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Education and Inspections Bill

The noble Lord is generous. I understand that we have an agreement to carry on until half past ten, but not to one minute past midnight. If noble Lords take a different view, I am happy to stay here longer and give the core response. Indeed, I think I am giving the response on the ““Today”” programme at seven o’clock in the morning, so I could rehearse it with your Lordships before I have to deliver it to a rather larger audience. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Dearing, that we intend, as is our duty, to give serious consideration to the report. We will respond once we have done so. Some significant issues are raised. On the specific amendments, we agree with the underlying principle of Amendments Nos. 17 and 84, moved by the noble Baroness, Lady Buscombe, that there should be a sufficient range of good quality provision available for children with special educational needs and disabilities to provide a choice for parents of children with SEN statements. Such provision should include sufficient provision of special schools and resourced special needs provision within and attached to special schools. Local authorities can arrange admission to non-maintained special schools and independent schools for children with statements where that is necessary, and can also collaborate to ensure that a range of provision is available. The report to which my noble friend Lady Massey referred—the audit of low-incidence special educational needs—which was completed two months ago, refers in particular to the importance of collaboration between local authorities on a regional basis, especially small unitary local authorities that may not be able to make provision in all the key specialisms that are important to ensure that they have a sufficient range of provision. However, we believe it is for local authorities to take decisions about the range of provision they maintain. From my experience of local authorities, I like to think that they are not motivated in what I took the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, to think are almost perverse ways. That is not to say that there are not individuals in local authorities who have views that are not mainstream thinking in these areas, but local authorities have to take democratically accountable decisions in a proper fashion and I believe that most of them take their duties in this area immensely seriously and consider them properly. The Bill will help local authorities develop a range of provision. It gives powers to local authorities so that they can propose specific requirements for special needs provision in new and existing schools within a school system that offers broader choice and more flexibility. Almost all local authorities already maintain special schools. For example, Newham, which is often referred to as one of the most pro-inclusive local authorities, maintains two community special schools. Under this amendment, Newham could have regard to the need to provide sufficient special schools and decide that two is enough. Rutland local education authority maintains a community special nursery school, but under Amendment No. 17 it would have to open up a primary and secondary special school. It would be a matter for debate how many special schools would have to open before the authority had a sufficient number to serve its very small population. In practice, we think that these decisions are best left to individual local authorities, and that the caricature that is often made of local authorities is quite unfair. I know Newham well because it was an issue raised by the Education and Skills Committee when I appeared before it to give evidence. If one looks at what is happening there, it is very different from the caricature that often appears in the media. Not only does it have two special schools, although it is often claimed it has none, but it has a great deal of resourced provision—unit-type provision—attached to its schools. If one looks at the population of pupils with special educational needs who have specially resourced provision, one of the areas that is most neglected is the provision of units and resourced provision in mainstream schools, which is now a substantial part of the whole. There are about 80,000 children in special schools and 20,000 children in units attached to mainstream schools or in resourced provision in schools, and that number is rising. My view is that that type of provision is likely to increase over time, because it enables mainstream schools to perform their inclusive duties in respect of pupils with special educational needs much better, and to bring resourced provision, which is essential for those with more severe special needs, into a much closer relationship with mainstream schools. That will be part of the ongoing debate about how we can improve special educational needs. Section 14 of the Education Act 1996, which this amendment would affect, fulfils the public policy goal we are seeking to achieve. It applies to all schools, including special schools, and places a duty on local authorities to secure sufficient schools for the provision of primary and secondary education. Section 14(6) states that in exercising their functions to secure sufficient primary and secondary education, local authorities must have regard to, "““the need for securing that special educational provision is made for pupils who have special educational needs””." Those pupils will include children with statements who have needs which require specialist provision to be met, either in special schools or in units attached to mainstream schools. In response to the noble Baroness, I emphasise what my noble friend Lady Crawley said: the Government have no policy whatever of seeking to close special schools. We believe that such decisions should be taken in the light of local circumstances and the needs of the parents at a local level. In fact, the proportion of pupils with statements in special schools has risen over the past five years, which demonstrates that there is no national policy of seeking to close special schools. There has also been a growth in the population of SEN pupils in units and other resourced provision attached to mainstream schools. Turning to Amendments Nos. 36, 163 and 183, which seek to ensure that those undertaking certain roles have an understanding of SEN and disability legislation, I shall first set out the way in which school improvement partners are accredited and the nature of the SIP role in relation to children with special educational needs. The initial training, development, assessment and accreditation of school improvement partners is undertaken by the National College for School Leadership. This is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Education and Skills, working to a remit set by the Government. Included in its key objectives up to 2008 is a commitment to deliver a range of programmes that enable leaders of the school system to transform the quality of learning for all pupils. It is certainly not the role of SIPs just to focus on the academic achievement of the successful. The training and accreditation of SIPs focuses on data analyses of the performance of groups of pupils in schools—in particular, in identifying inequitable outcomes that might be occurring in the school, the factors which contribute to them, and the action the school should take. This is supplemented by detailed guidance on how the SIP should focus with theschool on issues that might affect vulnerable or disadvantaged groups of pupils. This guidance is in the public domain and I will send it to Members of the Committee after the debate. The guidance includes advice SIPs should consider about special educational needs, and how they should address barriers to learning and to issues regarding behavioural and emotional difficulties. They should consider whether systems can be used to design appropriate curriculum and pastoral support, monitor success and respond to changing needs, and focus on whether there are effective links with other support agencies to ensure that integrated support structures are in place for pupils with additional needs. The training and development of SIPs doesnot stop with the initial session provided for accreditation. SIPs take part in four days of professional development a year, provided in part by the national strategies and in part by local authorities deploying SIPs. School self-evaluation is a key starting point for the school improvement partner in the process of offering challenge and support to the school. There are special educational needs sections in the school self-evaluation form. The SEN evaluation framework will form part of the continuing professional development for SIPs. In carrying out their duties, school improvement partners will, of course, have to be aware of all the statutory duties that schools have. In the area of special educational needs and disabilities, schools must have regard to the special educational needs code of practice and use their best endeavours to make the provision that a child's learning difficulties call for. Under the Disability Discrimination Act schools must not discriminate against children with disabilities, and must make reasonable adjustments to prevent such discrimination. From December this year, schoolswill also be under a duty to promote equality of opportunity between disabled and non-disabled children. I turn to Amendment No. 163 on choice advice, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Buscombe. Clause 40 will ensure that local authorities provide advice to parents to help them make decisions about the choice of school for their child. Some parents find it difficult to navigate through the admissions process. That means that some children, often the most vulnerable, do not get the best from the choices available to them. The department’s guidance to local authorities on the provision of this advice to parents, issued at the start of April, covers the specific issues raised in the amendment, stating that advisers will need to know about special needs policy and provision for children with special educational needs, drawing on the knowledge and expertise of local parent partnership services, which I know has been welcomed. We will update the guidance to ensure that choice advisers can demonstrate, in addition to knowledge of SEN law and best practice, an understanding of disability legislation. Amendment No. 183 on professional standards for teachers was tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley. The new clause relates to professional standards. It is of course very important that teachers are properly prepared for working with children with special educational needs and disabilities. There is no issue of law here. The Secretary of State and the National Assembly for Wales already have the power to set professional standards for teachers, and currently do so in secondary legislation and associated guidance. As the noble Baroness recognised, we are currently revising those standards and working closely with the teacher training and development agency on seeking to improve them. There is no need to set out specific standards in primary legislation, which by its nature is inflexible and does not easily allow for changes to reflect developing awareness and importance of such issues. Revised standards for qualified teacher status, induction, threshold, excellent and advanced skills teachers were, as I said, recently issued for consultation in England. They offer for the first time a progressive framework for expectations of teachers at different points in their careers. Once revised, it is proposed that the new standards will include one which requires teachers to know and comply with current legislation on the well-being of children and young people, one that requires teachers to know and understand the role of others when dealing with children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, and one that requires teachers to communicate effectively with parents and carers. Taken together, those requirements will be stronger than the requirement in the amendment to demonstrate an understanding of SEN and disability legislation. We are also working with the TDA to strengthen the training that teachers receive in SEN and disability, which we recognise is an ongoing challenge to improve. We have commissioned the agency to take forward a £1.1 million programme of practical measures aimed at strengthening delivery for teachers in initial teacher training, those undergoing induction, and enhancing continuous professional development opportunities for those already in post. The SEN and disability populations overlap, but we recognise that they also raise separate issues.My department is developing an ambitious new training resource on implementing the Disability Discrimination Act in schools and early years settings, which will be made available to teacher training providers. Amendment No. 183 also refers to head teachers. The National College for School Leadership addresses issues relating to special needs and disability through its various programmes and activities, including special focus events. In accord with the NCSL's declared goal of ensuring the well-being and achievement of all children, the National Professional Qualification for Headteachers is currently being redesigned and will equip future school leaders to fulfil their responsibilities for the education of children with a variety of special educational needs and disabilities in a range of different contexts. In light of those assurances, I hope that the Committee will feel that the Government are alive to the issues being raised. We have further to go; we will respond in full to the report of the Select Committee in another place; but we are making progress.