Education Bill

My Lords, I shall speak briefly, having not yet spoken at all on the Bill for a number of reasons. I support my noble friend in this matter. I particularly want to make the point that education does not exist in a vacuum and that education without an understanding of welfare—I have said this on a number of occasions—does not address the issues concerning children who will not learn unless those welfare considerations are addressed. I have asked on a number of occasions why this clause on co-operation is going to be taken out of the Bill. The answer that I have heard is that it is bureaucratic. Well, if it is bureaucratic, it is the kind of bureaucracy that I like. I have always felt that bureaucracy is not always a bad thing; some of it is really quite useful in terms of enhancing services. I speak as a practitioner in a number of areas, as an ex-director of social services and as someone who has been involved in three child abuse inquiries. I set up ChildLine and have worked with children directly and continue to do so. I know that partnership and co-operation are necessary in all those circumstances if you are going to make sure that a child is not being educated in a vacuum. Most children have some sort of difficulty. If we think about our own education and our own backgrounds, we will all identify some point of difficulty when we have needed help. It may not have involved co-operation with social services in the statutory sense, but that kind of understanding and partnership are crucial. However, they are not universal at the moment. I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, who I am delighted to sit and listen to again as an advocate for children, that we should not send out the message that it does not matter. At a time of extreme pressure and shortage of resources, it would then be very easy not to take the action that was really needed. There are some local authorities—there are people in this Room associated with them—where I know that it will happen; I am not concerned about those local authorities and education departments. I am concerned about where it does not happen. Co-operation has great value the other way round. Local authority social services departments can learn a great deal from education colleagues about what is happening to children. Teachers often know more from their day-to-day work than a social worker who sees the child now and again—I declare an interest as an ex-social worker of more years than I am prepared to admit to. Unless co-operation is written into the statute, which then frames it, some of that information will not come forward. The noble Lord, Lord Laming, was most eloquent on this matter, because he has been involved in many cases. I, too, have read most of the large cases; at present, I have to read serious case reviews as the chair of the children and families court service. I see time and again that the key issues are the exchange of information, co-operation, and people understanding about partnership. For these reasons, it would be disastrous if we were to remove the clause on co-operation. It is such a small thing for the Government to do in relation to what the benefit will be for children.