ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of some of the developments taking place and future directions in Parent Partnership Schemes since provision of GEST funding. GEST stands for Grants for Education, Support and Training. It is used by the Department for Education and Employment to ‘pump prime’ ‘training and development initiatives in LEAs. GEST funding for SEN Parent Partnership Schemes has been provided for three years, with April 1996 to April 1997 being the final year. Bids from LEAs were submitted to the DFEE of which 60 per cent of the funding came from GEST and 40 per cent from the LEA. Most LEAs in England applied for and received funding, the bids in this final year ranging from £300 for the City of London to ¿116,000 for Coventry. (Actual allocations have ranged from £300 to ¿97,000 for Nottinghamshire.) Over the three years the total allocated by the DFEE has been ¿11.3 million.
