The Children, Schools and Families Bill, which is currently passingthrough Parliament, includes a section exempting local authorities fromproviding such children with full-time education where "impracticable"or "inappropriate".
Amanda Batten, head of external affairs at the NAS, said the clausecould equate to a "get out of jail free card" for councils.
"We're worried that if local authorities find it expensive to providefor ill and excluded children they could say the cost of services makesit impracticable to do so," she explained.
Batten added that the bill should not make local authorities solelyresponsible for assessing the needs of ill and excluded children.
"We think there's a conflict of interest there," she said. "We wantthere to be independent assessments."
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