North Wales MS and Shadow Counsel General Mark Isherwood has raised concerns that Wales’s new Additional Learning Needs System is failing many children and young people and warned that the increase in referrals to the Education Tribunal for Wales last year can now be expected to grow.
Mr Isherwood, who Chairs the Senedd Cross-Party Groups on Autism, on Disability and on Deaf Issues, raised the matter during yesterday’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament when questioning the Counsel General and Minister for Delivery.
He said: .
“We heard in May, during a Petitions Committee Debate, that far too many children and young people are unable to access support under Wales's new Additional Learning Needs (ALN) system, leaving families at breaking point.
“When I met the ALN Reform Wales campaign, they told me that the new system is just not working, that they’re inundated with requests for help, and that children and parents are being blamed, punished and traumatised. Estyn’s 2023 Thematic Report on ‘The new ALN system’ recommended that Local Authorities ‘should ensure that all schools are aware of their duties’ under the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018, and that the Welsh Government should ‘ensure that all settings have a clear understanding of the legal definitions contained in the Act, and the ALN Code, and provide practical examples to aid understanding’.
“The increase in referrals to the Education Tribunal for Wales last year can now be expected to grow. So, what discussions, if any, has the Counsel General had with the President of Welsh Tribunals regarding the practical consequences of this, and what action will she take, given her broader remit, to ensure that Estyn’s recommendations regarding legislative delivery are carried out by Local Authorities and Welsh Government?”
In her response, the Counsel General said “it’s very clearly a matter for the Cabinet Secretary”.
She added:
“I have, of course, only been in this role for a matter of weeks, so I have not yet had any conversations with the head of the Tribunal Service in Wales, but I will be having those in a much more general sense.”
Mr Isherwood added:
“I hope you will include this in your discussions with the Education Tribunal, because that is within your remit, as I understood, now, as is Welsh Government delivery, so not to question the rights and wrongs of the policies, but to ensure that delivery is being monitored and outcomes assessed.”