Children and Families Bill

Debate between Earl Attlee and Lord Low of Dalston

Wednesday 6th November 2013 Grand Committee

[Lord Low of Dalston]

I entirely agree with the noble Lord, Lord Storey, and the noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, about the name. It is not the name that is important. What is important is that we have a graduated approach and that we have some way of institutionalising that so that there can be no doubt that that is the system being operated.

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken in this debate. Turning to the suggestion made by the noble Lord, Lord Touhig, I am a new kid in this school, but I intend to survive the next reshuffle, whenever that may be.

The amendments in this group all seek in different ways to amend Clause 62, which puts a duty on appropriate authorities to use their best endeavours to secure special educational provision. It is clearly a very important issue.

In answer to my noble friend Lord Addington, I have not heard too much from him, and I doubt I ever will. I suffered from mild dyslexia when I was young, as did my father. I struggled with maths and English, but in engineering workshop theory and practice, I got a grade 1 assessment and O-level, whereas in maths I got 9 double-minus.

On Amendment 192, the noble Lords, Lord Low and Lord Touhig, along with my noble friend Lady Sharp are absolutely correct to emphasise that schools should match the support that they provide to the child’s needs. This is known in practice as a graduated approach, and we are going to keep it. I agree with my noble friend Lord Storey and the noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, that it is not so much the name that matters but the approach.

The new SEN code of practice replaces school action and school action plus with a simplified approach to SEN support. This focuses attention on the individual needs of the child, requires schools to review how effective their support is and involves parents much more closely. This is exactly the sort of graduated approach that I believe the noble Lord, Lord Low, and other noble Lords are calling for.

The noble Lord, Lord Low, in effect asked for evidence of the need for change. We are making these changes because, as Ofsted’s 2010 review of SEN found,

“current systems focus too much on whether pupils receive additional services, and too little on the impact of their support”.

In the other place, my honourable friend the Minister for Children and Families made a commitment that, while developing the code, we would refine these proposals through work with a broad range of experts. Since then, officials within the Department for Education have met academics, school leaders, members of the Special Educational Consortium and more than 300 SENCOs. We are extremely grateful to all those who gave their time. As a result, I believe that the current code provides a much clearer framework for schools, informed by those working directly with pupils.

Children and Families Bill

Debate between Earl Attlee and Lord Low of Dalston

Monday 4th November 2013 Grand Committee

[Earl Attlee (Con)]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Low, for moving Amendment 142A.

The new clause seeks to replicate Clause 76 in the Care Bill, which would establish registers for visually impaired adults. The RNIB has, understandably, raised concerns that such measures for those under 18 are missing from this Bill. I agree with the noble Lord about the critical role of the register in planning services. However, local authorities are already under a duty to maintain a register of disabled children and young people under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989: the noble Lord, Lord Low, referred to the 1948 Act. This register includes blind children and young people; changes proposed through the Care Bill will not remove this duty. The RNIB, and the noble Lord, report that local authorities sometimes neglect their duty to maintain such registers. However, the same risk and difficulty would apply with the proposed new clause. It provides no greater statutory guarantee than that already provided by the Children Act.

We want to ensure that local authorities are effectively meeting the needs of blind or partially sighted children. There are a number of requirements in the Bill that should achieve this. Clause 22 requires local authorities to identify,

“children and young people in its area who have or may have special educational needs”.

Clause 26 requires local authorities to make joint commissioning arrangements that include consideration of the education, health and care provision reasonably required by local children and young people with SEN. Clause 27 requires them to review the special education and care provision that is available locally.

Together, these provide a clear framework that requires local authorities to plan for and meet the needs of children with SEN, including blind or visually impaired children and young people. Following discussion of this issue in another place, the Minister for Children and Families committed to give further consideration to these issues. Officials from the Department for Education met with the RNIB to agree a way forward. As a result, page 36 of the draft SEN code of practice highlights the importance of using the registers to plan services. The code states:

“Local authorities are required under schedule 2 of the Children Act 1989 to maintain a register of disabled children in their area. These registers are particularly helpful for providing data on low-incidence needs that can be difficult to predict from national data sets.”

The noble Lord, Lord Low, referred to low-incidence needs.

I hope this removes any doubt or misinformation that registers of disabled children are somehow no longer required. I hope that the duties in the Bill, along with the additional guidance added to the SEN code of practice, provide sufficient reassurance that we expect, and require, local authorities to identify and meet the needs of children and young people with a visual impairment. I therefore hope that the noble Lord, Lord Low, will feel able to withdraw his amendment in due course.

[Lord Low of Dalston]

I am grateful to the noble Earl for his response, which I shall want to read with care. At first blush, it does not really persuade me that the case I made when I moved my amendment has been answered. The noble Earl referred to the Care Bill and its provisions but those apply only to adults, not to children. He also referred to the general registers of disabled children which are maintained under the Children Act. However, as I have indicated, these do not seem to work very well and are certainly not visual-impairment specific. They do not, in any way, reproduce the visual-impairment specific registers which we have been used to using ever since the National Assistance Act. There has been long-standing provision for visual impairment registers and I cannot understand the reason for removing it from statutory provision.

The Minister referred to the code of practice and I will certainly want to look at that. Indeed, I will look carefully at the full text of what the Minister has said. However, at first blush, it does not seem to me that a reference to the Care Bill, the general registers maintained under the Children Act or the code of practice really amounts to the same sort of provision as visually impaired people and their organisations have been used to enjoying since the registers were introduced under the National Assistance Act. I do not really understand the reason for removing that provision.

All sorts of discussions have taken place between the RNIB and officials. I have not been involved in them and I would be very grateful if the Minister would agree to meet me to talk this through before Report in the hope that we can get a resolution of this matter. That would avoid the necessity to bring back further amendments which might be of a divisive nature on Report.

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I, or my noble friend Lady Northover, would be delighted to have any meeting as suggested by the noble Lord.

[Lord Low of Dalston]

I am very grateful to the Minister for that. I have experience of his courtesy and willingness to spend time discussing matters of mutual concern. I should be very glad to take him up on that offer. As I say, I hope that in that way we will be able to reach a resolution that will avoid me having to bring the matter back on Report. For now, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

West Coast Main Line

Debate between Earl Attlee and Lord Low of Dalston

Monday 29th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I suspect that the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Oldham, is thinking: there but for the grace of God go I. In defence of the noble Lord, he had to come to this House and explain the problems at HMRC, which, frankly, I think he did.

[Lord Low of Dalston]

My Lords, like the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, who spoke earlier, I do not wish to join in any hue and cry, but does the noble Earl not agree that what has happened calls into question the wisdom of the Government’s approach to downsizing the Civil Service as a response to the economic problems that the country faces? Does he not agree that this situation might suggest that they have been going too far and too fast in this? Is it not the case that what has happened here strikes a body blow at the credibility of government processes? When next we get a statement from any department that says that it has employed the most robust processes it is possible to conceive of, who is going to believe that?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, as Sam Laidlaw has stated, these are initial views about potential contributory factors that he will continue to investigate in advance of his final report. Laidlaw has chosen not to criticise any particular individual or groups of people. Tackling the deficit and getting the public finances in order require the Government to tighten their belt like any other organisation. In doing its bit, my department made careful and well considered reductions in its headcount that were designed to save the public money while continuing to deliver on all its priorities, including rail franchises.

Disabled People: Transport

Debate between Earl Attlee and Lord Low of Dalston

Thursday 20th January 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Low of Dalston]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will support the recent compromise agreement reached through the conciliation procedure on the proposed European regulation on bus and coach passenger rights, and what further steps they are taking to meet the United Kingdom’s obligations under Article 9 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, the UK Government intend to support the compromise agreement reached by the Conciliation Committee in respect of the EU regulation on bus and coach passenger rights when it is put to the Council for formal approval. The UK Government are currently preparing a report on what the UK is doing to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

[Lord Low of Dalston]

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for that reply. As regards the provision introducing mandatory disability awareness training for personnel dealing directly with the travelling public, will the Government take Transport for London’s current approach of training all staff in disability awareness as the benchmark for all bus operators? Cannot the five-year exemption for drivers be viewed as unnecessary?

Transport: Bus Stops

Debate between Earl Attlee and Lord Low of Dalston

Monday 22nd November 2010 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, my noble friend is right that we have spent a lot of money on building buses that provide wheelchair access. That is wasted if an inconsiderate and selfish motorist parks in a bus stop. On prosecutions, we will encourage local authorities to prosecute and use the powers they have available, but we will not micromanage them.

[Lord Low of Dalston]

My Lords, picking up the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, the problem of which I am most aware is that of cars parked illegally on pavements. Can the Government encourage the police to enforce more effectively the regulations that prohibit this? Essex Police has a very good scheme, I am told, that is making a difference. Perhaps the Government could encourage other forces to take a leaf out of Essex’s book.

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I am not aware of what the Essex police have done, but I am fully aware that parking on pavements, especially when it is unexpected and there are no traffic signs allowing for such parking, is particularly dangerous to people with impaired vision.