Row as Labour accuses Plaid council of ‘shocking neglect’ of autistic children

Martin Shipton

A row has broken out between Labour and Plaid Cymru over the treatment of autistic children in Llanelli.

Labour demanded “urgent action” to tackle what it said was the “shocking neglect’” of the children.

It said a recent report commissioned by Plaid-controlled Carmarthenshire County Council had indicated that 115 children have no suitable education provision and many others face a three year wait for an official diagnosis.

Laying the blame for the “appalling scandal” at the door of the Plaid-led authority, Labour said it was gearing up to fight for the “basic human rights” of the children to be honoured.

The action call comes just after the county council gave the go-ahead for a long-awaited replacement for Ysgol Heol Goffa special school in Llanelli following a long campaign and a 9,000-plus name petition.

Although the campaign group welcomes the building of a modern replacement school for 150 students in a few years, they are concerned that the recommendations in Option 4 of the report are only partially being adhered to and many autistic children will not be catered for.

Educational needs

Leading Labour politicians in Llanelli say they want the educational needs of all autistic children across Carmarthenshire to also be made a priority.

Town councillor Shaun Greaney, who helped spearhead the campaign for a new Ysgol Heol Goffa school to replace the over-capacity, outdated and substandard building, said: “The situation faced by children with autism and their families in Llanelli is an appalling scandal.

“In my view there has been shocking neglect of their needs. Early intervention is essential to give these children the life chances they deserve.

“Yet the county council seems to have no clear plan, no timescale for action, and no answers to the problem, which is growing in scale.”

“These other children, their parents and families deserve much better. They have been virtually forgotten and neglected.”

Crisis

Labour county council opposition group leader Cllr Deryk Cundy, said: “I fear the education system in Carmarthenshire is in something of a crisis and could, in future years, collapse unless there is a clear strategy going forward as most of our ASC [Autistic Spectrum Condition] provision schools are already full with many children on the waiting list and more undiagnosed in inappropriate mainstream education settings, putting undue pressures on both teachers and pupils alike.

‘The figure highlighted of 115 children with ASC, could be the tip of the iceberg. We simply don’t know.

‘”Schools are working incredibly hard to help children with ASC, but there needs to be a clear plan to sort it out.

“To ignore the situation would be incompetence by this Plaid Administration and is worrying in the extreme”.

With the Senedd election in May, and a possible outcome being some form of coalition government, Labour MP Dame Nia Griffith said there was no guarantee that an incoming Welsh Government would be so generous with funding.

Future proofed

Responding, the county council’s cabinet member for resources, Plaid Cymru’s Cllr Alun Lenny said: “Now that the Plaid-led cabinet has agreed to go ahead with a new 150-pupil Ysgol Heol Goffa, which will be future-proofed with greater capacity than the one Labour campaigned for, it seems that they’re now hell-bent on trying to make political capital out of the educational needs of autistic children in Llanelli.

“Despite unprecedented pressure on public spending over the past 15 years, irrespective of which party rules at Westminster, the report by [education consultant] David Davies earlier this year rightly noted that the council has effectively developed a range of specialist provision to meet the needs of ALN [Addition Learning Needs] pupils in the face of huge challenges to meet this ever-increasing need.

“Speaking personally, I have a close family member with an autistic condition, so I hardly need someone like town councillor Shaun Greaney reminding me about the need for giving these children the life chances they deserve. It is just not true to say that they are ‘virtually forgotten and neglected’.

“Over several years, work has successfully been carried out to develop specialist ASC provision co-located with several mainstream primary and secondary schools across Carmarthenshire, including the Llanelli area.

“Labour conveniently overlook the fact that the council is currently increasing capacity specifically in the Llanelli area. From next month there will be increased ASC provision for primary pupils in Burry Port, new ASC provision in Penygaer, and increased provision for secondary pupils in Canolfan y Môr, the provision for secondary ASC pupils in Ysgol Glan y Môr. These developments include upgrading facilities and further investment in specialist teachers and support staff.

“It’s misleading to say that ASC pupils are in an ‘inappropriate’ mainstream education setting, as Cllr Deryk Cundy claims. Where is his evidence on educational grounds to claim that this Is inappropriate? On the contrary, the outcomes prove that providing separate specialist facilities with separate specialist staff but located on the same site as a host mainstream school has proved highly successful for many years. And, as I mentioned, there’s not just a clear plan, but immediate action to increase provision.

“I appreciate that local Labour politicians must be terrified following Dame Nia Griffith’s narrow win in last year’s general election, but this quite desperate attack on Plaid Cymru is totally unjustifiable, misleading and unworthy of them.”