My Lords, I have Amendment 35 in this group but I also support the amendments in the names of the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, and my noble friend Lady Bakewell, which refer to speech and language issues, and I have added my name to them. As I said in the debate on an earlier group, these issues are vital and must not be ignored.
My Amendment 35 seeks to ensure that information about the local offer for care leavers is provided in a form that is accessible to all children. We must not assume that all young people leaving care are fully abled. There are children leaving care who have sensory impairments, although such young people may stay in care a little longer than others. There are those with physical disabilities that might make it hard for them to use the internet easily. They, too, want to leave independent lives with the right support. There are those with learning disabilities who may be quite capable of living independently with the right support but need someone with an understanding of their problems to interpret the information for them so that they can express their wishes about what they need or want to access.
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Last week, I chaired a meeting for Learning Disability Voices and we heard from a young man called Mark who has learning disabilities and is benefiting from the very specialist care services offered by that section of social services and by a charity called Ace Anglia. He and a young man called Max from Ace, who is an expert in this, told me about the system called Easy Read, which uses simple language and pictures to explain issues those with learning disabilities need to understand. It is offered to hospitals and similar places which need to ensure that all patients understand information that relates to them, whatever their learning disability. That is one example of what I am getting at in the amendment.
Local authorities need to be aware of those services, as well as the availability of audio tapes, Braille, large print and all the other ways to ensure information gets over to all care leavers.
Needless to say, although they are not covered by the amendment, it is also important that young people leaving care who do not yet have a good grasp of English also have a translation in their own language. Quite a few teenagers may have come to this country
as unaccompanied refugee children and not have been here long enough to be fluent in English when they leave care. We need to think about them, too.
My point is that we need to look at the specific needs of the young person as a unique individual when making this crucial information available so that we can be sure that they can all benefit from it.