Wednesday 22 August 2018

Campaign - Deaf education cuts


Thank you for getting in touch and raising your concerns about funding for deaf children’s education services.

I contacted Cornwall Council to seek clarity on this issue and they advised me that in September 2017 the Special Education Needs (SEN) support services in Cornwall were restructured, affording the opportunity to extend the support and delivery to a wider range of SEN needs. They have explained this restructure was enabled through a rationalisation of budgets and have assured me that Cornwall Council remains committed to supporting all children and young people with special education needs.

They have told me that whilst there has been a net budget reduction to the Hearing Support Team budget for the year 2018/19, in real terms there has been no reduction in services to children and young people with a hearing impairment. They say this is because the Hearing Support Team budget had been carrying an underspend due to underspends on travel, services and long standing vacancies. They have said the overall numbers of teachers of the deaf have reduced very slightly and say this reduction reflects a falling number of students attending FE colleges requiring support.

As I understand it, the reduction in spending is a reflection of the reduction in the demand for the service. I am led to believe that by reducing this budget it is intended to utilise the funding which is currently surplus to provide funding to other areas of SEN needs which are currently overspending due to increased demands.

I trust this is helpful and addresses your concerns.

Thanks once again for raising this with me.