Private Residential Special Schools (Registration) (Hansard, 16 May 1989)

§ Mrs. Gillian Shephard (Norfolk, South-West)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to require the registration with local authorities of private residential special schools in respect of their use and residential facilities. I am grateful for this chance to raise this important and topical matter in the House. It is important because it is about the welfare of children who are amongst the most vulnerable people in society—those with learning or behavioural difficulties or with physical or mental handicaps. It is important, too, because it concerns their placement in such schools by local authorities at tax and ratepayers' expense, and it is topical because, although the vast majority of these schools in England and Wales do a very good job, there have been some notorious cases in the past few years and recently which illustrate that, because of the current state of the law, those responsible have been unable to prevent such cases from occurring, to discover them promptly, or to take swift and effective action when they have been discovered. This Bill seeks to suggest ways of putting that right.

Children in need of special residential education are dealt with in one of three ways. They can be educated in a special school run by a local authority; they can be maintained by a local authority in a non-maintained special school, of which there are now 88 in England and Wales—they are non-profit-making concerns, usually run by trusts and in receipt of direct grant from central Government; or they can be educated, often on placement by a local authority, in a private residential special school.

Stringent requirements, in the form of the Education (Approval of Special Schools) Regulations 1983, govern the setting up and running of special schools run by LEAs and non-maintained special schools. Among other things, these regulations require that schools and their government be approved by the Secretary of State; that the premises must satisfy statutory requirements; and that non-maintained schools must not be run for profit. There are also requirements governing pupils' health, diet and religious worship. Regular reports have to be made to LEAs on statemented children and the teaching and care staff must be "suitable and sufficient".

In the case of non-maintained schools access must he allowed to representatives of local authorities which maintain a child in school, and the Secretary of State may withdraw his approval of a school if it fails to comply with the requirements either in these regulations or those in force under either section 10 of the 1944 Education Act or section 27 of the 1980 Education Act.

The contrast between these requirements and the regulations for the third category of school, the private residential school, could hardly be more striking, yet the same vulnerable group of children is involved. Private residential special schools are merely required to register and make annual returns under the Education (Particulars of Independent Schools) Regulations 1982. These, with their schedule, require information on numbers of pupils, details of public examinations, change of ownership and address, and any dismissals of staff on the grounds of misconduct. The numbers of statemented pupils, with staff qualifications, also have to be reported.

179 Section 11 of the 1981 Education Act points out that where an LEA makes arrangements for the provision of a statemented child at an independent school, the Secretary of State must approve it as suitable for statemented children and must consent to the child being placed there. There are 170 such private residential special schools in England and Wales at the moment, and of these 135 are approved under this section.

Schools are approved as suitable as a result of an inspection by Her Majesty's inspectors, who expect the school to meet the same standards as local authority schools and, according to the Department of Education, the inspection covers all the arrangements for the welfare of the children outside the classroom. An inspector may be accompanied by members of the social services inspectorate.

I make no criticism of either Her Majesty's inspectors or social services inspectors, but it must be accepted that nowhere in the legislation are there any requirements other than those criteria laid down 40 years ago in section 71 of the 1944 Act, that registration may be refused or withdrawn if the premises are unsuitable; if the accommodation is unsuitable or inadequate; if efficient and suitable instruction is not provided, or if the proprietor or any teacher is not a proper person. There is no mention anywhere of the arrangements that should be made for the care and welfare of the children or for their physical or moral wellbeing.

I have already tried to draw the attention of the House to the contrast between the regulations for this category of school and those governing local authority or non-maintained special schools, but there is an even more striking contrast between the paucity of regulation of these special schools and the arrangements for registration, to be enacted, I hope, through part 8 of the Children Bill, now in Committee, for registered children's homes. These arrangements are comprehensive and drawn up in accordance with professional realities, and indeed, could apply to private residential special schools, were these not already registered under section 11 of the 1981 Education Act, yet, I repeat, the same group of vulnerable children is involved. If these children require the care and protection afforded to them by the provisions made for local authority and non-maintained special schools and for residental homes, they cannot and should not be denied that same care and protection if they happen to be placed by a local authority in a residential special school run privately.

Unfortunately, examples of disaster are not difficult to find. In Norfolk events at the Buxton Red House school five years ago and at the then Walker Foundation school 180 in Burston caused immense concern. In Suffolk, tragically, at the Four Elms school, consistent abuse of the children was discovered to have taken place over a long period, and eventually the home was closed, but not before one distraught parent, who had learned that her mentally handicapped child had been regularly abused, arrived at the home and shot the teacher and officer in charge. Only last week, according to a press release from the West Mercia police, the co-proprietor of the Castle Hill school in Ludlow appeared before Ludlow magistrates on 14 charges of serious child abuse.

The law must be changed to allow more control to be exercised more effectively and with more accountability. If the state places children, especially vulnerable children, in a school at public expense, the state must provide an effective legal framework to protect them. To expect her Majesty's inspectorate or social services inspectors to perform a monitoring role at such schools when the law does not require them to do so and, in any case, her Majesty's inspectorate does not have the necessary expertise, is simply unrealistic. What is needed is expert monitoring carried out locally and on a regular basis.

The Bill therefore proposes that the Secretary of State for Education through her Majesty's inspectorate should retain responsibility for the education in private, residential special schools. Requirements for them should be brought into line with those expected of local authority and non-maintained special schools. The responsibility for registering the care, residential and welfare facilities of such schools should be placed with the social services department of the local authority in which the school is situated. Such dual registration would be welcomed by social services, would provide a balanced appraisal of the schools, retain a consistent role for both the Secretary of State for Education and for social services departments and, most importantly, would protect the interests of these vulnerable children. I hope that the House will support the Bill.