7.—(1) In this Part—

“Act of 2004” means the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004;

“appeals board” means the Special Education Appeals Board established under section 36 of the Act of 2004;

“appeals officer” shall be construed in accordance with section 16;

“applicant” means the person who is the subject of an application;

“application” means an application under section 9 to the Executive for an assessment;

“assessment” means an assessment undertaken or arranged by the Executive to determine, in respect of a person with a disability, the health and education needs (if any) occasioned by the disability and the health services or education services (if any) required to meet those needs;

“assessment officers” shall be construed in accordance with section 8;

“assessment report” shall be construed in accordance with section 8;

“child” means a person under the age of 18 years;

“complaints officer” shall be construed in accordance with section 15;

“Council” means the National Council for Special Education;

“education service” means a service provided by a recognised school or centre for education (within the meaning in each case of the Education Act 1998) or by a person or body specified by the Minister for Education and Science who provides a programme of education, training or instruction and “education service provider” shall be construed accordingly;

“head”, in relation to an education service provider, means the person who holds or performs the functions of the office of chief executive officer (by whatever name called) of the service provider;

“health service” means a service (including a personal social service) provided by or on behalf of the Executive;

“liaison officer” shall be construed in accordance with section 11;

“Minister” means the Minister for Health and Children;

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister.

(2) In the definition of “disability” in section 2, “substantial restriction” shall be construed for the purposes of this Part as meaning a restriction which—

(a) is permanent or likely to be permanent, results in a significant difficulty in communication, learning or mobility or in significantly disordered cognitive processes, and

(b) gives rise to the need for services to be provided continually to the person whether or not a child or, if the person is a child, to the need for services to be provided early in life to ameliorate the disability.

(3) References in this Part to the Council shall be construed as references to the Council with, in addition to the functions conferred by the Act of 2004, the following functions:

(a) to assist the Executive in the assessment of adults with disabilities and the preparation of service statements;

(b) to consult with the Executive, education service providers and such other persons as the Council considers appropriate for the purposes of facilitating the provision of education services to persons with disabilities in accordance with this Part;

(c) in consultation with the Minister for Education and Science and the Executive, to plan and co-ordinate the provision of education services to adults with disabilities in accordance with this Part;

(d) to assess and review the resources required in relation to educational provision for adults with disabilities.

(4) References in this Part to the appeals board shall be construed as references to the appeals board with, in addition to the functions conferred by the Act of 2004, the function of hearing and determining an appeal under section 11 (5).