It is not possible for the education and library boards (ELBs) to provide the exact costs of defending special educational needs tribunal and judicial review cases in each of the last five years as they do not hold records of the exact amount of time spent by board officers in preparing for and, if necessary, attending tribunals and judicial reviews.
I am advised by the chief executives of the education and library boards that, for both tribunals and judicial reviews, an average cost of £5,000 per case in respect of cases which are eventually heard and £1,000 for all other cases is appropriate.
£ 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 BELB 40,000 20,000 15,000 15,000 5,000 NEELB 18,000 57,000 52,000 29,000 29,000 SEELB 6,000 7,000 25,000 25,000 15,000 SELB 24,000 16,000 8,000 7,000 3,000 WELB 6,000 26,000 9,000 8,000 11,000
£ 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 BELB 0 5,000 5,000 20,000 15,000 NEELB 10,000 0 10,000 5,000 0 SEELB 0 10,000 45,000 40,000 25,000 SELB 0 0 5,000 10,000 0 WELB 0 0 0 5,000 0