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Education and Inspections Bill

My Lords, I certainly support the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Buscombe, and if my noble friend Lady Warnock had been here—sadly, she had to leave as she had another appointment—she would have even more passionately supported both amendments in the group, particularly Amendment No. 32. From what I have seen on recent visits to special schools, there is a clear demand for them beyond that which is provided for. The result has been that children who are seen to need such places have had to be bussed long distances and so on. I would be in favour of the mainstream sector coping with as many pupils with special needs as possible and of the choice both of the parents and of the child being firmly taken into account—remember that these days we are very keen on hearing the views of the child in all these matters. However, major closures have taken place and the enthusiasm for new forms of dealing with problems tends to get a bit out of control, the momentum goes on and on, and suddenly you perhaps realise that there was some point to the old system and that you need to think again about it. The two amendments would provide just what is needed in that respect and provide time for a hard look at what is happening. In reference to the Question asked earlier by the noble Lord, Lord Morris, the gathering together of the human rights of people with disabilities applies at least as much to the whole subject of education as it does to the specific area that he referred to. Please—I hope that this issue will be taken seriously. I would like the Government to accept the amendments, because we need to take an urgent look at the whole situation. The Secretary of State would still be allowed to make exceptions, although I am a bit nervous about the inclusion of that provision.