Disabilities

The Department for Education provides an interim report on the piloted introduction of individual budgets for families with disabled children which offers faint praise for progress so far. The pilots, which began in April 2009, will run until March 2011. Responding to the Kennedy report on children’s services, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s paper Achieving Equity and Excellence for Children includes a commitment to keeping the idea of individual budgets. However, this issue will also fall into the ambit of the SEN and disabilities Green Paper, due out later this autumn, which may clarify the government’s position.