Education and Skills Bill

Before I address the amendments, I want to return briefly to the issues about the age of the young person and the enforcement system that we discussed at the end of our previous sitting in Committee. These issues were raised in the final remarks of the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp. Important points were raised which have prompted me to look into the issue in more detail. It might be helpful if I clarified that my department is working with the Ministry of Justice to develop proposals, possibly involving use of the County Courts, so that a young person could not in any circumstances, whatever their age, be imprisoned as a result of defaulting on a fine for not complying with an attendance notice without a reasonable excuse. The details of how to achieve this greater certainty are being worked on and I shall bring forward amendments on Report if necessary. I reiterate that fines are, in any case, the ultimate sanction for non-participation in education and training. They would arise in only a small number of cases where all other avenues, including the option suggested by the noble Lord, Lord Dearing, had been exhausted. These further options are set out in Clauses 39 to 48, which we are continuing to debate today. Amendment No. 146, in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, relates to fine enforcement methods and the attachment of benefits. It is very rare for young people below the age of 18 to be able to claim jobseeker’s allowance. In the unlikely event that a young person is claiming jobseeker’s allowance and they are found guilty of the offence under Clause 45, they will be liable to a maximum level 1 fine on the standard scale, which is the lowest category available. The maximum level 1 fine is currently £200, but the actual amount in each case is decided and fixed by the courts in the light of individual circumstances. A youth court would take a person’s earnings into account when deciding the level of the penalty and set it at a rate which it believes the young person can pay. Once a fine is determined, it is up to the court to decide how to enforce it. It would not be appropriate to constrain its flexibility in this area. However, I can reassure the Committee that a deduction from benefits order cannot be taken out against a young person who is below the age of 18. I turn now to the amendments on what must happen before sanctions can be considered. Amendment No. 124, in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, would specify in primary legislation what would count as a reasonable excuse. The now much-quoted letter of 13 February from Jim Knight to David Laws outlines in more detail the thinking behind the concept of a reasonable excuse for not participating. I note that the examples given in the letter of what might constitute a reasonable excuse are precisely those which now appear in the noble Baroness’s amendments. However, it was made very clear in the letter that those examples should not be taken to be an exhaustive list. Their purpose was to illustrate the range of ways in which a young person’s circumstances could prevent them participating. It was also made clear that listing those examples was not meant to suggest that all young people in these situations would always be unable to participate. I refer specifically to the position of teenage mothers, which is a particular concern of the noble Baronesses. Teenage mothers will be entitled to reasonable time off around their pregnancy, as are young people who are in compulsory schooling. There will be a range of ways in which they can re-engage in learning when they are ready and they will receive support to do so. In particular, the Government have committed to building a Sure Start children’s centre in every community where teenage parents can access in one place a broad range of support, including childcare, education and training, parenting support and health-related information, advice and treatments. In a number of these centres, training in parenting skills, provision to address the mother’s other educational needs and childcare are all integrated, enabling the young person to combine learning and caring for their child. For example, Newcastle-under-Lyme college in Staffordshire runs a learning programme for teenage parents at a local children’s centre where childcare is also provided. As well as working on literacy, numeracy and IT skills, the programme helps participants access other support services for themselves and their children, such as health visitor services. Most participants later progress on to further learning at the college’s main site. Similarly, the Pinnacle project in Kent is an area-wide initiative to bring young parents back into education and training. Groups are located in children’s centres, offering multi-agency services as well as childcare, and providing an informal route into education and training through fun and interactive short courses aiming to build confidence and self-esteem along with practical skills. The gradual addition of accredited structured courses leads to the eventual inclusion of formal programmes, including literacy and numeracy work. I give these examples to emphasise the importance of putting the appropriate provision in place. If appropriate provision of the kind I have described is put in place, it could be in the best interests of young mothers to engage in education and training alongside their caring responsibilities, and the work of children’s centres could facilitate this in highly positive ways. Teenage mothers often do not achieve the qualifications they need to progress into further education. About 40 per cent of teenage mothers at the moment leave school with no qualifications at all, and those who achieve better long-term outcomes for themselves and their children are, of course, those who gain employment and acquire qualifications at school. Therefore, we believe it is right to encourage, as appropriate, the participation of teenage mothers in education and training. We will issue detailed guidance to local authorities on how to interpret their responsibilities and how to exercise appropriately their duties in relation to support and powers regarding enforcement action. I cannot say precisely when that guidance will be available. If I am in a position to say more before Report I will certainly do so, but we would not wish to specify the arrangements inflexibly in primary legislation. Amendment No. 125, in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, requires reasonable steps to be taken by local authorities before they embark on sanctions. It is in effect a requirement under the Bill that local authorities should act reasonably. As the Public Bill Committee of another place heard from John Freeman from the Association of Directors of Social Services, we see enforcement as the last option and an indication that we have failed somewhere. A disengaged young person is an indication not just that they have failed but also that we have failed. Reasonable steps are set out under the Bill. Clause 40 makes it clear that a local authority cannot issue an attendance notice until it has taken the initial steps in the enforcement process provided for in Clause 39; namely, giving 15 days’ notice in writing of its intention to issue the attendance notice. Under Clause 39 a local authority cannot take those initial steps in the enforcement process until it has ensured that the person has been offered suitable provision and the right support. On Amendments Nos. 126 and 127, also in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, we have made it clear that there can be no enforcement where a young person has unaddressed needs or until an appropriate learning opportunity and suitable support have been provided. Clause 39(5) makes it explicit that before a local authority can even give notice of its intention to issue an attendance notice, it must have already ensured that all reasonable steps have been taken to ensure that relevant support has been offered to the young person and that the young person has had the opportunity to take advantage of it. As the local authority cannot issue an attendance notice until it has given notice of its intention to do so, and the authority cannot give that notice until the right support has been provided, it follows that an attendance notice cannot be issued until the right support has been provided. I can be similarly positive about Amendment No. 150A, in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, which seeks to insert ““last resort”” into the sanctions regime. As I have said repeatedly, the use of any sanctions would indeed be a last resort and should be a stage that is rarely reached. The point of including enforcement provisions in the Bill is to make it clear that the requirement to engage in education and training is real and serious, and for it to have the effect we want in terms of changing public expectations. The Bill already ensures, however, that enforcement action would in reality be a last resort. Clause 39 states that the local authority cannot take enforcement action unless it has provided the right support for the young person and enabled him to take advantage of that support. It already states that the authority cannot take action unless the young person is failing to participate without a reasonable excuse. The need for there to be a reasonable excuse is reiterated at every subsequent stage of the process. In addition, before taking even the first step in the process, the authority must give the young person the opportunity to make representations. The next step is in essence a final written warning to ensure that the young person can be in no doubt about what is required of them and is given a clear last chance to engage voluntarily. The independent attendance panel provides a route of appeal for young people and an extra safeguard to check that the local authority’s decisions about enforcement are appropriate. In effect, therefore, all those provisions together mean that action can be taken only as the last resort. Finally, Amendment No. 153, which was moved by the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, seeks to link penalties to the level of educational maintenance allowance. We will consider the amount of the fixed penalty notice closer to implementation to ensure that it is appropriate. As part of this consideration, we will look carefully at the circumstances that many young people are in, including their income, to fix the appropriate level of financial penalty. This will include consideration of the level of financial support provided to young people. However, it does not make sense to link the penalty directly to the current EMA payment levels, as we do not yet know how the future system of financial support will work and it would be inappropriate to link the penalties to it in the way that the amendment suggests. As I say, however, the level that we set will take full account of the level of financial support provided to those under 18 when this comes into force.