My Lords, I thank noble Lords for this stimulating and important debate, and I thank my noble friend Lord Lingfield for initiating it. We all very much agree on what we are trying to do here, and I am very grateful to him for emphasising that these are probing amendments, testing why we are doing things as we suggest here.
We share his ambition and that of other noble Lords that there should indeed be a seamless transition of support between school and higher education. We share noble Lords’ ambition that young people with SEN and disabilities should reach their full potential, including securing a place at university where that is an agreed goal and is appropriate. However, we do not believe that bringing higher education institutions into the framework of this Bill will help us to further that ambition. My noble friend Lady Brinton very much touched on that when she emphasised that this is about the local offer. Exactly how this would be applied as far as higher education is concerned is slightly different.
Higher education institutions are independent and autonomous organisations, responsible for all decisions on student admissions. When young people take up a place in higher education, they start a new phase of education—one in which they will be expected to develop a different approach to learning. Universities, not local authorities, are therefore best placed to support young people through this transition. However, I shall come back to the transition point in a minute.
Higher education courses will vary greatly in terms of content, delivery and assessment across institutions and subjects. Local authorities have no part in providing or commissioning higher education, and are unlikely to have the skills or experience to write a plan to suit the specific nature of the course being studied or the approach of the university.
As Universities UK says in its briefing on these amendments:
“The level of specialist knowledge required in assessing support needs for students on particular degree courses can be extensive, and is best carried out within the institutions delivering those courses. Universities UK would not want to see this system supplanted or duplicated by a local authority-based system”.
Of course, higher education institutions come under the Equality Act, like everything else. They are responsible for complying with the law in promoting disability equality and for making reasonable adjustments for disabled people. Universities take these duties very seriously. A recent report published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission on the publication of equality objectives by English public authorities shows that higher education institutions are the best performing bodies in the public sector in publishing policy objectives on disability. Institutions are expected to have in place arrangements that can proactively meet the needs of disabled students and can be adapted to individual circumstances.
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I would briefly like to refer to the noble Countess, Lady Mar, here. Since 2006, statutory arrangements for higher education student support have been in place. Student support for fees and living costs for those who attend university are administered by the funding bodies, which, in the case of students domiciled in England, is Student Finance England. The Bill does not change that, but we are obviously happy to discuss that with her or to write to her if she would like further clarification or is at all concerned about the way this is arranged. I hope that a clear picture will emerge from what I am saying.
Disabled students in the higher education sector are already successfully supported by institutions and directly by the Government through the disabled students allowance. DSAs are not means-tested, are awarded in addition to the standard package of support and do not have to be repaid. My noble friend Lady Brinton made reference to that generosity. We should not seek to duplicate or replace this system, which provisional figures for the academic year 2011-12 show provided 51,900 full-time students with support totalling £117.2 million. The number of students in receipt of DSA increased by over 10,000 from 2009-10 to 2011-12, and the amount of funding by just under £30 million.
The Government also provided £13 million to higher education institutions in 2012-13, through the disability premium, to help them recruit and support disabled students. In 2013-14, that figure has risen to £15 million.
I agree, however, that local authorities must ensure that young people with EHC plans experience a smooth transition into university, and a well managed handover between health and care services. That is why, following commitments made by my honourable friend the Minister for Children and Families in the other place, we have updated draft regulations and the draft code of practice to be clear that we expect local authorities to plan the transition into higher education before ceasing to maintain the young person’s EHC plan, including how health and social care support will be maintained, where it continues to be required.
I hope that the noble Lord, Lord Low, will be reassured that we expect local authorities to make young people aware of the support available to them—this is of key importance—in higher education through their local offer, including the disabled students allowance, and how to make an early claim so that the support is in place when they start their course. That picks up the issue referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Lingfield. The code makes it extremely clear that, as soon as the student finance application service opens, applications for DSA can be made. It varies from year to year, but it is generally at least six months before the start of the academic year in which the young person is expecting to take up a place in higher education—so, long before they discover where they are going, the principle of what kind of support they are going to need can be investigated. Local authorities should encourage young people to make an early claim for DSA so that support is in place when their course begins; clearly, that is vital.
The noble Lord, Lord Low, emphasised the importance of continuity of care and of making sure that whatever might be provided in one area then could be carried across into another area that a student moved into. He will be extremely familiar with the discussions on the Care Bill on just that; that Bill indeed seeks to ensure that someone’s social care needs can be carried from one area to another in a way that tended not to be the case in the past. We spent a number of hours trying to make sure that that Bill is right and tries to address that challenge.
Therefore, we want to ensure absolute clarity about who is responsible for meeting a person’s care and support needs when they choose to move between areas. The noble Lord will have participated in the discussions on the Care Bill about a person leaving an area and, before they do so, the local authority that they are leaving making sure that the local authority that they are moving into has appropriate plans in place. That applies just as much to young people who are shifting between areas. We certainly hope—and the noble Lord, Lord Wigley, referred to this as well—that those changes will help to improve things.
The noble Earl, Lord Listowel, asked me about care leavers going to university. I shall certainly be happy to write to him with details on that. He may be aware of the work that we are undertaking to support
care leavers, including the cross-government care leavers strategy, which my honourable friend the Minister for Children and Families launched yesterday.
The code of practice—a chunk of which I have just read—is currently out to consultation. It includes an updated section on transition arrangements for higher education. I invite noble Lords to have a really good look at that and to feed in any comments if they feel that it does not adequately address the aims that we all share in this regard.
I want to make very clear the responsibilities that local authorities and higher education institutions have as students move towards higher education, as well as making clear the way that we are seeking to deal with the transition that noble Lords have pointed to.
I hope that noble Lords are encouraged by what I have had to say. I know, not least from personal experience of my dyslexic son, that higher education institutions can be outstanding in the way that they support students. I hope that my noble friend will be willing to withdraw his amendment.