NOT all children with learning difficulties in Scottish schools are getting the support they are entitled to, the Scottish Government has said.
The admission from Alasdair Allan, the Learning Minister, follows the publication of an official report into how well councils are providing for pupils with additional support needs (ASN) such as autism.
There are currently more than 140,000 ASN pupils in Scotland - some 21 per cent of the school population.
However, the numbers vary markedly between different council areas prompting concerns from campaigners that thousands of pupils are missing out on support.
Only eight per cent of pupils in schools in North Lanarkshire have been identified with ASN compared with 32 per cent in Glasgow, 19 per cent in East Dunbartonshire and 37 per cent in West Dunbartonshire.
Mr Allan said: "Whilst I am reassured that broadly children and young people's learning needs are well met in Scotland, that does not mean that the focus on continuing improvement can be relaxed.
"There are groups of children and young people whose needs are less visible and therefore do not always receive the support that they need.
"It is those groups of vulnerable children and young people that we must strive to provide for as we continue to meet the needs of those children who are already identified and provided for."
Mr Allan said looked after children were one of the groups identified as lacking support.
He added: "We are aware that this group of children and young people's learning outcomes are not as positive as they could be.
"This report seeks to highlight some of these issues and the work currently being carried out by Scottish Government and other organisations to help address the difficulties encountered by this particularly vulnerable group."
The Scottish Children's Services Coalition (SCSC), a group of organisations who work in the sector, expressed concern over the "major disparities" across local authority areas and called for urgent action.
A spokesperson for the SCSC said: "We find it increasingly frustrating that we cannot get precise figures on the number children with ASN and this raises concerns as to whether some local authorities are fulfilling their statutory requirements.
"It is quite remarkable that we can ascertain the wild bird population, but we cannot establish a reliable figure for those with ASN, allowing us to see if there is an increase or decrease in this figure over forthcoming years.
"This inconsistency in gathering information on and identifying those with ASN by local authorities requires clearer and comprehensive guidance from the Scottish Government."
Under the 2004 Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act a statutory duty is placed on local authorities to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils.
ASN covers pupils with a range of issues including learning disabilities, dyslexia, a visual or hearing impairment, language or speech disorders, autism and social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.
The Local Government Finance Statistics 2014 indicate that education authorities spend just over £4.8bn on education in Scotland. Of that £555m is spent on
additional support for learning.
This equates to just over 11 per cent of the overall spend on education in Scotland. Although the amount spent has increased on last year the overall percentage spend remains the same.
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