One in Five: The assessment and incidence of special educational needs Paul Croll and Diana Moses, Foreword by Professor Gerald Bernbaum Routledge and Kegan Paul, 168 pp. £12.95

particular side, but rather favouring the thorough overhaul of present provision, rather than its dismantling, is firmly based in data and information, which is clearly set out and instructive. Perhaps the only question which is left begging, is about where the demand for change, in the ’welfare pluralist’ mould, is coming from. That there has been a middle-class entrée into local authority and voluntary sector services, concurrent with an increase in support for greater professionalisation is evident. How this affects the assumption that grass-roots feeling is the locus of support for less statutory and more localised services, remains to be seen. It cannot be said with any certainty that the voluntary sector itself actually wants the sole responsibility for welfare and personal social services. As Brenton points out, its strongest feature to date has been its capacity for criticism and innovation, which would surely be undermined and compromised even more than at present, by total dependence upon government funding.