Tag: Lord Bassam of Brighton

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2014-05-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to review special educational needs assessments to ensure that the needs of neurofibromatosis sufferers are taken fully into account by education services; and if so, when.

Lord Nash

Schools are already required to support children with long term medical conditions, and this would include suffers of neurofibromatosis. Non-statutory guidance is available to schools, “Managing Medicines in Schools and Early Years Settings”, to help them manage medicines and supporting children with medical needs such as this.

From September 2014, there will be a new duty, (introduced in the Children and Families Act 2014), on governing bodies of maintained schools (and proprietors of academies) to make arrangements to support pupils at school with medical conditions and to have regard to statutory guidance. The proposed text of the guidance (upon which we have consulted publicly) is available on GOV.UK so that schools can prepare for implementation in the autumn term. It sets out the requirements on schools to support children with medical conditions, which we would expect them to apply to conditions like neurofibromatosis.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2014-05-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidance they provide to schools, colleges and universities about taking into account the additional difficulties that neurofibromatosis sufferers encounter with examinations.

Lord Nash

Guidance given to schools and colleges is a matter for the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation and I have asked its Chief Regulator Glenys Stacey to write directly to Lord Bassam of Brighton. A copy of her reply will be placed in the Lords Library.

Equality Challenge Unit provides advice for higher education institutions on a range of matters, including reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities. More information is available at www.ecu.ac.uk.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 2014-05-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to provide guidance to long-haul transport providers to ensure that the special travel needs of neurofibromatosis sufferers are taken into account.

Earl Howe

NHS England commissions neurofibromatosis type two (NF2) services and complex neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) services as part of its remit to deliver specialised services.

NHS England has published service specifications for both types of neurofibromatosis. These estimate that in England there are 11,267 individuals with NF1 and 862 with NF2.

The Department does not have specific guidance relating to the special travel needs of neurofibromatosis sufferers. Domestic equality legislation makes it unlawful for transport operators to discriminate against a disabled person simply because they are disabled, treat disabled people less favourably or fail to make reasonable adjustments in the way they provide their services, depending on the type of vehicles and the services they offer to the public.

Furthermore, an extra level of protection is provided by recently implemented European regulations on passenger rights across all transport modes. These provide a set of rules for the treatment of disabled people and people with reduced mobility.