VULNERABLE CHILDREN SHORT CHANGED

4.31.14pm GMT Thu 22nd Feb 2007

SHORT CHANGED

At the County Council meeting held Thursday 22 February 2007 to consider next year's budget, the Liberal Democrats made an urgent appeal to meet the needs of children who have difficulty learning. The Lib Dems noted that the KCC Education Service identified that an extra £1 million needs to be spent on helping our most vulnerable children benefit from their education - but were shocked to see that the Conservative administration were not going to put any extra money into the budget to meet this need.

Martin Vye, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Education, said: "Increasing numbers of desperate parents are finding it ever harder to get the crucial 'Statement of Special Education Need', without which their child cannot obtain the necessary extra specialist help it needs. When I looked at the budget papers and saw that the cost of meeting these children's needs had been identified, I assumed that KCC would find the money to cover it. There are thousands of children in Kent - with autism, speech and language difficulties, emotional problems - who can nevertheless obtain a decent education if the right help is available; but I was wrong. The Conservative administration turned to the Education Service and said: "We are not putting any more money in to meet the need". We Lib Dems put down a motion to find the £1 million by taking it from delaying capital programme, where it would have had no major affect. Unfortunately the Conservative majority on the Council voted this proposal down, clearly not giving these children's needs a high priority."