Petitioner: Alex Orr and Sophie Pilgrim on behalf of Scottish Children's Services Coalition and Kindred
Status:
Closed
Date Lodged:
14 February 2014
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to ensure that local authorities fulfil their statutory duties with regard to the delivery of Additional Support for Learning.
We are calling upon the Public Petitions Committee to write to the Scottish Government requesting it write to all of Scotland’s local authorities reminding them of their statutory requirement under Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) approach, and also the Education (Additional Support for Learning) Scotland Act 2009, urging them to protect vital children’s services when setting their future budgets.
Summary:
4 March 2014: The Committee agreed to write to the Scottish Government. Link to Official Report 4 March 2014 (403KB pdf)
6 May 2014: The Committee agreed to close the petition, under Rule 15.7, on the basis that the Scottish Government is liaising with local authorities on the provision of additional support for learning and the petitioners have withdrawn their request. In doing so, the Committee agreed to ask the Scottish Government to keep the petitioners informed of its work in this policy area. Link to Official Report 6 May 2014 (434KB pdf)
Written Submissions:
Scottish Government funding for Scotland’s 32 Councils is set to be slashed for the next two years, with a real terms reduction of £624 million by 2015-16. Demand for children’s services is at its highest since 1981, with the latest figures highlighting that 16,248 children are currently looked after by local authorities, a figure that has increased each year since 2001. In addition, there has been an 89% increase of those with additional support needs in Scotland since 2010, now standing at 131,621. At the same time local authorities are having to achieve more with less, and this serves only to increase the barriers that children’s services departments face in delivering the best outcomes for children and young people.