---

Education and Skills Bill

moved Amendment No. 211: 211: After Clause 141, insert the following new Clause— ““Traveller Education Services It shall be the duty of all local education authorities to establish a traveller education service which shall be resourced in proportion to the population of gypsies and travellers identified in the Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessments required under the Housing Act 2004 (c. 34).”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, Amendment No. 211 requires all local authorities to establish a Traveller education service, resourced in proportion to the GRT population in their area. We tabled this amendment to revisit some points made by the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, in his reply in Committee on 21 July. He said that, "““a good proportion of local authorities maintain a Traveller education support service … I have written to all local authorities to urge them to ensure that their provision is good””." Can the Minister tell us what response there was to this reminder? We pointed out that eight to 10 local authorities did not provide any Traveller education service, in spite of the fact that they had GRT populations, and there was anecdotal evidence that others were giving it very low priority. A Traveller education service worker recently told Frieda Schicker of the London Gypsy and Traveller Unit of his concern that Traveller education services in London are being quietly allowed to die, and there is no mention of Traveller education services on any of the London borough websites. What guarantee is there that Traveller education services will be maintained separately and not absorbed into the general funding for ethnic-minority achievement, and that when TES staff leave they will be replaced? Does the Minister agree that funding of Traveller education services should be separately identified in local authority budgets? What assurances can the Minister give that both funding and service quality will be maintained, commensurate with the number of GRT children in an area? The noble Lord, Lord Adonis, mentioned the importance of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Achievement Project, which was launched in 2006 to improve the quality of educational provision for, and the rates of attendance and standards of behaviour of, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils, and thus raise their attainment. He said that: "““Forty-seven schools in 12 local authorities are currently involved in that programme and a further 40 schools in 10 new local authorities will join the programme in the autumn of this year””.—[Official Report, 21/7/08; col. 1632.]" Can the Minister say whether that has happened and what results this programme has achieved so far? Perhaps a note could be placed in the Library, in view of the lateness of the hour. Could she give details of the schools involved, and any strategy for further expansion? Could she say how the Traveller education services are involved in the programme, and whether the department is consulting ACERT, as the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, so helpfully did on a number of occasions? The Minister went on to mention the publication, in February 2008, of The Inclusion of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Children and Young People, which offered practical advice to local authorities, schools, pupils and parents on how to raise attainment among GRT pupils. How are local authorities responding to this advice, and has there been any attempt to get feedback on the outcomes? The Minister commented on the e-learning programme, which began in 2004, and said that it had already increased pupil motivation, improved achievement and produced easier reintegration for those pupils who returned to school. In strand B, for key stage 4 pupils who had disengaged from education, he said that the majority of the initial participants had gained successful results in the first level of a wider skills GCSE. Since the majority of GRT pupils drop out of education by key stage 4, that seems to be a promising route to higher achievement. It would be good to have a further progress report—again in writing, if the noble Baroness prefers. Finally, I ask about a couple of points made by the Minister in his letter to the Traveller Law Reform Project, which he referred to in that debate. The letter referred to a suggestion by the TLRP that the duty in Clause 65 to assess the needs of young people with special educational needs should be widened to include all those disadvantaged in the education system. The noble Lord undertook that: "““Officials will work to explore if there is a way to take your concerns around this issue forward””." Can we have an update from the Minister? In the same letter, the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, said that DCSF officials were working to set up a group drawn from the GRT community that would meet to discuss ongoing and future education policy, and that he envisaged the group meeting twice a year. I have not heard, through my contacts with the GRT community, of any developments on that, and again it would be helpful to know what strategy the Minister has for taking the matter forward. Finally, I congratulate the DCSF on the outstanding success of Gypsy Roma Traveller history month, and thank the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, for the impetus that he gave to that project. I hope the current Minister and the DCSF will build on that achievement, which inspired and excited many people in the communities. I beg to move.