I am writing to you further to our telephone conversation of 27/8/10. You informed me I can expect to receive your decision on the 5th October, as ds changing schools on the 24th June and your requesting EP to attend school to assess ds on the first week back to school after the Summer holidays has affected the timescale.
I was expecting to be informed of your decision on 25th August based on the timescale below.
6 weeks to decide to assess. You agreed to assess on X.
10 weeks to make assessments. Which X.
2 weeks to inform me of decision. Which is X.
8 weeks to finalise. Which is X.
You have had 12 weeks in which to arrange for EP to assess Ds. Ds could have been assessed at home during the Summer holidays, or in the 7 weeks prior to the Summer Holidays.
I refer to Annexe A of the SEN COP as set out below, which lists exceptions why the LA do not have to comply with the above timescales and none of them apply in this case.
Annexe A:
^"12 (6) Subject to paragraph (7), where under sections 323(4) or 329A(7) an authority have given notice to the child?s parent of their decision to make an assessment they shall complete that assessment within 10 weeks of the date on which such notice was given.
(7) An authority need not comply with the time limit referred to in paragraph (6) if it is impractical to do so because-
(a) in exceptional cases after receiving the advice sought under regulation 7 it is necessary for the authority to seek further advice;
(b) the child?s parent has indicated to the authority that he wishes to provide advice to the authority after the expiry of 6 weeks from the date of on which a request for such advice under regulation 7(1)(a) was received, and the authority have agreed to consider such advice before completing the assessment;
(c) the authority have requested advice from the head teacher of a school under regulation 7(1)(b) during a period beginning 1 week before any date on which that school was closed for a continuous period of not less than 4 weeks from that date and ending 1 week before the date on which it re-opens;
(d) the authority have requested advice from the head of SEN in relation to or other person responsible for a child?s education at an early education provider under regulation 7(1)(b) during a period beginning 1 week before any date on which that early education provider was closed for a continuous period of not less than 4 weeks from that date and ending 1 week before the date on which it re-opens;
(e) the authority have requested advice from a health authority or a social services authority under regulation 7(1)(c) or (e) respectively and the health authority or the social services authority have not complied with that request within 6 weeks from the date on which it was made;
(f) exceptional personal circumstances affect the child or his parent during the 10 week period referred to in paragraph (6);
(g) the child or his parent are absent from the area of the authority for a continuous period of not less than 4 weeks during the 10 week period referred to in paragraph (6)^
As the timescale has already been breached, could you please endeavor to complete the process as quickly as possible and ensure that the remainder of the timescale is adhered to as per SEN COP.
?7:93 LEAs should always strive to ensure that any delay arising from the exceptions is kept to a minimum. As soon as the conditions that have led to an exception no longer apply, the LEA should endeavor to complete the process as quickly as possible. Any remaining components of the process must, of course, be completed within their prescribed periods, regardless of whether exceptions have delayed earlier components."
How does that sound?
Am i making it clear what i want them to do?
Do i need to quote relevant SEN COP or can i just refer to it to keep letter shorter?