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Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

My Lords, my name is attached to this amendment, along with that of the noble Lord, Lord Low, and I heartily endorse what he has said. I will speak briefly about one category of students about whom I am particularly concerned—disabled students who do not have a learning disability assessment to start off with and who are sometimes put at a disadvantage in post-16 provision and support. We know that, quite often, those who drop out of the school system at 16 and move into the college sector are found to have learning disabilities of one sort or another. It is vital, as the noble Lord, Lord Low, said, that at an early stage in their post-16 career assessments should be made and proper provision and support given to them. This was brought to my attention by my honourable friend in the other place, Annette Brooke MP. She had a constituent with learning difficulties who, after some time, signed up at a college to do a level 1 course. However, because by that time they were over 19, they got no support whatsoever. If they had been given a proper learning difficulty assessment at an earlier point, they would have been entitled to support through to the age of 25, but, as no such assessment had been made, no support was forthcoming. They were in some difficulty, although they could appeal to the college. That casework issue was brought to my attention by my honourable friend, as she felt that there was an anomaly. People do not necessarily have learning difficulty assessments but, when they get one later, they are then given the support that they need at that point, including financial support.