Scottish Government

Covering Letter

Learning Directorate
Support for Learning Division

E: claire.killen@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

1 July 2010

Dear Consultee

THE EQUALITY ACT 2010: CONSULTATION ON SECONDARY LEGISLATION THAT WILL ENABLE THE ADDITIONAL SUPPORT NEEDS TRIBUNALS FOR SCOTLAND (ASNTS) TO HEAR DISABILITY CLAIMS CASES IN SCHOOL EDUCATION.

I am writing to invite you to respond to a consultation paper on secondary legislation providing new rules of procedure for the Additional Support Needs Tribunals for Scotland ( ASNTS), to enable them to hear disability claims cases in school education. This consultation seeks your views on the proposed secondary legislation. Your views will contribute to the development of the new rules required by the ASNTS to deal with their expanded jurisdiction.

This consultation paper, and all other Scottish Government consultation exercises, can be viewed online on the consultation web pages of the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations.

Responses are required by 24 September 2010. The consultation questionnaire is provided at Annex A of the consultation paper. Please send your response with the completed Respondent Information Form (see "Handling your Response" below) also at Annex A to:

EqualityAct@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

If you have any queries contact Claire Killen at:

claire.killen@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

or

Claire Killen

General information about the Scottish Government consultation process can be found at Annex B of the consultation paper.

We would be grateful if you would submit electronic responses, using the consultation questionnaire provided at Annex A of the consultation paper, as this will aid our analysis of the responses received.

The Scottish Government now has an email alert system for consultations ( SEconsult: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/seconsult.aspx). This system allows stakeholder individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly email containing details of all new consultations (including web links). SEconsult complements, but in no way replaces, Scottish Government distribution lists and is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up to date with all Scottish Government consultation activity, and therefore be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest. We would encourage you to register.

A list of organisations that are being consulted is attached at Annex C of the consultation paper. Please feel free to alert any organisations or individuals that we have omitted, and you think should be consulted.

Handling your response

We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the Respondent Information Form (attached at Annex A of the consultation paper) as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government are subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public and after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be made available to the public in the Scottish Government Library (see the Respondent Information Form), by Autumn 2010. You can make arrangements to view responses by contacting the Scottish Government Library on 0131 244 4552. Responses can be copied and sent to you, but a charge may be made for this service.

What happens next ?

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us reach a decision on the secondary legislation. We aim to issue a report on this consultation process by Autumn 2010 and make changes to the ASNTS rules by early 2011.

Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to:

Name: Claire Killen

Address: Support for Learning, The Scottish Government, Victoria Quay, Leith, EH6 6QQ

E-mail: claire.killen@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

Claire Killen
Support for Learning Division
Scottish Government