Current status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 25 March 2022
To ask the Scottish Government how many young people are currently waiting for an additional support needs (ASN) diagnosis in (a) Scotland and (b) each local authority area.
Additional support needs, as defined under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) Act 2004 (as amended), arise if a child or young person is, or is likely to be, unable without the provision of additional support to benefit from school education. An additional support need can be of short or long-term duration. Under the Act, education authorities are required to identify, provide for and to review the additional support needs of their pupils. Local authorities are supported to carry out their duties under the Act by the statutory Supporting Learners’ Code of Practice.
Under the Act, a formal diagnosis is not required in order for support to be provided. The Pupil census: supplementary statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) , published on 15 March 2022 includes the latest information and a local authority level breakdown of the reasons why additional support was provided. The data collected does not distinguish between support not being provided and a need being identified and support not being in place.