Enterprise Bill [HL]
Debate between Baroness Sharp of Guildford and Lord Addington
Baroness Sharp of Guildford
My Lords, this amendment is concerned with care leavers and those with special educational needs and disabilities; its purpose is to open up apprenticeships to those two groups of young people. Some of them are perfectly able to undertake such an apprenticeship—I recognise that not all young people with special educational needs and disabilities are in a position to take up apprenticeships, but some of them are. The feeling is that it is important that they should have the opportunity to do so. Something like 8% of those with special educational needs and disabilities currently have apprenticeships of some sort, compared to 16% nationally.
Looked-after children, it is well known, achieve less highly at GCSE than their counterparts; they often miss out on parts of education, partly because they have a chaotic family background, or there may be a history of abuse in their background, and so forth. Barnardo’s has been very concerned about the issue of these young people leaving care. I refer to evidence that it gave to our Select Committee on Social Mobility, picking up a remark that one such young person made, that school really did not help them at all. We were told:
“These young people often leave school with few or no qualifications and need alternative options outside of the school environment if they are to achieve their potential. Some need provision that allows them to catch up on what they have missed and Barnardo’s services offer a variety of Level 1 courses … These young people also often want the option of practical-based learning, that clearly links to a real job. Barnardo’s services offer a range of qualifications that focus on occupational skills. These include foundation awards … NVG levels 1-3 and pre-apprenticeship programmes. The young people we work with can undertake these qualifications in a range of work areas including floristry; painting and decorating; business; horticulture; hair and beauty; construction; and catering”.
It is important to recognise that some of these young people, because of the chaotic backgrounds that they come from, need time to catch up and move forward. For example, Birmingham sets aside for care leavers a proportion of the apprenticeships that it takes on as a local authority. I think that a number of other local authorities do that.
In relation to those with disabilities, it is a similar story. Some of them need longer to catch up and get themselves ready for an apprenticeship than others, yet they benefit from them. Ofsted’s report states:
“Too few disabled people or those with learning difficulties become apprentices. In all further education and skills providers in 2013/14, over 16% of learners disclosed a learning difficulty or disability compared with only 8% of apprentices. Only one of the providers in our survey demonstrated that they had supported an apprentice with dyslexia to pass their functional skills test”.
We do not have my noble friend Lord Addington here.
Baroness Sharp of Guildford
I am sure my noble friend will talk about dyslexia. Ofsted said:
“Only one of the providers in our survey demonstrated that they had supported an apprentice with dyslexia to pass their functional skills test while one other had made adjustments for a disabled apprentice. However, such examples of providers and employers encouraging disabled people or those with learning difficulties to succeed on an apprenticeship were rare”.
It is important that such people are considered. Figures indicate that the proportion of apprentices who have learning difficulties or disability has decreased. It was 11% in 2010-11, and it decreased to only 8% in 2012-13. The success rate of all apprentices completing their framework rose considerably from 55% in 2005-06 to 73% in 2011-12. In the same period, the success rate for those with disabilities rose from 49.5% to 69.9%. That is a very high rate of success on the part of those with disabilities. The success rate is now 75%. The differential between the two is not very great.
Back in 2012, there was a comprehensive review—the Little and Holland review—Creating an Inclusive Apprenticeship Offer. It made 20 recommendations, including: clarifying funding to support apprentices with learning difficulty or disability; raising the awareness of providers and employers of funding sources, such as access to work and learning; the promotion of on-the-job support in terms of job coaching and mentoring; review and better monitoring of the self-declaration process so that underrepresentation by specific groups can be addressed; and the removal of barriers to access and completion in the form of qualification requirements. The Government seem to have been very slow in acting on those recommendations. Will the Minister update us on what is happening?
On barriers, English and maths remain a major issue. I do not know whether my noble friend Lord Addington will add anything on that. He has been very concerned about the shift to GCSE English and maths and the difficulty that some of these young people face. They used to be able to qualify with more examinee-friendly functional skills. I beg to move.
Lord Addington
My Lords, when I look at the apprenticeship system and the newly created apprenticeships, it is quite clear that there is a degree of fear within the system that the exam will not be taken seriously. This means that various standards have been clung to, particularly in English and maths, so that the apprenticeship will be as good as something else. This is quite clearly inappropriate if you do not take other steps for groups which have struggled in the traditional sector. Dyslexia was a classic example. As I dug into it, it became almost farcical. People were saying, “Employers like it”. Then you had employers saying that yes, they wanted functional skills so that people could do the job, not a qualification. That was said to me more than once. A degree of paranoia was building up because people were not saying, “This is a test that allows you to do a job”.
The groups mentioned here are always going to struggle. If you do not want them in the apprenticeship system, it is about time somebody turned round and said, “It’s not for you”, and provided something else for them. I do so hope that that will not be the case, because it means creating an entire new examination and qualification system. I hope that the Minister will be able to tell us that the Government are taking practical steps to allow people in.
Children and Families Bill
Debate between Baroness Sharp of Guildford and Lord Addington(10 years, 6 months ago)
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Baroness Sharp of Guildford
My Lords, my name is added to that of the noble Baroness, Lady Howe, for Amendment 147 and I endorse what she has said on this issue. Statements for special educational needs require an educational psychologist to endorse them and it is obviously sensible and important that this should be extended to the post-18 age group. I probably also should have put my name to Amendment 168 because the argument there is just as cogent and important.
While I am on my feet, I should say that I have a lot of sympathy with the amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Lingfield. As he said, as we have a set format for statements of special educational needs, it would seem sensible for it to be carried forward in relation to the EHC plans.
Lord Addington (LD)
My Lords, perhaps I may very briefly add a few words of support, particularly to the last amendment in this group. Good transference of these provisions around the country would be an opportunity for the Government to deal with a fairly ancient wrong. It has always been difficult and has always been seen as too difficult, but if we can embrace it now we will go forward and take on board something which runs through a lot of this legislation; namely, that it has genuine cross-party awareness and support at heart. Even if this amendment is not perfect—even the noble Lord can make an error in drafting—I hope that we can say something positive in this regard. If we can go forward and see how it can be addressed in the future, that would help everyone and would probably make people’s lives a little bit easier.
Protection of Freedoms Bill
Debate between Baroness Sharp of Guildford and Lord Addington(12 years, 2 months ago)
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Lord Addington
I shall speak to Amendment 51, which stands in my name. Unfortunately, my noble friend Lady Heyhoe Flint is unable to be here. I am afraid that she is going through a learning curve on this Bill and has learnt the great rule about parliamentary procedure in the Lords that it does not matter how late you stay, sometimes the proceedings just will not get to your amendment.
I thank the Government for what they have said. They have listened to the concerns brought to me through the Sport and Recreation Alliance, which represents all the major sporting bodies. Its concern will probably be mirrored in every body that deals particularly with children and virtually any vulnerable group: that is, we do not exactly know how much authority a person will have over a child, which will change with each sport or activity over a period of time. If you are helping a dancer with flexibility or strength work, it is slightly different from assisting with strength work for a young shot putter. There will still be a very intimate level of interaction and a degree of authority.
Giving those bodies in charge the chance to interact with the Government and to make sure that there is a two-way dialogue means that there will be a better chance of getting this right. I thank the Minister for what he has said and for all the work that he has done on this. However, will he give an assurance that this will be updated periodically? Training techniques in virtually all sports change. Philosophies of engagement with groups of youngsters have certainly changed dramatically and will probably change again. A degree of change and a continuation of flow of information would be good, and what the Government have done is good. It addresses virtually all our points.
Baroness Sharp of Guildford
My Lords, I regret to say that my noble friend Lady Walmsley is unable to be here today and has asked me to speak on her behalf on Amendment 52. The Minister has already mentioned this amendment. I take it from when he talked about the fact that the situation in further education colleges has yet to be finalised, and that the precise application can be ensured in regulations, that there is still some room for manoeuvre.
I should like to take up the two letters that the Minister wrote to my noble friend on 11 February and the other to my noble friend Lady Randerson on 1 February. I believe that it has been circulated to noble Lords. We are anxious that further education colleges should be treated in the same way as schools and that every full-time, and to some extent part-time, member of staff should be subject to the same vetting and barring rules. We were arguing that the staff should have a statutory CRB check. My noble friend has made the point many times as to the illogicality of the two types of institution being treated differently, but I will not dwell on that.
In his letter to my noble friend Lady Randerson, the Minister says:
“We do not consider it is right that, apart from special circumstances such as those applying to fostering and adoption, barred list information should be available in respect of posts which are not themselves subject to barring. This would effectively provide barring information to employers which is not relevant to the post and could lead to disproportionate and detrimental decisions”.
My noble friend Lady Walmsley and I do not agree that this information is not relevant to the post. We believe that it is relevant to the post if the employer thinks it is: in other words, if the employer thinks that the post, albeit not a regulated one under this Bill, would give the employee an opportunity to develop a relationship of trust with a young person.