Since the early 1990’s the theme of participation has been evident in legislation and government policy. In recent years many local authorities in this region have made significant strides in ensuring the participation of children in local decision making processes through youth councils and youth parliaments. At a national level the Children and Youth Board was set up to advise the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) on issues that affect children and young people in the UK.

The intention of these guidelines is to acknowledge that disabled children have the same rights as all children and to assist local authorities to support them in participating in the decision making process.

The right to participate in decisions which affect the lives of children and young people is supported by the legislation and policy documents listed on the right.

Children and Young People’s Plan (2005)

Local authorities have a duty to produce a single, strategic overarching plan for all services for children and young people by April 2006. The planning process should focus on the outcomes set out in Every Child Matters.

Every Child Matters: Change for Children

Every Child Matters: Change for Children is a recent strategic approach to the well-being of children and young people. Organisations involved with providing services to children, such as hospitals, schools, voluntary agencies and so on, will be required to work together in different ways to protect children and to help them achieve. Children and young people will have far more say about issues that affect them as individuals and collectively, and will be required to be involved in decision making at a local and national level. Every Child Matters sets out five outcomes: • Be healthy • Stay safe • Enjoy and achieve • Make a positive contribution • Achieve economic well-being

National Service Framework (2004)

Standard 8 of the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services (NSF) which focuses on disabled children and young people and those with complex health needs has participation as one of its key themes. Whilst the NSF primarily concerns health and social care services, its requirements on participation are useful guiding principles for education settings also. The active involvement of children, young people and their families in all decisions affecting them and in shaping local services is part of the vision of Standard 8, and one of the markers of good practice is that disabled children, young people and their families are routinely involved and supported in making informed decisions about their treatment, care and support.

SEN and Disability Act (SENDA) 2001

SENDA amended the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) (1995) and extended its coverage to include education from September 2002. A further amendment of the DDA will become law in December 2006 and will focus on organisational change rather than individual adjustments. It will bring in a specific duty to public bodies, which includes a requirement to encourage the participation of disabled children and young people. Schools are included as public bodies and so will be required to produce a disability equality plan to show how they intend to meet the needs of disabled pupils. This must include details of how disabled pupils will participate in this planning.

Special Educational Needs Code of Practice (2001)

Policies and practice to encourage pupils to participate in their education is outlined in Chapter 3 of the Code of Practice. The Code states: All children should be involved in making decisions where possible right from the start of their education … Participation in education is a process that will necessitate children being given the opportunity to make choices and to understand that their views matter.

Special Educational Needs Toolkit

Section 4 of the SEN Toolkit focuses on the issues of pupil participation. It states that children should be enabled and encouraged to participate in all decision-making process that occur in education including: • Setting learning targets and contributing to IEPs • Discussions about choice of schools • Contributing to the assessment of their needs • Contributing to the annual review • Being involved in transition planning • Learning to Listen: Core Principle for the Involvement of Children and Young People (2001) This Department of Health guidance laid out the core principles of the Children and Young People’s Unit with regard to the involvement of children. It stated that “The government want children and young people to have more opportunities to get involved in the design, provision and evaluation of policies and services that affect them or which they use”. This includes a specific effort to reach those groups of children and young people that have traditionally been excluded from participation approaches, including disabled children and those with special needs.

UN Convention of the Rights of the Child

• Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which states that “state parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child” • Article 13 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which states that “the child shall have the right to freedom of expression: this right shall include the freedom to seek, receive and import information and ideas of all kind, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child’s choice”

Youth Matters (2005)

Youth Matters is a government strategy for providing opportunities, challenges and support to young people. The issue of participation of young people in the decisions that affect their lives is central in this document. One of the four key challenges outlined is ‘how to engage more young people in positive activities and empower them to shape the services they receive’.