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Lamb Inquiry

The National Blind Children’s Society has announced its support for the findings of an inquiry into the provision of special needs education.

The report by Chairman of the Special Education Consortium Brian Lamb says many parents are unhappy with the present system of assessing children for the correct specialist education for their needs, and are not satisfied with the help they are given by local authorities.

The findings are welcomed by NBCS which provides a specialist support service of expert educational advocacy for pre-school and schoolchildren with visual impairment.

As a result of the Lamb Report Children’s Secretary Ed Balls has promised legislation to give parents clearer information about their rights and to set up a national helpline.

The Lamb report also recommends that the Local Government Ombudsman should be funded to consider parents’ complaints against local authorities, that special needs tribunals should be improved and that there should be more support for children who are bullied at school.

NBCS Chief Executive Carolyn Fullard said: ‘Any move to simplify the present complicated and unsatisfactory system that faces parents trying to get the best and most appropriate education for their children must be welcome.

‘Our team of educational advocates, working within the National Educational Advocacy Partnership (NEAP), is fully stretched with an ever-increasing caseload of families struggling to access the resources their children are entitled to.

‘These recommendations are long overdue.’

Lamb Inquiry: Special educational needs and parental confidence