Children and Families Bill

Page 1, leave out line 9 and insert “satisfied that C ought to be placed for adoption”

Page 1, line 11, after “adopter” insert “after a matching process has been
conducted”

Page 2, line 28, at end insert—

“( )   Directions under subsection (1) shall be given in writing setting out
the Secretary of State’s reasons which shall be in accordance with
regulations.

( )   A local authority to which directions have been given under
subsection (1) may at any time—

(a)   request the Secretary of State to review the directions,

(b)   appeal against the Secretary of State’s decision to the High
Court.

( )   The Secretary of State may at any time rescind directions given
under subsection (1).”

The above-named Lords give notice of their intention to oppose the Question that Clause 3
stand part of the Bill.

Page 3, line 2, after “asked” insert “at any time”

Insert the following new Clause—

“Adoption and Children Act 2002 (Amendment)

(1)   Section 98 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 is amended as follows.

(2)   Omit paragraph (a) of section 98(1) and insert—

“(a)   assisting

(i)   persons adopted before the appointed day,

(ii)   the descendants of persons adopted before the appointed
day

  who have attained the age of 18 to obtain information in relation to the adoption of the adopted person.””

Page 6, line 44, at end insert—

“( )   the benefit to the child of an order under subsection (2),”

Insert the following new Clause—

“Special educational needs of severely bullied children

(1)   Schedule (Special educational needs of severely bullied children) has effect.

(2)   In this section and schedule (Special educational needs of severely bullied
children)—

“bullying” is unwanted behaviour that causes distress or harm,
involves an imbalance of power or strength between aggressor and
victim, is unwarranted and commonly occurs repeatedly over time;

“severe bullying” is behaviour that affects children so severely that
they suffer trauma and psychological damage, which can also result
in them missing school for long periods of time;

a “bullying incident” should be addressed as a child protection
concern when there is reasonable cause to suspect that a child is
suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm.”

Insert the following new Clause—

“Data on the number of children and young people with special educational
needs and disabilities

(1)   A local authority in England must publish information annually on the
number of children and young people in its area who have special
educational needs and disabilities.

(2)   Information under subsection (1) must be published by type of special
educational need and disability.”

Page 20, line 41, at end insert—

“( )   A local authority in England and its partner commissioning bodies must
make arrangements (“joint commissioning arrangements”) about the
education, health and care provision to be secured for disabled children
and young people in their area.”

Page 22, line 12, at end insert—

“( )   The authority must consider the extent to which there is sufficient funding
in place to deliver the provision referred to subsection (1)(a) to meet the
special educational needs and social care needs of children and young
people concerned.”

Page 24, line 36, at end insert—

“( )   funding available by the authority for provision within subsection
(2)”

Page 24, line 36, at end insert—

“( )   the provision within subsection (2) it expects to be available in its
area at the time of publication for children and young people who
have a disability under the Equality Act 2010”

Page 25, line 11, at end insert—

“( )   A local authority’s local offer shall be subject to inspection by Ofsted and
the Care Quality Commission.”

Page 25, line 18, at end insert—

“( )   Regulations must make provision about the format in which a local offer
will be published.

( )   The format in which a local offer will be published must be of a format
that—

(a)   allows parents of children with special educational needs to make
comparisons between different local authorities’ local offers; and

(b)   presents information by type of special educational need.”

Insert the following new Clause—

“Minimum standards for the local offer

(1)   The Secretary of State shall lay a draft of regulations setting out the
minimum level of specific special educational provision, health care
provision and social care provision that local authorities must provide as
part of their local offer, and the regulations are not to be made unless they
have been approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.

(2)   Once regulations under subsection (1) have been made, the Secretary of
State must—

(a)   issue guidance to local authorities on how to meet these
regulations, and

(b)   publish information on these regulations accessible to the families
of children and young people with special educational needs on the
Department’s website, and in any other way he sees fit.”

Page 30, line 20, at end insert—

“( )   Any social care provision which the local authority considers to be
necessary in order to meet the needs of the disabled person under section
2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970.”

Page 31, line 3, at end insert—

“(g)   a provider of alternative educational provision including the
provision of online learning and blended learning.”

Page 31, line 3, at end insert—

“( )   an institution of higher education which the young person has
accepted an offer from”

Page 32, line 43, at end insert—

“(d)   an educational institution that can provide alternative educational
provision, including online learning and blended learning for both
pre-16 and post-16 children with special educational needs.”

Page 33, line 21, at end insert—

“( )   If the plan specifies social care provision, the responsible local authority
must secure the specified social care provision for the child or young
person.”

Page 36, line 29, at end insert “to, including alternative provision for online
learning and blended learning”

Page 42, line 34, at end insert “including those institutions that provide alternative
educational provision, especially online learning and blending learning”

Page 43, line 19, leave out “place in accordance with” and insert “provider of online
learning or blended learning in accordance with the EHC plan that has been
agreed by the parents as being a suitable provider and therefore included in”

Page 43, line 33, after “institution” insert “, alternative education provider,
especially those organisations that provide online learning or blended learning”

Page 44, line 39, at end insert—

“(g)   alternative education providers, including providers of online
learning or blended learning.”

Page 45, line 2, at end insert—

“( )   In using their best endeavours to meet special educational needs, the school
or other institution must provide a graduated response using the School
Action and School Action Plus stages.”

Page 45, line 7, at end insert—

“(d)   in the case of all types of alternative providers, a member of the
senior management team.”

Page 45, line 30, after “Academy” insert “, alternative provision provider including
those organisations that provide online learning, blended learning”

Insert the following new Clause—

“Inspection and review of local authorities in England

In section 136 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 (inspection of local
authorities in England), after subsection (4), insert—

“(5)   The Chief Inspector must inspect the performance by an authority
in delivering and commissioning specialist support services for
children with special educational needs.””

Insert the following new Schedule—

“SCHEDULE

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OF SEVERELY BULLIED CHILDREN

1      In this Schedule, children have a learning difficulty if they—

(a)   have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the
majority of children of the same age;

(b)   have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making
use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for
children of the same age in schools within the area of the local
authority; or

(c)   are under compulsory school age and fall within the definition in
(a) or (b) or would do so if special educational provision was not
made for them.

2 The Secretary of State must produce an anti-bullying strategy (and
consequential Codes of Practice and Statutory Guidelines) for
educational establishments on ways of preventing and protecting
children from bullying and ensuring effective recovery programmes to
counter the consequences of severe bullying.

3    (1)   It shall be the duty of the headteacher of the establishment that the child
or young person attends to ensure that a full risk assessment is carried
out locally in respect of any child or young person who is referred on the
grounds that they are being severely bullied directly or indirectly at a
school or in the community.

(2)   In conducting the assessment, the person assessing shall take into
account the impact, frequency and the intensity of the bullying on the
child or young person.

(3)   In assessing the needs of children or young persons in respect of severe
bullying the welfare and recovery of the child or young person must be
paramount.

4 The Secretary of State shall have responsibility for ensuring that a multi-
agency action plan is prepared by the relevant local authority and a case
conference in conjunction with safeguarding agencies is convened in
respect of any child or young person who is the subject of severe
bullying.

5 Children who are severely bullied are eligible for a temporary statement
of Special Education Needs. The criteria for a temporary statement
include but are not limited to—

(a)   school attendance at zero, or close to zero, for three months,
including not attending and refusing to attend;

(b)   the child wanting to be in school or be educated or have friends
but being too frightened to attend school;

(c)   written evidence of occurrences or complaints of bullying,
ostracism, or unresolved incidents;

(d)   advice from General Practitioner; or

(e)   intervention by a child psychologist.

6 Indicators to measure improvement, demonstrating that the temporary
statement can be drawn to a conclusion include but are not limited to—

(a)   improved attendance at an alternative or at specialist provision
for such children and a willingness to return to mainstream
school;

(b)   a level of ability to study and concentrate at an alternative or at
specialist provision for such children, and a willingness to return
to mainstream school;

(c)   motivation to learn at an alternative or at specialist provision for
such children and a willingness to return to mainstream school;

(d)   improvement in child or young person’s self-esteem at an
alternative or at specialist provision for such children and a
willingness to return to mainstream school; or

(e)   advice from the full range of professionals working with the
child.

7 The Secretary of State must ensure that measures are put in place to
enable strategic authorities to implement agreed action plans in respect
of any child or young person who is being bullied.

8 If a severely bullied child or young person is unable to go to school
because of bullying alternative full time provision should be made
available as soon as possible to prevent disruption to their education.

9 In paragraph 7, strategic authorities may include central government,
local authorities, educational establishments, social media providers,
health service trusts and children’s services.

10 The Department for Education, schools, and other relevant authorities
(collectively the “authorities”) must keep a record of instances of severe
bullying directly or indirectly in respect of any child or young person.
The authorities must inform child safeguarding agencies and any other
child protection bodies of any concerns about the nature of an individual
child or young person who is being bullied.

11 The Secretary of State must measure the impact of the implementation of
any action plan in respect of any young person or child. Impact may
include attendance at school, level and ability of the child or young
person to concentrate, their achievement of learning targets and the
wellbeing of that child or young person.

12    (1)   The Secretary of State must ensure that all relevant teachers, staff and
volunteers receive core training on the consequences and causes of
bullying and on prevention strategies.

(2)   Relevant teachers, staff and volunteers will be expected to teach pupils
at appropriate times about bullying and its consequences.

(3)   Relevant teachers, staff and volunteers will be expected to work with all
children, including the bullies, to address their behaviour.

13 Local authorities must provide family support and interventions in
respect of any child or young person who is assessed as being severely
bullied or who is engaged in perpetrating severe bullying behaviour. A
family must consent to any such intervention.

14 The Secretary of State must ensure that all headteachers and school
governors provide a safe learning environment for children at school
such that they are free from harm, humiliation, intimidation, bullying or
harassment.

15 The Secretary of State must commission research into the effectiveness of
anti-bullying strategies and produce guidelines on best practice.

16 The Secretary of State must regulate and validate or otherwise any
supplier of external training to schools on anti-bullying practice and
strategy.

17 The Secretary of State must agree a code of conduct with social media
providers in respect of severe bullying of children and young persons to
minimise the use of texts, e-mails, online social media sites, and other
technology which could contribute to severe bullying.”

Page 50, line 40, at end insert—

“alternative education provision” means education arranged by local
authorities for pupils who, because of exclusion, illness or other
reasons, would not otherwise receive suitable education; education
arranged by schools for pupils on a fixed-period exclusion; and
pupils being directed by schools to off-site provision to improve
behaviour;

“alternative education provider” is an organisation that provides
education for those pupils who, because of exclusion, illness or
other reasons would not otherwise receive a suitable education;

“online learning” means the use of electronic media and information
and communication technologies in education, including
multimedia learning, technology-enhanced learning, computer-
based instruction, computer-based training, computer-based
assisted instruction, internet-based training, web-based training,
online education, virtual education and virtual learning
environments and learning platforms;

“blended learning” means “a formal education programme in which a
student learns at least in part through online delivery of content
and instruction as well as attending a “bricks and mortar” school
structure.”

The above-named Lords give notice of their intention to oppose the Question that Clause 74
stand part of the Bill.

The above-named Lords give notice of their intention to oppose the Question that Clause 75
stand part of the Bill.

The above-named Lords give notice of their intention to oppose the Question that Clause 76
stand part of the Bill.

Insert the following new Clause—

“PART 4A

PROTECTION OF CHILDREN

Actions due to a belief of possession by spirits

(1)   Section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1993 (cruelty to persons
under sixteen) is amended as follows—

(2)   In section 1(1) the words “and has responsibility for any child or young
person under that age,” are omitted and for the word “him” is substituted
“any child or young person under that age.”

(3)   In section 1(2), after paragraph (b) there is inserted—

“(c)   in subsection (1) of this section the meaning of “ill-treats” includes
the communication by word or by action a belief that the child is
possessed by evil spirits or has supernatural harmful powers—

(i)   to the child concerned, or

(ii)   to anyone connected to that child.”

Page 52, line 16, at end insert—

“( )   raise public awareness of children’s rights by promoting
knowledge of and respect for the rights of children;

( )   initiate and intervene in legal proceedings, including
proceedings under section 7 on the Human Rights Act 1998
where the Children’s Commissioner is not the victim or
potential victim of the unlawful act to which the
proceedings relate;”

Page 55, line 40, at end insert—

“(d)   after paragraph (b) insert—

“(c)   the Children’s Commissioner’s assessment of the
extent to which children in England enjoy—

(i)   the rights in the United Nations Convention
on the Rights of the Child;

(ii)   the rights of children in any other
international treaty ratified by the United
Kingdom; and

(iii)   the rights of children in the law applicable in
England”.”

Page 56, line 37, at end insert—

“( )   A child is within this subsection if he or she is detained in
pursuance of—

(a)   an order made by a court, or

(b)   an order of recall made by the Secretary of State.

( )   A child is within this subsection if he or she has been identified by
a professional as a potential victim of trafficking.

( )   A child is within this subsection if he or she is a separated migrant
child.”