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Children, Schools and Families Bill

My Lords, when I first joined the Army, I was introduced to an acronym by my first company sergeant-major, the word KISS, which stands for "keep it simple, stupid". It is quite late, and I do not want to enter into any of the discussions which have been so eloquently and impressively deployed in the House this evening. Instead, I would like to draw attention to three things that I feel are missing from the Bill which, had we had a Committee, I would like to have seen included, because I believe that they are missing not just from this Bill but from other Bills that we have discussed on the Floor of this House. I will refer to them by the clauses in the Bill. I would first like to draw attention to Clause 10, which refers to areas of learning for the first and second key stages in the curriculum. Proposed new Section 83A(3) of the Education Act 2002, introduced in the clause, refers to, ""understanding English, communication and languages"." Clause 10 also introduces proposed new subsection (2A) of Section 87 of the 2002 Act, which says that, ""the Secretary of State may by order specify in relation to the areas of learning set out … such assessment arrangements, as the Secretary of State considers appropriate"." We are in the age of the information revolution, but unfortunately, while the land of blog and Twitter may occupy people, the ability to communicate verbally with people is dangerously lacking in far too many of our young people. As I have said on the Floor of this House before, lack of communication skills is, in many ways, the scourge of the 21st century. I do not believe that it is right that we should have an education system which does not begin with enabling all children to communicate with the teacher, and therefore engage in the system. Unless they can do that, there simply is no engagement with the education that we are talking about. In two instances, we know that action is being taken on that. The National Health Service in Northern Ireland has laid down that every child is to be assessed at the age of two for their communication abilities. That not only identifies possible special educational needs and learning difficulties, but acts as a trigger as to where some help may be needed. In the recent apprenticeships Bill, it was agreed that every young offender would receive assessment when they went in to a young offender institution to a scheme laid down by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and the Children’s Communication Coalition. We have done that because we realise that the children coming into young offender institutions at the age of 15 are lacking something which, if they had been provided with it earlier, might have prevented them going down the crime route which ended up with them in a YOI. If we recognise that that it is necessary at 15, why not do it much earlier before education starts? Two weeks ago, I went to Walsall to launch an impressive speech and language assessment scheme, which a secondary school was starting. It had realised that children were coming to it from primary school unable to communicate properly, which was damaging their engagement with what the secondary school had to teach. That was not a start-up, because it was taking on board a very successful scheme pioneered in Salford a long time ago. Therefore, I would have hoped to have some acknowledgement in the Bill that that assessment is essential if all the rest is to be provided. Secondly, Clause 31, which refers to young offender education, states: ""In carrying out of their duties under those provisions and in carrying out any other function in relation to the youth justice system … a local authority shall comply with any directions, and act in accordance with any guidance, given to them by the Secretary of State"." That concerns me, because if every local authority is to conduct its own syllabus and make its own curriculum, there will be considerable inconsistency in provision throughout the country, which will hamper young offenders who are moved between areas and young offenders who may be sent to one part of the country who live in another. A whole lot of factors could make the provision of education worse I therefore raised that with the Minister last week when we met, and she kindly wrote to me today explaining: ""Local Authorities will need to adhere to statutory guidance"," which will include a curriculum embracing suitable education to meet reasonable needs. I accept that, but I ask her to confirm exactly who will lay down what those reasonable needs are and what suitable education is. The offender spectrum is vast in ability and need. If a funding agency, the Young People’s Learning Agency, is funding something linked to guidance that may not be abundantly clear, we do not have a satisfactory system. It needs tightening. That goes back to what I have said before on the Floor of the House: there is a need for the "what" to be laid down very clearly so that the "how" can be delivered appropriately not just for the child concerned but also for the part of the country in which they live. The last group to whom I shall refer is covered by Schedule 1. Those are children who might be described as having special educational needs, children who have exceptional provision of education and therefore might qualify for Clause 9 provision. They may need a power for the community to provide facilities in Clause 15. However, I think that really they come under the duty of arrangements to identify children not receiving education. These are two groups of children who all too often slip through the net. One is children who are in care. When you go into a young offender institution it is frightening to see the large number of children who have come from care and look at the lack of education that they have had. Many of them have had a large number of care interventions, so it is hardly surprising that their education has been fragmented and inconsistent. I believe, however, that it is essential that something serious is done to try to put some coherence into the education of these people because they will arrive in adulthood seriously undereducated, and it is our fault. Another group being missed are the asylum-seeking children who are distributed among the social care systems throughout the country. They are not merely related to the port or airport of entry. What happens to them is entirely a lottery according to what the local social service in that part of the country decides to do. Some are left in bed-and- breakfast accommodation with absolutely nothing. Some are given access to education. Some have voluntary education schemes, including beginning to be taught English. But these are children who have dropped below the radar and nobody appears to be responsible for getting a grip of what is happening to them. I believe this Bill could provide the vehicle for laying down conditions for that to happen, which is why I would have proposed it if we had the possibility of having a Committee stage further on in this Bill. I regret that there may not be time for that but I still believe that the Government should take these issues on board.