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Education and Skills Bill

My Lords, I shall be as short as possible. I am particularly interested in the second part of the amendment, which refers to children in custody, This is by no means the first time that this issue has been raised. Indeed, as Chief Inspector of Prisons, I raised it in 1999 as a requirement to enable speech and language therapists to assess everyone coming in for what they could do, could not do, their communication difficulties, healthcare and so on. This went on to a trial proving that these people were indispensable in every young offender institution, not only in the areas of speech and language but to guide disciplinary staff, education, healthcare and so on. It was then picked up by the Bercow review, which reported this summer. A large part of that review is devoted to the desperate importance of assessment as early as possible. All the points in the amendment are in line with what the Government have known for some time and have had put to them on many occasions. I hope the Minister will accept that ministries such as the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Health should be included in discussions about the amendment, because the provision of people to do this will affect ministries other than the Department for Children, Schools and Families.