Children's minister Sarah Teather has launched 20 special needs and disabilities pathfinders covering 31 local authorities and their Primary Care Trust (PCT) partners.
Speaking at the Liberal Democrat party conference in Birmingham, Ms Teather said the proposals, arising from the recent SEN and disability Green Paper, were the 'biggest reforms in 30 years to help disabled children and those with special educational needs.'
Jointly commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE) and Department of Health (DH), the pathfinders will test core elements of the reform proposals including personal budgets for parents and single education, health and care plans for disabled people from birth to 25 years.
Improved commissioning linked to planned health reforms and the role of the voluntary and community sector will be evaluated in the pathfinder schemes for which each participating authority will receive £150,000 funding per year.
Optional areas to be considered will include ascertaining the benefits of a national funding framework, better support to parents and vulnerable children and the impact of the process on young people between 16 to 25 or children in early years.
Sarah Teather said: 'There are some interesting responses that will help us shape future policy decisions. For example, we can see that people think there should be a greater emphasis on meeting particular needs that emerge in school, just as much as identifying development problems in the early years.
'I'm looking forward to seeing how the pathfinders progress over the next few months to test out how we can make our proposed changes a reality.'
Participating local authorities:
South East:
- SE7 (Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, Hampshire, Kent, Medway, Surrey, West Sussex).
- Southampton
South West:
- Devon
- Cornwall and Isles of Scilly
- Wiltshire
London:
- Greenwich
- Bromley and Bexley
- Lewisham
East of England:
- Hertfordshire
East and West Midlands:
- Northamptonshire and Leicestershire
- Nottingham County Council
- Solihull
North West:
- Trafford
- Oldham/Rochdale
- Manchester
- Wigan
North East:
- Gateshead
- Hartlepool and Darlington
Yorkshire and Humber:
- Calderdale
- North Yorkshire
