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Special Educational Needs (Information) Bill

I should like to take this opportunity to congratulate again the hon. Member for Gateshead, East and Washington, West (Mrs. Hodgson) on securing the Bill and on trafficking it well through the House and, we hope, through to further discussion in the other place. I should also like to put on record my thanks to her and her staff for the discussions that we have had on the Bill, to produce a constructive set of debates. She has prompted a very important debate. In her opening remarks on Second Reading, she said that"““private Members' Bills come in all shapes and sizes””" and that"““special educational needs come in all shapes and sizes.””—[Official Report, 1 February 2008; Vol. 471, c. 558.]" and she is absolutely right in saying that. The Bill will help parents, schools and teachers to come to terms with how diverse special educational needs are, and I hope that, through the data that are collected, it will help to ensure that the strategies that are needed to address such issues carefully are in place. The hon. Lady spoke movingly about her experiences with her son Joseph and his needs. That was echoed by a number of hon. Members in their contributions on their personal experiences with SEN. Many people are affected by the issue; almost 20 per cent. of children are now on SEN registers. As a consequence, this can no longer be seen as a sideline issue; it is very much a mainstream issue for education to deal with. Given that children with SEN are eight times more likely than other children to be expelled from school and twice as likely to have no qualifications at the end of their school careers—again, as the hon. Lady suggested in her earlier contributions—we need to ensure that that tremendous waste is curtailed. Moreover, we need to ensure that we do not entrench disadvantage by incorrectly addressing the issues identified during the debate. Hon. Members on both sides of the House have made important contributions to the debate. My hon. Friend the Member for South-West Norfolk (Christopher Fraser) made an important contribution in Committee and on Second Reading. Indeed, he drew on his family's experience of SEN. We have also heard important contributions from the hon. Member for Luton, North (Kelvin Hopkins). Today, my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Mr. Chope) drew many incredibly important undertakings from the Minister in discussing amendment No. 1. My hon. Friend the Member for Forest of Dean (Mr. Harper), who is the shadow Minister with responsibility for the disabled, said something that resonated with me: information is not the outcome that we seek with the Bill, but it is the route to better outcomes for children. That sentiment drove a number of the amendments that hon. Members tabled both in Committee and on Report. The type of data is key, not just the collection of data for its own sake, and the Minister has echoed that sentiment in his comments. Particularly today, I feel that the discussion of teacher training yielded a great deal of clarification on the Government's position, although we have discussed that throughout the debates on the Bill. I remember that the hon. Member for Stourbridge (Lynda Waltho) made a contribution on training. She highlighted her inadequacy in SEN training when she was trained as a teacher and said that that issue still required a lot of attention. The thing that I found most helpful was the undertaking from the hon. Member for Gateshead, East and Washington, West to press the issue of training further, and to meet the Minister—I should be delighted to attend that meeting—to ensure that it is not forgotten. Her tenacity makes me certain that it will not be forgotten at all. Her commitment to the issue is welcome, and I look forward to doing what I can to support her. I know that she will not allow the Minister to dismiss the issue without a fuller investigation because she, like me, knows that the quality of teaching directly affects the outcomes for children. Perhaps, at that meeting, we can join together to persuade the Minister to place a burden on himself to undertake to work in his Department to co-ordinate research on teacher training. It is important that the initiatives that the Government have introduced, and which we all welcome, have an effect on what happens in the classroom. Like the hon. Member for Gateshead, East and Washington, West, I thank all the organisations that have taken so much time and trouble to develop briefings for everyone involved in these debates. There are many such organisations, but I shall mention just a few, including TreeHouse, the national charity for autism education which, throughout my time as an MP, has always taken the time and trouble to keep me informed about many issues, and has shown great support for our debates on the Bill. Xtraordinary People, the RNID, the National Union of Teachers, the National Children's Bureau, and the special education consortium, which the hon. Lady highlighted, have all provided important insights on which we, as parliamentarians, have been able to draw to ensure that our debates are as well-informed as possible. There has been no lack of initiatives from the Government on SEN. As I said on Report, I would detain the House far too long if I detailed each and every initiative introduced by the six Secretaries of State who have been in post since the Government took office 10 years ago. Each of them has taken the time to introduce some initiative or make an announcement on SEN. Importantly, the Bill's provisions will help us to see how those many initiatives translate into action in classrooms throughout the country. By collecting information and providing it to parents, we will ensure not only that the money that the Government are using is deployed effectively but that the initiatives result in pull-through on the ground—something about which concerns have been voiced in our debates. It is important that we have the information for which the hon. Member for Gateshead, East and Washington, West has called, so that we can drive up standards. I remain concerned that the ambition for children with SEN is not as high as it should be, and it is important that we do all we can to support those children throughout their educational lives. In conclusion, the hon. Lady called her Bill ““a catalyst for change””, and I hope that she is right. Baroness Morris of Bolton, who will work in the other place in support of the Bill, shares my enthusiasm for it. I am sure that the Bill will be safe in her hands, but she will pick up on the issues that I have raised, including teacher training, to make sure that we get the detailed information that will be useful to parents. There is a compelling case for the Bill, and I wish it well as, hopefully, it goes to the other place. Again, I congratulate the hon. Member for Gateshead, East and Washington, West, who has shown the energy, drive and commitment to make sure that it makes a real difference to this country.