My Lords, this amendment is in my name and that of the noble Baroness, Lady Howe of Idlicote, and the noble Lord, Lord Low of Dalston. It would require an independent regulator to be appointed to scrutinise the provision of local authority services for children with SEN and their families. It is a further attempt to address the widespread concern about the lack of accountability in this Bill. As my noble friend Lady Morris of Yardley said in Grand Committee, the whole Bill could fail if parents do not quickly have confidence in the offer. There must be a clear message to parents that there will be a voice speaking on their behalf to make sure that the offer is of good quality.
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In that same debate, several noble Lords echoed the point of the noble Lord, Lord Low, that, in the introduction of new assessed systems such as this, it would be rash not to build any element of accountability or quality control into the process. This is also a key concern for many in the sector, including the Special Educational Consortium, the National Deaf Children’s Society, Sense, RNIB and the National Sensory Impairment Partnership. In particular, there is a real lack of scrutiny of local authorities’ specialist SEN services. They remain the Cinderella service, and the missing link in the SEN accountability framework within Ofsted. This is despite recognition from the department and Ofsted that such services are vital. If these services are as important as the department says they are, they need to be properly scrutinised to ensure that they are effectively raising outcomes.
My amendment would therefore fill this gap in the SEN accountability framework. Action cannot come soon enough. We know that too many children with SEN are underachieving. For example, government figures show that just 37% of deaf children achieved five good GCSEs last year. Given that deafness is not a learning disability, this is a particularly shocking statistic.
In her response to the debate in Grand Committee, the Minister stated that her department had,
“asked Ofsted to study and report on how best to identify best practice in preparing for SEN reforms … and to consider particularly whether there is a need for an inspection framework to drive improvements”.—[Official Report, 30/10/13; col. GC 640.]
I am grateful to the Minister for spelling out that review in more detail in the debate earlier today. However, that report will not be published before next spring, long after the Bill has completed its passage. Moreover, I am concerned that, following the debate in the Commons on deaf children on 17 October, the Minister, Edward Timpson, has already limited
the scope of this review by Ofsted. He confirmed by letter to Sir Malcolm Bruce that his department had no plans to introduce inspections of local authority SEN services, as it would impose significant new burdens. It therefore looks highly unlikely that this promised review will be carried out with an open mind.
I will examine some of the arguments which the department has given for not inspecting local authorities’ SEN services. The department has said that it does not believe that Ofsted inspection of local authority SEN provision is needed, because it is already indirectly covered by their inspection of mainstream schools. However, this ignores the crucial role that many services play in supporting families with pre-school children. For example, the British Association of Teachers of the Deaf supports parents of deaf children in advising them on their children’s language and communication development. Without this support, far more deaf children would be starting primary school without age-appropriate language skills. We know how vital early communication is. More than anything else, we should be paying far more attention to the quality of these services.
Secondly, this argument presupposes that Ofsted inspections already pay close attention to the quality of local authority SEN support to schools. I am sceptical. Particularly in the case of low-incidence needs, such as sensory impairment, where there may be only one child with that condition in that school, does it really seem likely that an Ofsted inspector will have the time to closely scrutinise the quality of that support?
I understand that Ofsted’s recent annual report made no reference to the quality of local authority SEN provision. I also understand that, of the nine Ofsted regional reports, only one made any reference at all to SEN. The department has also suggested that inspection of local authority SEN services might send a signal to schools that they are no longer responsible for SEN. In that case, by the same rationale, Ofsted should immediately cease their inspections of local authorities’ school improvement services.
The Minister has also argued that increased transparency will support greater accountability, and that the Children and Families Bill supports this. Of course, increased transparency is welcome, but I remain concerned that the burden of keeping local authorities in check lies far too heavily with parents. The proposed requirement that local authorities be required to respond to comments left on the local offer by parents is not a substitute for real accountability. If it were, we could do away with Ofsted inspection of schools altogether. Why not just allow parents to leave comments on a website about their school? We must remember that many parents are busy being parents. Parents do not always know what they do not know. They do not have the time to research and analyse how good their local authority services are and many parents do not wish to rock the boat. The support that a child receives should and must be determined by what they need, not by how pushy or confident their parents are.
The failure to inspect specialist support services for children with SEN sends a signal that their education matters less. That is not acceptable. A failure to act also leaves us stuck with a weak accountability framework
that does little to address the poorer outcomes achieved by children with SEN, something that will cost us greatly in future years. The proposal that Ofsted simply studies this issue and reports back next spring is too weak and vague. Moreover, based on what the department has told Members in the other place, it will not deliver what my amendment would: much stronger accountability and scrutiny of local authority SEN support that is vital to children with SEN and their families. I hope that the Minister will reconsider and accept the amendment. I beg to move.