My Lords, the amendments in this group each refer to a particular aspect of the local offer proposed in Clause 30. I shall speak specifically to Amendments 103 and 109.
Amendment 103 seeks to ensure that the local offer includes information on independent special schools and colleges, outside of a local authority, which have been approved by the Secretary of State under Clause 41. We tabled this amendment before we had seen the more extended draft code of practice, because that requirement was not in the original draft. I acknowledge that it is in the current code of practice but I should be grateful if the Minister could clarify on the record what the words in the draft code mean in terms of the local offer.
Page 47 of the draft code lists the kinds of issues that have to be included in the local offer. It says that it has to include:
“Where to find the list of non-maintained special schools and independent schools catering wholly or mainly for children with SEN, and Independent Specialist Colleges”,
and so on which have been approved by the Secretary of State under Clause 41. However, I am not clear about this. If what is in the local offer is where to find the list, does that mean that parents can expect their child to have access to one of those schools if they
satisfy the criteria for any particular school? What the code of practice does not say is that the special schools in other local authority areas are part of that individual local authority’s offer; it is simply about where to find the list. That is not clear enough in terms of specifying such provision as a possible element in the local offer of that local authority. The Minister should state the Government’s intentions and not say, “We will wait until the consultation has ended and then give our response”. That would be helpful to everyone—people outside as well as inside this Committee.
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Amendment 109 relates to Clause 30, page 25, line 5. Subsection (3)(a) would require the local offer to provide assistance with “finding employment”. When you look at how that might be fleshed out in the code of practice, there is a reference to employment-finding services. However, our amendment would add at that point,
“retaining employment and accessing benefits”.
It would add support for young people in not just finding employment but staying in work and accessing other kinds of support as part of that transition to adulthood. The code of practice does not elaborate. It talks about job coaching in the workplace and the provision of specialist equipment, but not about the kind of support that many children with disabilities and learning difficulties are likely to need in order to stay in employment once they have got a job. They need the support of someone to talk to about the challenges of the workplace and so on. They also need to know, if for whatever reason they drop out of employment, what to do to pick themselves up again and work towards a different employment placement.
Both amendments are important because they are about elaborating on what should be in the local offer. I am also interested in the other amendments in this group but, for now, I beg to move.