Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

Amendments 98 and 101 are indeed part of wider efforts—as my noble friend Lord Elton said, we will return to them—by your Lordships to secure appropriate provision for those who have learning difficulties by making sure that local education authorities’ duties include testing for and identifying those with learning difficulties and referring them to additional support if needed. As no doubt the Minister will inform us, the Bill already states that the LEA, ""must secure that enough suitable education and training is provided to meet the reasonable needs of persons in their area"." This includes those who are aged 19 or over but under 25 and are subject to learning difficulty assessment. We would agree that, so far as it goes, this is an important part of the duty of an education provider and we welcome the fact that it is included in the Bill. However, the amendment moved by the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, would make sure that the LEA takes an active role in seeking to ensure that it has done all that it reasonably can to screen for, identify and then assess any learning difficulty. This, as he said, is considerably more than is specifically provided for in the Bill. A superficial reading of new Section 15ZA(1) might lead one to conclude that the noble Lord’s amendment is already covered. A diligent LEA might not need to have it spelt out in the Bill that securing enough suitable education for all those for whom it is responsible includes screening, assessment and referral for additional support if necessary. Nevertheless, the worry would be that an overstretched, understaffed, inexperienced or underexperienced LEA might take a more passive approach and simply address the needs of those who requested extra assistance rather than imposing a rigorous assessment process to discover all those who might potentially require help. Without a thorough assessment of the problems, there can be no hope of adequately providing for those who need help. Amendment 101, one hopes, refines the definition of those who should be considered as having learning difficulties by mentioning specific conditions. It would be dangerous if some of the conditions in this list were not to be considered covered by paragraphs (a) or (b) of subsection (7). The noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, emphasised the ability to communicate, which encapsulates what most of these specific conditions come down to. I hope that the Minister will be able to reassure us on these matters.