Education group to tackle special needs
County education chiefs have vowed to tighten up their provision of special needs education after being rapped by a top council watchdog.
He has recommended that the council pays thousands of pounds in compensation for failing to provide a 15-year-old epileptic local boy with special needs education.
It follows an investigation, as reported in yesterday's Echo, by local government ombudsman Jerry White into a complaint by a Dorset mother who cannot be identified for legal reasons.
He found that the council had failed to provide suitable education for two years and for a delay in issuing a formal statement of the boy's needs.
Mr White recommended that the council should pay the women a total of £1,000 for the frustration and anxiety caused and place in trust for the son £5,110, the equivalent of one year and two terms of additional provision.
Senior education officer Frances Canning, who deals with special education, said it was highly unlikely that the same situation would ever arise again.
She said a new body called the Special Educational Needs Moderating Group had been set up at the beginning of the school year in response to new legislative requirements to oversee the process.
"This is a very unusual case. Hopefully the new bodies that are now in place will ensure that the same mistakes will not be made again," she said.
by Nicky Findley
© 1996 Bournemouth Evening Echo
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