ANONYMISED DECISION OF THE TRIBUNAL
Reference: d/06/2008
Gender: Male
Age: 14
Type of Reference: Content of CSP
1. Reference
The Appellant has made a reference to the Tribunal in relation to the information contained in a co-ordinated support plan in respect of her son born April 1993. This reference is made in terms of the Section 18(3)(d)(i) of the Education(Additional Support for Learning) (
2. Decision of the Tribunal
The Tribunal directs the Education Authority to make amendments to the information contained within the CSP, as agreed between the parties, and which are comprised within the CSP as amended now produced to the Tribunal, and issue said co-ordinated support plan immediately.
This Decision is in terms agreed between parties
This Decision is issued by the Tribunal in terms of their Powers contained within Section 19(4)(b) of the Act.
3. History of Reference
An initial Hearing on the reference had been arranged to take place in January 08. In advance of that, a written application by the Education Authority seeking a postponement, consented to by the Appellant, was granted for a period of 28 days by Direction of the Convener dated January 08.
In view of the fact that no date was subsequently fixed, a further Direction of the Convener was issued in February 08 to arrange a hearing forthwith. Despite this and prior to a further Hearing date being assigned a further written application by both parties seeking a further postponement for 6 weeks was received. Standing said Direction dated February 08, such joint application of the parties was refused by further Direction of the Convener dated March 08
A further date for a Hearing on the reference was thereafter assigned for March 08. In the course of a Pre-Hearing conference call conducted by the Convener in March 08, the suggestion was that all the outstanding disputes that could be dealt with were agreed between the parties. The parties however were unable to specifically indicate what the nature of said agreement was. The parties both made reference to an outstanding Social Work Report which was not yet available, would not be available prior to the Hearing date, but which both parties indicated would necessitate further revisals of the CSP. Given the history of postponements the Convener was not prepared at that stage to postpone in the absence of further information and the parties were directed to produce to the Secretariat by the following day a fresh copy of the CSP as agreed between them and a further Conference Call was arranged to take place. This CSP was produced. In the context of a further Conference Call the parties confirmed that all the matters that could be agreed in the absence of the outstanding Social Work Report were now agreed these were reflected within the terms of the said CSP. On this basis, given that there was at that stage nothing further in dispute between the parties and having considered both parties application for a further postponement the Convener directed that the CSP should be amended in accordance with the parties agreement within 7 days and a fresh Hearing was assigned to take place in April 08 to deal with any outstanding dispute; by which time the Social Work Report would be available.
In the context of a further Conference Call in April 08 the parties advised that there was no agreement following upon the production of the Social Work Report and accordingly the Hearing already assigned April 08 was directed to proceed.
By way of Direction of the Convener dated April 08 the parties were ordered to produce to the Secretariat a draft of their proposed excerpts relative to Social Work involvement. They complied with this request which enabled the Tribunal to consider the parties positions in advance of the Hearing. There were also preliminary issues resolved with regards to the admission of late evidence in the context of the Conference Call April 08 which principally related to the Social Work Comprehensive Assessment of March 08 and a report by a Chartered Psychologist dated February 08
4. Hearing
On the morning of the Hearing the parties advised that they were in the course of further discussions which were likely to lead to a resolution of the continued dispute about the terms of the CSP. They sought a period of time to discuss matters further prior to formally addressing the Tribunal. The Tribunal acceded to such a request. After such further discussions the parties indicated that they had reached a final agreement in respect of the wording of the final CSP.
The Tribunal sought confirmation from the appellant’s representative as to whether or not the reference was to be withdrawn in terms of Rule 11 of the Additional Support Needs Tribunals for Scotland ( Practice and Procedure) Rules 2006 (“the rules”) which would have enabled the reference to be dismissed. Both parties however responded and indicated that it had been agreed between them that what was sought was a Decision of the Tribunal formally requiring the Education Authority to amend the CSP in the terms now agreed between the parties. The parties indicated however that their agreements were not in a form which could be comprehensively conveyed to the Tribunal. The Authority’s Support for Learning manager undertook to provide a fresh typewritten copy of the CSP as now agreed which has now been received.
Neither party wish to lead any evidence given the agreement which had been reached between them.
The parties were also agreed with regards to the timescales to be involved. There is an ongoing Placing Request Appeal before the
In managing this Reference the Tribunal has considered and given effect to the overriding objective in Rule 3 of the rules.
