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Mr. Wicks: On the hon. Gentleman's final point, the service for those with learning difficulties will not be restricted to the normal age group of 13 to 19. We shall extend it to those aged up to 25, to help them with transition. That is important.
12.15 am
My hon. Friend the Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney (Mr. Rowlands) referred to the new local service for young people. I think that the crux of his concern was that suitable resources should be available to get the job done. Clearly, resources will be an important element, and I want to provide the reassurance that they will be available. However, other matters might need to be covered by an Assembly direction under clause 117. Those might, for example, include the need for local authorities and other service providers to have regard to Assembly guidance on consulting young people and on the design of local management services.
We discussed the concerns of the hon. Member for Daventry (Mr. Boswell) many times in Committee. The Connexions service for all 13 to 19-year-olds is universal; it is for all in that age group. All the children and young people in the critical teenage years need first-class impartial, independent and expert guidance about learning options at 16 and other stages. They may need guidance about going to university or about the modern apprenticeship scheme, and they may need guidance and advice about careers.
In a modern age, the way in such advice is delivered will vary. We need to make use of information and communications technology and we shall establish a telephone line, Connexions Direct, so that people can receive such advice. However, face-to-face contact is vital, so there will be a universal service for all young people. Special groups, particularly those from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds or those with learning difficulties, will need advice and guidance, but others, such as our most able boys and girls, sometimes need special help to get through school because of their high abilities. I recall that the Select Committee on Education and Employment produced a report on that subject a year or two ago.
The service will be universal because all young people will need it. However, the word mentor has been used, so I shall quote one of my academic mentors, the late Richard Titmuss of the London school of economics. He used to teach his students that if "poor people's services" are just for poor people, they tend to be poor services. Those of us who are universalists remember that. It will be a universal service for all people, because that is the most civilised and dignified way of giving support to the most disadvantaged.
Clause 111
Amendment made: No. 106, in page 51, line 40, leave out--
'and city colleges for the technology of the arts,'
and insert--
', city colleges for the technology of the arts and city academies,'.--[Mr. Wicks.]
Clause 114
Amendments made: No. 9, in page 53, line 16, after 'the' insert 'persons or'.
No. 10, in page 53, line 19, after 'person' insert 'or body'.
No. 11, in page 53, line 20, after 'Those' insert 'persons and'.
No. 12, in page 53, line 23, at end insert--
'( ) a chief officer of police,'.--[Mr. Wicks.]
Schedule 7
Mr. Clappison: I beg to move amendment No. 105, in page 85, leave out lines 20 and 21.
My hon. Friend the Member for Daventry (Mr. Boswell) has rightly made known our concern about some of the Bill's provisions and their effect on sixth forms. I intend to be brief, but let me make it clear that we regard it as an issue of great importance. We certainly share the objective that we should deal with any institution for 16 to 18-year-olds that fails to provide a good education for its pupils and fails to help them to realise their ambitions and fulfil their aspirations.
There are clearly problems with the definition of inadequate sixth forms. It is confined to school sixth forms. It does not include the other types of institutions, notwithstanding the fact that school sixth forms have a better record of providing good GCSE results earlier on and better academic A-level results than other types of providers.
The definition of inadequate sixth forms is wholly unsatisfactory, and the amendment is designed to put it right. [Interruption.] I am not sure whether it will succeed in that purpose unless I have the attention of the Under-Secretary of State, who will not hear the problem that I shall outline if he does not listen.
A school's sixth form is said to be inadequate if
- the school is failing or likely to fail to give pupils over compulsory school age an acceptable standard of education, or . . . the school has significant weaknesses in one of more areas of its activities for pupils over compulsory school age.
Is the Minister able to tell us what these "significant weaknesses" might be? For example, might they relate to a school that provides a limited range of subjects, or to a school that has small classes in its sixth forms, even though the school is providing a good or adequate level of education? This is of particular interest to rural sixth forms, because they seem to be under the most pressure from the combined effects of the schedule, which gives more powers of intervention to learning and skills councils to close school sixth forms, and of earlier provisions that relate to funding.
The Government are taking more and more powers to intervene in respect of sixth forms. Earlier, the Secretary of State said that interventions should be in inverse proportion to success, but successful institutions are having more and more intervention brought to bear against them. If they are to face closure through being described as inadequate, we must have a better definition of what amounts to an inadequate sixth form than the Government have given us.
Mr. Ian Bruce: The amendment draws attention to an extraordinary situation. I think that the Minister, who is a fair-minded man, will understand what is likely to happen if lines 20 and 21 remain in the Bill. As a fair-minded man, I think he will say that deleting the words would not damage the purpose behind the provision.
There are very successful sixth forms in my constituency. Yet--I hope that this will not be a headline in the Dorset Echo tomorrow--each one of those sixth
forms could be classed as inadequate under the definition in the schedule. They all, and the sixth form college that provides sixth forms--although I do not think that it is covered by the provision--have significant weaknesses in one or more areas of their activities for pupils over compulsory school age. I am sure that each of the head teachers would say that, under that definition, they are trying to do things that they need to do better. They have to have more pupils, more resources or whatever. They are building up certain areas of their sixth form, and they may find that it is failing to meet expected standards in some areas.All the sixth forms have been started since the inception of our sixth form college, as schools have decided to build up their own sixth forms. The success of the education offered to children in those schools has been improved by the introduction of a sixth form. However, when a sixth form is introduced and is in the process of being built up, it is, by common consent, inadequate--in terms of the range of subjects available, class sizes and so on.
Imagine a school inspector carrying out a normal Ofsted inspection and asking himself how he should define the situation regarding the sixth form. On reading the definition in schedule 7, he will have to tell the school that he is sorry, but he has to write in his report that the sixth form is inadequate. That would be the death of sixth forms that were just starting to build up a reputation--no one would want to attend them, so they would have no chance of developing.
No one would quarrel with the definition of "inadequate" set out in paragraph 1(2)(a)--that a school has an inadequate sixth form if
- the school is failing or likely to fail to give pupils over compulsory school-age an acceptable standard of education.
The Minister is a fair-minded man and I am sure that he is convinced by our argument. So that we can reach Third Reading and have a proper debate on it, I am sure that he will accept our sensible amendment.
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