Commentary on Sections of the Act Part 2 – Additional Learning Needs Participation, United Nations conventions and access to information Section 6 - Duty to involve and support children, their parents and young people
22.Section 6 seeks to ensure that local authorities, governing bodies and others exercising functions under Part 2 place children, their parents and young people at the centre of decisions taken under the Act which directly affect them, and so enable them to participate in a fully informed way. It does this by requiring persons exercising functions under Part 2 in relation to a child or young person to have regard to the matters listed. In practice, this means that, for example, if a governing body is preparing an IDP for a child under section 14, it would need to provide information and support to the child and their parent to enable them to participate in decisions such as what ALP is called for by the child’s ALN, give them an opportunity to do so and take into account their views, wishes and feelings.