Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

I wish to speak also to Amendment 123. The Committee knows that my eye is apt to be caught by small words. I read through Clause 40 with some reservations and agreeable sensations. New Section 15ZA(1) states: ""A local education authority … must secure that enough suitable education and training is provided to meet the reasonable needs of persons in their area"." I eventually came to new subsection (8), which states: ""But a person is not to be taken to have a learning difficulty solely because the language (or form of language) in which the person is or will be taught is different from a language (or form of language) which has at any time been spoken in the person’s home"." In other words, we are looking at somebody for whom English is a second language. I wondered what "solely" was intended to mean. It seems reasonable that somebody having English as a second language should never of itself be considered a form of learning difficulty. Then I considered where this might bite. It seems to me there is a grey and worrying area if somebody who has English as a second language and speaks some other language at home—his parents speak only that language—also has a communication difficulty such as we discussed on the previous amendment. There is a great danger that the existence of this subsection will blind those looking after him to his actual and real needs. I can see that the noble Lord is looking at me with some reservations. I am used to that but I hope I can reassure him that this is a reasonable request. If somebody is having difficulty with a language which is his own, it is immediately apparent. If he is having difficulty with a language which is not his own, it is not apparent that that difficulty springs from anything except the fact that it is not his own language. I am anxious that people in danger of being caught in that situation should be protected, which is why I have asked that at the end of new Section 15ZA we should point out in an additional subsection: ""In this section "reasonable needs"—" That is where the new section started— ""includes the need to communicate effectively in English"." That is where we finished the debate on the previous amendment. I think we are agreed that that is a necessity for somebody. I think we are already apprised of the fact that an inability to communicate effectively leads to great frustration and can lead to criminality. Seeing something, wanting it badly and not being able to explain what you want or why you want it so badly leads people eventually to take it and not obtain it in the proper way. There is a related consideration in Amendment 123.