Education and Skills Bill

My Lords, I must apologise to the House for being absent during many of the speeches today because I had to be involved in two meetings outside the Chamber. However, I shall read all the speeches with great interest. I am now in the dreadful and dreaded spot where most things of note have been said, so I shall confine my remarks to a few brief instances relating mainly to vulnerable young people, who were noted by the noble Earl, Lord Listowel. During the debates on the Children and Young Persons Bill earlier this year, this House did a wonderful job of collaborating across parties to make a significant difference to that Bill and change it for the benefit of children. On this Bill, there is unfinished business from another place, and I look forward to improving it during our deliberations. I welcome the Bill and the intention to have all young people engaged with learning and staying on in education or training until the age of 18. I entirely support the remarks made by my noble friend Lady Blackstone. Participation in some form of education and training should be the norm. There need to be safeguards and support, but too many of our young people lack aspiration, which is fundamental to achievement and to accessing the five outcomes of the Every Child Matters agenda. I mention that agenda because I believe that government policy should hang together and that this Bill is part of a scenario of laws, reports and so on that apply to children, including the recent Children’s Plan. Earlier this week, the four Children’s Commissioners in the UK published their joint report, which made many valid points. In the context section at the beginning of that report, it is worth noting that there are good things about being a child in the UK. In England, for example, children are described as increasingly well educated, with the majority ambitious and engaged, motivated and making a positive contribution. That is good news: those young people will, no doubt, make full use of the 14 to 19 reforms that promise different types of provision to suit different needs and interests, including apprenticeships and diplomas. The Minister has described those offerings and I will not repeat them. However, the commissioners also expressed concern, at least for England, at "““the application of punitive measures to those children not engaging in education and training””." I, too, shall express that concern today. The Institute for Public Policy Research recently published a report on youth justice, suggesting that the more affluent young people in society are involved in extracurricular activities while those less advantaged are spending their time unsupervised on the streets. I understand that a new Bill, referred to in the draft legislative programme, will address the educational needs of those in custody, but there are other vulnerable young people. My first plea, then, is for strong and co-ordinated programmes of social skill development. Social skills are often the prerequisite for any participation in other education. Some young people do not achieve because they are too angry, depressed and unsupported to allow themselves to do so. That is why I believe personal, social and health education to be so vital at all levels of education. I have seen it work miracles in schools; we must apply programmes of PSHE in all settings. I would be surprised if the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, has not already had her say about that, and I wish that I had been here to hear it. The CBI, in its useful briefing on the Bill, discusses the importance of literacy and numeracy skills. It points out that 50 per cent of employers are dissatisfied with school leavers’ literacy and numeracy. Earlier this week, I was in a young offender institution where literacy and numeracy skills have improved dramatically in accordance with many programmes. It has intensive educational programmes, and support and personal skill development programmes to back up the education inputs. Young people lacking such skills cannot take advantage of education, so I hope that a good deal of preparation will go into making sure that support systems are operating well in advance of the changes proposed in the Bill. I also hope that diversity of provision will be in place. In 2006, more than one-fifth of 16 to 18 year-olds in England were not in education or training, including one in 10 who were not in education, employment or training. That is simply not helpful to young people, or to society. We need work-based learning, alternative provision such as entry to employment and foundation learning tier programmes, and provision for young people with special educational needs. As the National Children’s Bureau points out, the new compulsory system must have choice and be responsive to the individual circumstances and needs of vulnerable groups in order to avoid serious setback. The NCB also echoes my plea to have pastoral and personal support systems available to young people in educational establishments or the workplace. I know that Barnardo’s has consulted young people about alternative education and training services. A clear message from that consultation was that choosing to participate was crucial to motivation and achievement. I believe that choice is possible, and has to be made possible, within a compulsory system but, as my noble friend Lord Parekh just said, choices have to be made attractive. Barnardo’s accepts the need for an enforcement process, but is seeking safeguards to ensure that the level of the penalty notice is set at an amount that reflects the level of financial support available to the poorest young people, that advocacy is available to enable the voice of the young person to be heard at an attendance panel at every stage in the process, and that young people who fail to participate are not left with a criminal record. Barnardo’s and others will be seeking to establish learning contracts to support young people who are disaffected and disengaged, to get them back into education and training. Those learning contracts are already used in several Barnardo’s services and are being piloted as activity agreements by the Government. Such contracts set out the responsibilities of each party including the young person’s support needs, their expectations and learning goals and the role of the LEA, the parent and provider or the employer. Young people, especially disaffected young people, will be much more likely to engage with systems if they feel involved. They also gain in communication skills and confidence by being involved. Young people who have lacked support, or who have poor communication skills, are disadvantaged in many ways. They need structure and a relationship with a sympathetic adult to become involved in learning. By engaging with young people and providing opportunities and appropriate support, we may reduce the numbers who end up in trouble with the law or, indeed, in custody. Additional support is also necessary for young people coming out of custody in order to engage them in education or training, and learning support contracts could certainly benefit that group. I welcome the Bill. Too many young people from disadvantaged backgrounds do not engage in education, which perpetuates the cycle of deprivation. A diversity of choice could improve aspiration. What, then, about these vulnerable groups? Will support for their engagement be built into new systems? What about personal support, such as counselling, advocacy and personal, social and health education? What about learning contracts to encourage participation and commitment? I look forward to my noble friend’s replies, and to the future stages of this Bill.