Dear Central Bedfordshire Council

Decision-making under the Education Act

I write with the following requests for information under the
Freedom of Information Act. The questions relate to your statutory
powers of decision-making under the Education Act 1996.

1. Who is the statutory decision-maker?

Please confirm who is responsible for exercising statutory
decision-making powers on behalf of your authority under the
Education Act. These powers include, but are not limited to, the
responsibility for agreeing to statutory assessments of SEN and for
making decisions on the issue of, or provision in, a statement.

2. Is information about the decision-maker shared with parents?

Please confirm whether the identity of the person/persons
responsible for decision-making under the Education Act is
explicitly communicated to the parents, i.e. are parents told that
a specific person or body will be responsible for making decisions
on behalf of the authority?
If it is, please confirm how this is done.
If it is not done, please explain why.

3. Do you have a SEN Panel?

If your local authority utilises a SEN Panel system, please confirm
its role and its place within the statutory SEN system.
Please confirm who sits on the Panel and how they are appointed.
Please also confirm whether the role of the SEN is communicated to
parents and, if so, how this is done.
If this is not done, please explain why.

4. Is your SEN Panel the statutory decision-maker?

Does your SEN Panel make statutory decisions about the provision in
or the issue of a statement?
If it does, is any oversight exercised in relation to the panel by
executive officers of the authority or by elected members?
Please confirm whether parents or parental representatives may
attend meetings which make decisions about their child.
If your SEN Panel has a decision-making role, please confirm
whether information about the identity of those making the
decisions is shared with parents.
Please confirm whether SEN Panel meetings are minuted. If they are
minuted, is the decision-making process or just the decision
recorded? Is this information available to parents? If so, how is
it made available, e.g. does it have to be requested under the FOI
Act?
If your SEN Panel exercises statutory powers of decision-making
under the Education Act but does not minute its meetings or record
its decision-making or share these decisions with parents, please
explain why.

7. Duty to explain decisions under the Education Act

Irrespective of the identity of the statutory decision-maker,
please confirm how decisions on SEN issues under the Education Act
(for example, about the quality or quantity of provision or
undertaking a statutory assessment) are recorded and whether
decision-making is then shared with parents. This question refers
not to the fact of the decision but the reason for it and relates
to the guidance set out in para 8.32 in respect of decision-making.
Para 8:32 of SEN COP, advises local authorities, in the event of an
evidential dispute about the nature or quantity of provision, to
resolve and give reasons for their conclusions on the choice of
opinions or evidence. How does your authority comply with this
statutory guidance? If it does not, please explain why.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Ms Buckley

Dear FOI and Data Protection Request,

Thank you for your response indicating delay, however, my understanding is that by law the response to my request should have been made by 6th January 2012, would you please ensure that I am not left waiting any longer than 20th January?

Yours sincerely,

C Buckley