A public health specialist from the UK Health Security Agency, Una Geary, is arriving in Gibraltar this week to work with the Director of Public Health Dr Helen Carter and undertake a project to explore whether Gibraltar has more children with special educational needs than would be expected of a population our size.

The second stage of this project is then to explore what the potential causes for this could be. The project is anticipated to take 4 months and Una will be visiting Gibraltar twice during this time to meet with key individuals, organisations and charities.

The Director of Public Health, Dr Helen Carter, said: ‘I’m pleased to welcome Una to work with me on this project. We will be contacting a range of people to arrange meetings with Una over the next few months. If you feel that you would like to contribute please contact the public health team on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.’

Caretaker Minister for Public Health, the Hon Professor John Cortes, said: ‘The Government has provided unprecedented resources and improved provision for special needs education, and it is important that we understand as much as possible what we have seen an increase in these needs. I am delighted that we are looking further into this so that we can understand better the situation here and most importantly what we need to do to address potential causes while ensuring that future services meet the needs of our children as they move into adulthood.’