001 White Paper | Mencap press release
Date: 2003-Apr
The government began consultation on the future of special schools. It said that special schools should increasingly cater for the growing population of children with severe and complex special educational needs; and that they should be outward-looking centres of expertise and work more collaboratively with mainstream schools.
Source: The Report of the Special Schools Working Group, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Consultation document (pdf) | Summary (pdf) | Independent article
Date: 2003-Mar
A consultation document suggested a new, planned approach to widening adult participation in education and training. It sought to identify ways in which more adults could be attracted into learning, and also how they could be positively engaged and retained in the learning process.
Source: Successful Participation for All: Widening adult participation strategy, Learning and Skills Council (0870 900 6800)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf)
Date: 2003-Mar
A survey found that only 27 per cent of 'learning partnership boards' (established to help promote proposals in a government White Paper on learning disabilities) are open to the public. The report argued that partnership boards can only be effective if people know they exist and what they do.
Source: Out of Sight, Out of Mind, Mencap (020 7454 0454)
Links: Report (pdf) | Press release
Date: 2003-Mar
The High Court ruled that people with learning difficulties should receive the same medical treatment as everyone else. It said that a hospital had been wrong to deny life-saving medical treatment to a patient who had kidney failure, on the basis that he had autism. It said that not providing satisfactory medical treatment was contrary to the rights of a mentally incapacitated patient under United Kingdom and European law.
Source: An Hospital NHS Trust v. S., D.G. and S.G., High Court judgement, Court Service (020 7210 2266)
Links: Text of judgement | Community Care article
Date: 2003-Mar
A report summarized the result of inspections carried out between February and November 2001 of services for people with learning disabilities in nine councils in England. It said that some progress had been made in establishing partnership arrangements, but found continuing fragmentation of organizational responsibilities, assessment and service delivery.
Source: Charles Cope, Fulfilling Lives: Inspection of social care services for people with learning disabilities, Social Services Inspectorate/Department of Health (020 7210 2000)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf)
Date: 2003-Feb
The Scottish Executive published a strategy document, together with a draft Bill for consultation, aimed at modernising provision for pupils who need additional support for learning. It was proposed to move away from special educational needs terminology towards the concept of 'additional support needs' which would apply to all children who face difficulties in accessing education.
Source: Moving Forward! Additional Support for Learning, Scottish Executive, TSO (0870 606 5566) | Draft Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Bill, Scottish Executive (0131 244 7139)
Links: Report (pdf) | Report | Draft Bill (pdf) | Draft Bill | Press release
Date: 2003-Jan
The official Learning Disability Task Force (created to monitor implementation of commitments in a 2001 White Paper) published its first annual report, written entirely in accessible language. Campaigners warned that little has changed in people s lives because learning disability services are still seen as too a low priority.
Source: Learning Disability Task Force, Making Things Happen: First annual report, Department of Health (0808 808 1111) | Press release 14.1.03, Mencap (020 7454 0454)
Links: Report (pdf) | Mencap press release | 2001 White Paper | Community Care article | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Jan
The High Court ruled that Essex County Council was wrong to impose a special education programme on a four-year-old girl without her parents' approval. The programme would have involved her being taught by her parents.
Source: BBC news report 30.1.03
Links: BBC report
Date: 2003-Jan