Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

We are not saying that we will not do it, or that we will not do anything. That is the most important thing. We are trying to ensure, first, that teachers are fully trained to spot children with learning difficulties or potential learning difficulties. I will just finish my point about what we are trying to do. We have made available £10 million to support the implementation of the recommendations that Jim Rose made. Do not forget that these included the point about closely observing and assessing the responses of all pre and early-reading activities. We are not, by any means, advocating doing nothing. We will also fund around 4,000 teachers to train in appropriately accredited specialist dyslexia teaching over the next two years. Surely that is a fundamentally important contribution; it is a huge step forward and, really, it is an acknowledgement of all the pressure to take positive action in this area that has come from this House. It is a huge response. We will be looking with the Dyslexia-Specific Learning Difficulties Trust and other partners at how we and they might best work together to implement Jim Rose’s recommendations and to encourage local authorities and schools to do so. We expect to provide further details about this in the autumn. In December 2008 the Department for Children, Schools and Families published Better Communication, the speech, language and communication needs action plan, providing the Government’s full response to the Bercow report. The action plan sets out plans for a series of initiatives to improve services for this group of children and young people, culminating in the National Year of Speech, Language and Communication in 2011. We have set aside £12 million over the next three years to support the additional costs of these initiatives. We are not just talking about initiatives; we are also putting funding behind them and that is obviously important. The noble Baroness, Lady Howe, referred to the Communication Trust and I CAN. I am sure the noble Baroness will be pleased to hear that the Communication Trust has been commissioned to develop training material on speech, language and communication needs and dyslexia for those working with young people who are in contact with the criminal justice system. I am sure the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, will be pleased to hear about that. It is another example of the action that we are taking. We are also providing funding totalling almost £1 million to Afasic, I CAN and the British Stammering Association through the CYPF grant programme to support parents of children with speech, language and communication needs. That is another positive action. The noble Lord, Lord Lucas, is correct that we have introduced new measures in the 21st Century Schools White Paper to support all children, particularly those who are falling behind. Every pupil will go to a school where they are taught in a way that meets their needs; their progress is regularly checked; additional needs are spotted early and quickly addressed; and every child will have a personal tutor. Every parent will know how their child is being supported in their areas of weakness and stretched to develop their talents, and receive real-time online reports about progress. There will be one-to-one tuition for any child aged seven to 11 who is falling behind and not catching up, and one-to-one or small group tuition at the start of secondary school for all those are behind. That last point addresses a concern expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Lucas. The noble Lord, Lord Low, made a very wide-ranging contribution and I could not attempt to answer every point that he raised, so I hope he will understand that, where I cannot, I may need to write to him separately. I can reassure him that the 139A assessment guidance or consultation already states that where it is felt that a young person would benefit from an assessment, they should get one. In response to another of the noble Lord’s points on the question of those in further education, further education providers often have their own assessment tools to screen for difficulties and can refer to the local authority and other specialist agencies if there is a previously undiagnosed difficulty or concern. They do not complete a 139A assessment, since the LSC is unable to accept one from this source. They may contribute to one or request one to be completed to include results of tests they carry out. Routinely providers may screen all applicants for foundation level courses for potential learning difficulties. Screening can include literacy and numeracy testing, speech, language and communication difficulties assessment and dyslexia. If a more complex difficulty is uncovered, providers can refer to specialist health professionals, such as clinical psychologists, or fund support strategies, such as the use of a learning assistant. Time does not permit me to describe fully all that process. We are also trying to ensure that the quality of training for those who are involved in the Connexions service is improved. We will write in more detail to the noble Lord, Lord Low. In conclusion, as a number of noble Lords noticed, this issue does go wider than the Bill, but I hope that, taken together with the other measures that I have described, as well as those we are taking through the Bill, that noble Lords will appreciate that there is a huge amount of work going on in this area. With those assurances, I trust that the noble Lord will be prepared to withdraw the amendment.