36The following section shall be inserted in the Education Act 1981, after section 3—
“3A(1)A local authority may make such arrangements as they think fit to enable any child in respect of whom they maintain a statement under section 7 to attend an establishment outside England and Wales which specialises in providing for children with special needs.
(2)In subsection (1) above “children with special needs” means children who have particular needs which would be special educational needs if those children were in England and Wales.
(3)Where an authority make arrangements under this section with respect to a child, those arrangements may, in particular, include contributing to or paying—
(a)fees charged by the establishment;
(b)expenses reasonably incurred in maintaining him while he is at the establishment or travelling to or from it;
(c)those travelling expenses;
(d)expenses reasonably incurred by any person accompanying him while he is travelling or staying at the establishment.
(4)This section is not to be taken as in any way limiting any other powers of a local education authority.”