---

Education and Skills Bill

I agree with a great deal of what the noble Baroness, Lady Morris of Bolton, said. Most special schools do a fantastic job. They are staffed by highly competent, professional, caring people and are wonderful and inspiring places. However, I do not agree with the noble Baroness’s solution. I am not in favour of a moratorium because local authorities need to be free to make their own decisions about the right provision in their area without having to have recourse to the Secretary of State. In addition, subsection (2) suggests that consent should be given only if there are places at, "““nearby special schools in sufficient number and of sufficient quality adequately to replace the places at the closed school””." It could be that the local authority has made such good provision in the mainstream with the support that the children need or in special units within mainstream schools to make it unnecessary to have every single one of those places available at another special school. The noble Baroness’s amendment would cut out the possibility of the mainstream coming up to scratch for children with special needs. That is the second reason why I cannot support this amendment. Many children with special needs are failed in mainstream schools, and I am as concerned as the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, about that. However, many mainstream schools make good quality provision where young people with special needs are well looked after and their needs are met. I fear that this amendment takes away the possibility of that being the alternative provision.