My Lords, I also have Amendments 81 and 83 in this group. I am very pleased that the noble Lord, Lucas, is supporting Amendment 80 and my noble friend Lord Knight is supporting Amendments 80, 81 and 83. I have just been in the Procurement Bill debate in Grand Committee, so if I repeat points that have already been made then I apologise to noble Lords. These amendments are concerned with Part 3, the provisions in relation to school attendance and the duty to register children not in school. The Minister will know of the concerns; in fact she has just reflected in her wind-up speech on some of those that have been expressed by noble Lords.
My particular interest is the special needs of children being educated at home with special educational needs and mental health issues. It is fair to say that many parents already find that the current attendance policy and enforcement system can have a negative impact on mental health and well-being. They are concerned about the ramifications of the Bill: the register, the live attendance tracker, the tighter lacing of attendance enforcement and the fast track to fines and prosecutions.
It is clear that Ministers have listened to the debate, and I am very grateful for the amendments that have been tabled, which are aimed at providing assurance to families over the information to be prescribed, its intended use and what can be published, and to give Parliament increased scrutiny of the use of delegated powers concerning those matters. My three amendments encourage the Government to go a little further in terms of reassurance.
5.45 pm
My Amendment 79 would ensure that local authorities, in the case of a child or young person with special educational needs, must have regard to a number of matters that I set out in the amendment: first,
“the views, wishes and feelings of the child and his or her parent, or of the young person”;
secondly,
“the importance of the child and his or her parent, or the young person, participating as fully as possible in decisions relating to the exercise of the function concerned”;
thirdly,
“the information and support necessary to enable participation”
by the parents or child in those decisions; and, finally,
“the need to support the child and his or her parent, or the young person, in order to facilitate the development of the child or young person and to help him or her achieve the best possible educational and other outcomes.”
The amendment seeks to emphasise to local authorities that, in the duties they are given under this part, they should take into account the special circumstances particularly of young people with special educational needs and the reason why they may have been taken out of school for home education, which is often that they have felt that the school has failed to give those young people the support that they need. I know my noble friend is sympathetic to the issues here.
My other amendments relate to the guidance to be issued by the Secretary of State to local authorities in the exercise of their functions. Helpfully, the Minister has said that that guidance will be informed by working with local authorities, home educators and other stakeholders and will be subject to public consultation, which is very helpful, but special consideration needs to be given to children with special educational needs. I am proposing that, accompanying the guidance, there should be a code of practice clearly establishing how local authorities should take a holistic approach to school attendance issues, particularly embracing the mental health of the child affected.
I also think the guidance should not simply be Secretary of State guidance; it needs the backing of being introduced as a regulation through the affirmative process. It is right and proper that Parliament should at least have some kind of scrutiny, because the guidance will be so important to making these measures operate effectively.
At heart, what is needed—and I very much approach what Square Peg and Not Fine in School have said—is a compassion-based response from local authorities and schools that recognises that mental health is a legitimate reason for authorised absence in some cases. Many of these young people have very special needs. They may have a disability, chronic illness or medical needs or experience mental ill health.
I have spent most of my life in and around the health service, and we know that current mental health services for young people are, frankly, grossly inadequate. The long waits and the scandal of in-patient care hundreds of miles from home are indications of the issue that we face. I know the Government have put money in and are anxious to see improvements, but the fact is that on the ground helping young people to get access to mental health services can be very challenging. All I am asking is that in the guidance, and in the code that I am suggesting, there is a clear indication to local authorities that in those circumstances they have to be sympathetic to the needs of a child and their parents if they are receiving health treatment and there are issues about attendance. I beg to move.