Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
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787. To ask the Minister for Health if he will examine the ongoing inaction by the Health Service Executive in implementing the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 which is restricting eligible children and adults to various services and the autism evaluation procedure which is required for entry to mainstream schools catering for autistic children, who cannot be assessed until October 2015, while in the meantime these affected children will be denied school placement for the deadline of September school term; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30688/15]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Part 2 of the Disability Act 2005 was commenced on 1 June 2007 in respect of children aged under 5 years. In 2008, the then Government decided, in the light of financial circumstances, to defer further implementation of the Disability Act 2005 and the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004. However, in light of legal advice following a ruling of the High Court, children born after 1 June 2002 are being treated by the Health Service executive as eligible to apply for an assessment under the Act. Part 2 of the 2005 Act provides for an assessment of the needs of eligible applicants, occasioned by their disability, to be commenced within three months of receipt of an application and completed within a further three months.

The HSE recognises that it faces significant challenges in respect of meeting the statutory time-frames which apply to the assessment of need process, given the number and complexity of cases, and has taken a number of measures to address the issue. While any delay in assessment or intervention for any child is not desirable, it should be noted that the assessment process under the Disability Act can take place in parallel with any intervention which is identified as necessary. The HSE has issued guidance to its staff that where there is a delay in the assessment process, this should not affect the delivery of necessary and appropriate interventions identified for a particular child.

Following the publication of a National Disability Authority report commissioned by the Department of Health and the HSE, a major emphasis is being placed on reconfiguring children’s disability services into integrated multi-disciplinary geographically-based early-intervention and school-aged teams under the HSE’s Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People Programme. The key objective of this Programme is to bring about equity of access to disability services and consistency of service delivery, with a clear pathway for children with disabilities, including autism, and their families to services, regardless of where they live, where these children go to school or the nature of the individual child’s difficulties. Implementation of the Programme is a key priority for the HSE in 2015. In 2014 an additional €4 million was specifically allocated to drive implementation of the Programme, equating to approximately 80 additional therapy posts. A further additional €4m has been allocated to the Programme this year.

My Department has requested the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy on the issues he has raised. If the Deputy has not received a reply from the HSE within 15 working days, please contact my Private Office who will follow up the matter with them.