Meetings

The Committee considered correspondence on the petition and agreed to close the petition given the length of time since it was submitted and because it is not possible to identify how to take the petition forward in the absence of contact from the petitioner.

The Committee agreed to seek a response from the petitioner and to consider the petition again at the meeting on 9 May.

Members discussed the evidence session on 14 May and agreed to;

·         write to the Minister for Education and Skills highlighting the petitioners areas of concerns;

·         await the publication of the SEN consultation response;

·         write to SOLACE seeking examples of good practice;

·         highlight to the Health and Social Care Committee concerns on the definition of ‘local’; and

·         write to the Health, Education and Social Services representative bodies about the need for joint working.

Ian Thomas, Director in Wales, Scope

The petitioner answered questions from the Committee.

The Committee considered ministerial correspondence on the petition and agreed to:

·         seek clarity from the Welsh Government on when the consultation responses will be published;

·         consider the consultation responses and identify possible witnesses to give evidence to the Committee;

·         write to the petitioners, and the Minister for Education and Skills to give oral evidence;

·         invite SOLACE to give oral evidence; and

·         identify local authorities with good practise in this area, and seek to take oral evidence from them.

The Committee discussed the petition for the first time and agreed to write to the Minister for Education and Skills to seek his views on the petition and to ask whether the draft Bill could include a ‘provide local’ principle.

The Committee also agreed to give the Minister notice that it may wish to invite him to give oral evidence in a future meeting. It was noted that if this was the case, Scope Cymru would also be invited to give evidence.