Education (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2009

My Lords, first, I must apologise to the noble Baroness, Lady Verma, for missing the first couple of minutes of her speech. Pagers that are constantly buzzing and repeating messages occasionally do not get picked up on time. The idea of SENCOs being properly trained is not one that I have an instinctive reaction against. The idea that we might be getting rid of qualified teachers who are doing the job properly will raise a few alarm bells. The question is how to bring the two together. SENCOs were seen as a great wonder worker when they were brought in, but it became quite apparent that many did not know what they were doing. Some have acquired experience and some will have an amazing range of qualifications and experience from various places which probably will not conform to any new regulation, but may mean that they are qualified enough to do the job. The Minister undoubtedly knows the answers so will she tell us how the Government will make an assessment of whether somebody is properly qualified by experience and perhaps some older qualifications, and how that can be brought into the current training scheme? Let us not waste money by taking people away or giving them an extra load if they know what they are doing. Effectively, is there a certain test of competence that could be built into the current qualifications that would mean that the person does not need further training at the moment? As we discover more about special educational needs, we tend in every piece of legislation to put a slightly greater load on the education system to deal with these problems. There is a greater expectation in the initial impact that something should be done. At the moment, we are a long way from catching everybody or getting the right amount of involvement early enough in the system. We are better than we were, but in my 25 years of experience we have improved this situation steadily by a very irregular series of steps. It is undoubtedly better now than it has ever been but it is still not good enough. Will the Minister say whether some consideration has been given to those who have acquired a series of core qualifications that are sufficient for the job as it currently exists and that the retraining process can take place when they are there? Because we happen to know how to deal with a dyslexic does not mean that we know how to deal with somebody with autism. To take those two: one is a subject I know best and the other I had to speak on at the beginning of this week. Another department answered that debate, so I understand why the noble Baroness will not have caught the passing shot from that debate. There is an ongoing process. If there is a way of addressing the fact that competent teachers should be assessed as competent and should not have to go through the training scheme or at least all of it, that would be a good thing. We must not forget that many people were appointed as SENCOs but have not had the right training. However, we must not throw the baby out with the bathwater. How we square the circle of being where we are now will be interesting to hear and I look forward to what the Minister has to say.