Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

I thank the noble Lord for his amendment. I will take careful note of the strong commitment around the House to the early detection of learning difficulties such as dyslexia. In this House we have a great deal of expertise on the subject and a great deal of commitment, passion and concern about children and young people who are affected in this way. I cannot stress enough how much note I take of what has been said now and in the earlier debate. Noble Lords have referred to Sir Jim Rose’s review, which was recently concluded and published. The Government have accepted his recommendations. His report offered the clear advice to government that there are better ways to identify children at risk of literacy difficulties and dyslexia. He advised us that the best way is to closely observe and assess their responses to pre-reading and early-reading activities in comparison with their typically developing peers in the reception year of primary school and beyond. As noble Lords are aware, the review found that the first step advocated in identifying that children may have language learning difficulties, including dyslexia, is to notice those making poor progress in comparison with their typically developing peers, despite receiving—this is an important point that noble Lords have made in the past—high-quality, wave 1 literacy activity. In other words, children who are failing to thrive despite significant expert literacy intervention.