Children and Families Bill

Lord Storey Excerpts

Wednesday 29th January 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Storey (LD)]

My Lords, never again will a pupil with medical conditions be excluded from full or part-time education, school trips, physical education and extra-curricular activities because of their medical condition. I applaud the Government for the stance they have taken in this area, as do the voluntary and charitable sectors. This is light years from where we were before. This document, which is still for consultation—that will be an opportunity to feed in many of the issues—is one of the best things I have seen. It deals in detail with a whole host of issues. A few things are missing from that document, and I look forward to feeding them in during the consultation period.

The important thing for me, which is in the document, is that governing bodies will have the responsibility to ensure that the procedures are followed and that when a school is first notified that a pupil has a medical condition, action will follow. Governing bodies will also ensure that the policies cover the role of individual healthcare plans. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, on this—and I will be interested in the Minister’s reply—as I cannot envisage a situation where a child or young person who has a medical condition would not have a healthcare plan. I cannot get my head around that, as it seems obvious. This is not bureaucratic or about more clerical work, but just plain common sense. I hope that the Minister will respond to that point.

I like the point made in this document that supporting a child is not just the responsibility of the school but a partnership between professionals and the parents themselves. I also like that GPs will have responsibility for notifying schools when a child has a medical condition. That is important, and it has often not happened in the past. I will end by thanking the Minister for taking this important issue forward, and I look forward to his response on the issue of healthcare plans.

[Baroness Howe of Idlicote (CB)]

My Lords, I also put my name to this amendment, and I very much support everything that has been said so far on these issues. I congratulate the Government, and the noble Lord, Lord Nash, in particular, on having listened to what Peers and charities in the Health Conditions in Schools Alliance have said. They have done a great deal to work out a way forward. Again, I will not repeat the many things that have already been mentioned, which are now on the table to be worked out in detail, but the area that perhaps interests me more than any other is the role of governing bodies in ensuring that teachers in schools have the training and expertise that their staff require to cope with situations.

We all know that there is a shortage of qualified school nurses; we hope to hear from the Government how their number might be increased. It is not only that; an area that worries me concerns those with special needs that also involve mental health problems. Those students may well need guidance from an increased number of educational psychologists, among others.

We all want to hear from the Minister what plans the Government have to ensure that this partnership between so many organisations will be delivered to the benefit of children and families generally, so that they will feel—as they have not felt in the past—that they are being supported in the situations that they have to cope with and have always tried their best to cope with. However, they have felt very much that they did not get the help they deserved. I thank the Minister for what he has done so far and hope that he will be able to reassure us still further on some of the areas about which we have concern.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Howe of Idlicote]

I support the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton. She is a real expert in this area and it was important that she put this amendment down. I would like to stress one particular point—the role of the school in all of this. At one stage I came across a group of schools that had a very effective policy of dealing with this situation. Their method was to have a mentor for each pupil who entered the school, and the child who was mentoring got merit points for successfully introducing and making life smooth for the new student. I very much hope that we can do a little more to find out what group of schools that was—I regret to say that I have lost my details on it. It seems a very good example of best practice to sell right across the stage of all schools. As we know, it is not just a question of bullying in schools—there is bullying in all forms of life, including employment when you grow up as well.

I hope that the Minister will take all this very seriously. The role of school governors is important, and I should perhaps have mentioned earlier that I am president of the NGA. I think we have a meeting with school governors and the Minister shortly, and this is one of the items that it will be important to put on the agenda.

[Lord Storey]

I support my noble friend Lady Brinton on this excellent probing amendment, and will briefly take the opportunity to say that often the bully needs support as well. I have seen many occasions where that support has been given to the bully. Sometimes the bully, with the support of the parents, is referred and the problems are sorted. I say this with great caution but often, quite rightly, we put all our emphasis on the poor child or young person who is being bullied and we forget about the bully. Often with the bully, it is a cry or plea for help. As well as doing all the excellent things that my noble friend Lady Brinton is saying we should, we have to find and understand that need.

[Baroness Howarth of Breckland (CB)]

My Lords, I had not intended to intervene on this at this late hour, but I am tempted to, as I thought that every school had to have a bullying strategy and that there was a code. It may sit dustily on a shelf in the headmaster’s study but it is supposed to be there. I thought schools had to have a practice and some sort of plan to involve children and young people in that strategy. ChildLine has certainly produced peer programmes down the years where young people have worked together to prevent bullying themselves, through their councils. Much as I support the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, in her efforts, it is my understanding that this should already be in every school.