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Lords amendment: No. 7, in page 14, line 13 leave out "in their area" and insert
belonging to their area (in accordance with section 23(3) of this Act)".
§ Mr. Alexander FletcherI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.
§ Mr. FletcherThese amendments, which are of a technical nature, were moved in another place by my noble Friend the Minister of State to rectify a deficiency in wording.
The changes now written into the Bill take account of the fact that a fair number of handicapped pupils are placed in schools, especially residential schools, outside their own areas. The amendments make it clear that the powers and duties of an education authority relating to the assessment and recording of children and young persons and to the review of their special educational needs extend to pupils belonging to the area of the authority. In other words, recorded pupils, wherever they are placed for the purposes of their education, remain the responsibility of the home authority. The phrase "in the area" was open to the unintended interpretation that responsibility in all cases was determined by the pupil's actual location. We believe that the amendments clarify the matter.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Lords amendment No. 8 agreed to.
§ Lords amendment: No. 9, in page 14, line 22, after "Record" insert "of Needs
§ Mr. Alexander FletcherI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.
§ Mr. FletcherThese amendments were moved in another place by the Minister of State in response to Opposition amendments which had broadly the same intention but which could not be accepted for technical and drafting reasons.
The amendments seek to avoid the unfortunate connotations attached by some to the term "Record". We had a useful debate in Standing Committee as to the choice of terminology for the record of a child with special educational needs. I hope that those who took part in that 318 debate will find the new extended title, "Record of Needs", acceptable. They will be interested to know that this was suggested in another place by the noble Lord, Lord Ross of Marnock. We are extremely happy to agree with his choice of terminology.
§ Mr. O'NeillWe appreciate this move, as this was one of the most vexatious points that we encountered, not in the sense of party difference but inasmuch as it was felt by all members of the Committee that the term "Record" had unhappy connotations and that for those who are severely disadvantaged any attempt that could be made to alleviate the problem would be of assistance. The phrase "Record of Needs" is probably the happiest compromise. I should point out that the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire, East (Mr. McQuarrie) was of some assistance on this point. I am sorry, it was the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire, West (Sir R. Fairgrieve). As I recall, the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire, East was not of any great assistance. Unfortunately, the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire, West is not at present with us, and is unfortunately no longer on the Front Bench. Nor is his replacement present. If the hon. Gentleman had any part in devising the amendment when he was the Minister in charge of this, we put our thanks to him on record.
We are grateful that the word "Record" will no longer appear in such a bald fashion and that a perhaps slightly less offensive expression has been found to cover the special circumstances of those with special educational needs.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Lords amendment No. 10 agreed to.
§ Lords amendment: No. 11, in page 15, line 8, after "fails" insert "without reasonable excuse".
§ Mr. Alexander FletcherI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.
This Government amendment was tabled to improve the drafting of new section 61 by making explicit our intention that arrangements to require parents to bring forward their children for assessment should come into play only as a last resort.
I am sure that all hon. Members will agree that our primary interest in this area should be to encourage the common purpose of education authorities and parents. The sanctions will remain on the statute book, but I would expect them to be invoked, as at present, only in the extreme case of a child's claimant needs and a parent's intransigence.
§ Mr. O'NeillAlthough we would not wish to oppose the amendment, we should like to put it on record that all strenuous efforts should be made by the local education authority to ensure that an official makes contact with the parents within the reasonable period and that a personal approach would be attempted before having recourse to the law. My noble Friend Lord Ross of Marnock made this point elsewhere. It would be useful if the Minister would confirm that the Government feel that there is a responsibility upon the local authority to ensure that personal contact is made with the parents in question and that every possible attempt is made to persuade the family concerned by non-legal methods, to ensure that they do not have to go to court, which I am sure would be a very painful experience.
§ Mr. Alexander FletcherI appreciate the sensitivity on this point, and I agree with what the hon. Gentleman said. We reconsidered this matter when the Bill was in the other place. Obviously, this is an area in which every effort should be made to persuade parents of the need to make use of the provision. When a child requires special educational needs, the last thing one wants is recourse to the courts to take action. But, bearing in mind the sensitivity of the matter, we still felt that there could be an occasional case where for reasons of one kind or another the parents might simply refuse to recognise that their child had some special educational requirement.
We have left this very much as a last resort so that the local authority, having tried every other kind of persuasion, knows that it has the eventual power to ensure that the needs of the child are given first priority in such cases.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Lords amendment: No. 12, in page 15, line 32, leave out "14" and insert "21".
§ Mr. Alexander FletcherI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.
Opposition amendments were tabled in Committee and on Report in another place seeking to increase to 29 days and 28 days respectively the minimum time to be given to parents to submit written views on their children's special educational needs during the assessment process. This Government amendment, which substitutes a minimum 21-day period for the 14 days originally stipulated in new section 61, was accepted as a compromise reflecting the need to avoid unduly prolonging the assessment process while ensuring for parents adequate time to contribute to it.
I remind the House that in submitting written views the parent has the help of the named person. It is therefore felt that an increase from 14 days to 21 days is in all respects reasonable and in the interests of all concerned.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Lords amendment No. 13 agreed to.
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Lords amendment: No. 14, in page 17, leave out lines 37 to 39 and insert—
(3) An education authority shall ensure that the provision made by them under this Act for a recorded child or a recorded".
§ Mr. Alexander FletcherI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.
This Government amendment was tabled in another place to improve the drafting of this subsection by clarifying the responsibility of an education authority towards a recorded child or young person. That responsibility is not to be restricted to those whom the education authority has itself recorded or for whom it provides education in its own schools. The revised wording places beyond doubt the right of the recorded child or young person to provision for his special educational needs. Where, for instance, he moves from one education authority area to another, the responsibility to provide for him will transfer to the authority of the area to which he now belongs. But, on the other hand, where he is placed outside his home area in a grant-aided or independent school, his home authority which made the placing is still clearly responsible for him.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Lords amendments Nos. 15 and 16 agreed to.
320§ Lords amendment: No. 17, in page 27, line 13, leave out "may" and insert "shall".
§ Mr. Alexander FletcherI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.
§ Mr. FletcherThe first amendment is an Opposition amendment that was accepted by the Government. The second is the necessary consequential amendment tabled by my noble Friend the Minister of State in another place which incorporates a technical improvement in drafting.
The primary effect of the change is to place an absolute requirement on the Secretary of State to make regulations prescribing the form and content of the record of needs and matters relating to its handling and preservation. In practice, of course, as evinced in the recent consultative paper, my right hon. Friend's commitment to making the regulations has never been in doubt. As the provisions in the Bill concerning the record would clearly be unworkable in the absence of such regulations, however, it is appropriate to make the Secretary of State's duty in the matter explicit.
Apart from this, the Government amendment secures that the regulation-making power is now expressed in terms which ensure that all necessary information can be included in the record of needs. The original wording was found to be restrictive, and the additional flexibility provided by the amendment is essential.
§ Question put and agreed to.
- under paragraph (c) of this subsection, prescribe different procedures in different circumstances;
- under paragraph (d) of this subsection, prescribe different periods in different circumstances; and
- (iii)".
§ Mr. Alexander FletcherI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.
This Government amendment is technical. It is designed to improve the drafting of new section 65D by clarifying the Secretary of State's power to make different provision in regulations to meet differing circumstances arising in connection with the handling and preservation of the record of needs.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Lords amendment No. 19 agreed to.