Ms Rosemary Steen:

Good morning. I am Rosemary Steen, chair of the board of Middletown Centre for Autism. I am joined by my three colleagues, who the Chairman has introduced. We are all pleased to be here to give evidence. I thank the Chairman and members of the committee for the invitation to attend in to provide information on the role of centre and the services we provide to autistic children and young people, their parents and families, and the educational professionals who work with them. I also thank the committee staff who provided support and guidance in our preparations for today. We appreciated the visit by the Chairman and other members of the committee who are here with us today to the centre before Christmas.

The centre was established as part of a range of education policy initiatives arising from the Good Friday Agreement. It is a body with an all-Ireland remit to provide services in both Northern Ireland and Ireland. It is the only educational body of its kind on the island. The centre was opened in April 2007 to deliver educational services on an all-island basis for autistic children, their parents and families and the education professionals who work with them. The centre has been successfully doing this since then. The creation of the centre and its continued successful operation throughout the island reflects the commitment by the Department of Education in Northern Ireland, and the Department of Education in this jurisdiction, to the development of services for autistic children and young people. Funding is provided equally by the two Departments of Education on the island to support the centre in its provision of specialist support and services not currently available separately to the education sector in either jurisdiction. The centre has been established as a specialist second-tier non-statutory service provider to work in partnership with the existing statutory and voluntary providers to develop and provide specialist autism services in the education sectors in Northern Ireland and Ireland. It provides an integrated package of services, including a cohesive, transdisciplinary learning support and assessment service. This is combined with research and training services together with opportunities for family support and professional development.

I particularly want to mention that the centre has developed an inclusive wraparound model for support of autistic children and young people which integrates support in the classroom, support in the school and support in the home to ensure that the autistic child and young person maximises the benefits from their education placement. The child or young person is at the centre of how our service operates. Each unique case is supported in a way that best supports the child's needs. This is a unique model, and one of which we are very proud.

The centre is established under the Companies (Northern Ireland) Orders 1986 to 1990 as a company limited by guarantee. The board of directors comprises Department of Education, Ireland, nominees and five Department of Education, Northern Ireland, appointees. The appointment of the chair of the board is rotated between the respective Ministers for Education every three years. I was appointed following a public appointments process by the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan. I am supported by my vice-chair, Ms Sheila Darling, who was appointed by Minister McIlveen. It complies with the Governments' requirements in both jurisdictions for public bodies.

The board of the centre, which I am representing here, and both the Departments believe that the centre has developed, tested and proven effective models for supporting autistic children to make the most effective use of their educational opportunities in both jurisdictions. The board is now working with the Departments to scale up this model to permit its use on a more widespread basis in both jurisdictions and to build and expand the capacity of the education systems, North and South, in order to support autistic children. We as a board are proud that this work is now beginning.

Our chief executive, Mr. Lennon, will now talk about the centre's service users and the services provided.