Keeping, disclosure and transfer of statements

A statement should not be disclosed without the consent of the child's parents except for statutory purposes or in the interests of the child.

(Regulation 19)

4:74. Statutory purposes include disclosure to the SEN Tribunal when parents appeal, and to the Secretary of State if parents make a complaint to him under the 1944 Act; disclosure on the order of any court or for the purpose of any criminal proceedings; disclosure for the purposes of investigations of maladministration under the Local Government Act 1974; disclosure to enable any authority to perform duties resulting from the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986, or from the Children Act 1989 relating to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children; and disclosure to OFSTED and OHMCI (Wales) inspection teams as part of their inspections of schools.

4:75. The interests of the child include the provision of information to the child's school and teachers.  It is important that teachers working closely with the child should have a full knowledge of the child's statement; so too should the Careers Service officers who provide careers guidance to the child's school and who participate in reviews of the child's statement.  LEAs may also give access to the statement to persons engaged in research on special educational needs on the condition that the researchers do not publish anything derived from or contained in the statement which would identify the child or parents concerned.  School governing bodies should have access to a child's statement commensurate with their duties towards pupils with special educational needs and should always bear in mind the need to maintain confidentiality about the child in question.

4:76. Disclosure in the interests of the child also includes disclosure to any agencies other than the LEA who may be referred to in the statement as making educational or non-educational provision.


4:77. When the responsibility for a child with special needs changes from the LEA maintaining the statement (the old authority) to another LEA (the new authority), the old authority must transfer the statement to the new authority.  They must also transfer any opinion they have received under the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986 that the child is disabled.  Upon the transfer of the statement, the new authority become responsible for maintaining the statement, and for providing the special educational provision specified in the statement.