EDUCATION officials are getting better at issuing statements for children with special needs.

Some children - around four per cent - need a formal statement of special educational need, prepared by experts such as educational psychologists.

By the end of February the majority of statements, some 53 per cent, had been issued by Bury Local Education Authority within the target time of six months

Mr Graham Talbot, acting chief education officer, said: "We are getting better, and things should get better under the new structure."

Members of the borough's education committee agreed to the new structure, which has been forced on them by cuts at their meeting on Wednesday.

A tier of management has been removed in the new structure, which covers educational psychologists and special support services for children with specific disabilities.

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