Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

I will join the Committee debate for the first time. When I looked at the Bill and the type of briefing that came through, as my noble friend suggested, it was a step down memory lane. It seemed that a type of provision that we had almost taken as read in other education Bills was being ignored. It may well be that a series of protections about special educational needs and learning disabilities are entrenched in the Bill, but it is not obvious to those outside. The noble Lord, Lord Rix, is nodding his head in agreement. Many people feel that something has been missed, and that it is missing in the tone and presentation of the Bill. I would be happy if the Minister could give us a hint that the provision is in place because the idea hinted at in "disproportionate expenditure" is that something that is simply too expensive will be removed. I would have thought that the idea of reasonableness encapsulated in the DDA would have covered that with the cross-fertilisation of legislation. We have spent years trying to make sure that legislation applies across, yet something in the Bill seems to contradict that. People are starting to get worried. I hope that the Minister will be able to dispel a few of the demons that the Government have summoned. Are they going to make sure that arbitrary blocks will not be placed in the way of the education of those who have a slightly different learning pattern? What level does "disproportionate expenditure" mean? I do not know. In the past, it has meant something new and difficult. The Minister looks slightly perplexed, but let me assure him that I have sat in this Chamber for more than 20 years and have talked to various Ministers of various colours for whom doing something new and difficult was shocking and dreadful. Can the Minister give us an idea of where the Government’s thinking is going in the round, what they expect not to happen and how flexible they are going to be in the introduction of new technology and other things? All these things have recently been challenged in the press. I always talk about dyslexia on these occasions. We were recently told by one or two people that it does not exist. On one occasion, it was by a member of the Minister’s party—he looks surprised. It is true that he was flattened by members of his own party for that; the rest of us were queuing up to do it, but they got there first. Reassurance is required here. Can the Minister assure us that the existing safeguards and the structure that we expect are in place?