PLANS to integrate a visual impairment service which helps provide support for a number of children and young people across Gwent has received the go-ahead from Torfaen council.

The Gwent Visual Impairment Service, which caters to all the five members of the south east Wales consortium, is currently operated by Caerphilly Council.

Members of Torfaen’s cabinet approved plans which will see the service brought into line with two other operations, which benefit the consortium but will be managed by Torfaen, in 2017.

As part of the Sensory and Communications (SenCom) support service, the visual aspect will be managed by the authority, which already administers the Hearing Impairment Service and the Communication Intervention teams.

“This has been the subject of detailed conversations with other inputs, particularly with Caerphilly, who had the responsibility for this element prior to us,” said Cllr David Yeowell, the executive member for education.

“It makes sense to have all of these services effectively in one place.

“I suppose it’s testament to the high regard that the Torfaen education service is held in that there is common agreement that we are best place to handle this issue.”

As part of the restructuring, staff from Caerphilly will be brought into work within the service once it moves into Torfaen’s remit.

“They are or were very much separate entities working across the five authorities and what we’ve been working up towards achieving is actually bringing those services in alignment, looking at how we can share our expertise,” said Roger Thurlbeck, the head of SenCom.

“There’s a huge amount of skill and experience across the three teams. We want to make sure that we make the best use of those for our most vulnerable learners.

“As we’ve developed our practices together, in a collaborative way within that building, we have realised that we are coming up against barriers which are stopping us from moving onto the next level.”

The service will be brought over to Torfaen, subject to the business case receiving cabinet approval, next year.

Around 1,700 children and young people across Gwent, including those living in Blaenau Gwent, Newport and Monmouthshire were supported by SenCom in their academic needs in 2015/2016.