ACCESS TO EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Discriminatory attitudes and lack of awareness
10. We recommend that the Government consider,
once it has been brought fully into force in respect of the providers
of goods and services, extending the provisions of Part III of
the DDA to cover the provision of education and training.
Response: On the publication
of the final report of the Disability Rights Task Force to Government
on civil rights for disabled people, we announced the introduction,
in this Parliamentary session, of legislation to include education.
We intend to introduce new civil rights for disabled
children and adults in school, further, higher and Local Education
Authority secured adult education. We will provide rights against
unfair discrimination and require providers to improve access
for disabled people. This is a significant step forward in our
commitment to comprehensive civil rights for disabled people.
It will ensure they have the choices and opportunities which others
have for so long taken for granted.
Training as a service to members of the public is
covered by Disability Discrimination Act Part III at the moment
(for example training provided on behalf of the Secretary of State
under the Employment and Training Act 1973) and this will continue
to be the case. Training provided by or on behalf of employees
is already covered by Part 11 of the DDA.
Higher Education
11. We believe that it is important for funding
criteria to be developed in consultation with disabled people
and their organisations and that disabled students should themselves
be involved in the monitoring of what is achieved.
Response: The Higher Education
Funding Council for England (HEFCE) plans to introduce a disability
premium into its mainstream teaching funding method from 2000-01.
The premium recognises that institutions incur additional costs
in recruiting and supporting students with disabilities. The introduction
of this premium, to be based on the size of the disabled student
population at each institution, has been the subject of consultation
with both Higher Education and Further Education institutions
and other interested parties, such as disability groups. The HEFCE
will closely monitor the recruitment of students with disabilities
annually to determine the impact of premium funding on student
numbers.
We will ask Institutions to provide details of their
disability activity as part of their widening participation strategies
which will be assessed by the Council's Equal Opportunities, Access
and Lifelong Learning (EQUALL) committee.
In considering increases to the amounts paid directly
to students with disabilities through the three Disabled Students'
Allowances (DSAs), the Department takes account of evidence from
the operation of the DSAs as well as the views of Local Education
Authorities and disability interest groups.
The rates for the three DSAs are given below:
| | 1999/2000 | 2000/01 |
| Non-medical personal helper | £10,250 | £10,505 |
| Major items of specialist equipment | £4,055 | £4,155 |
| Other expenditure | £1,350 | £1,385 |
The Disabled Student's Allowance
12. We welcome the increase in the Disabled Student's
Allowance and we recommend that the Government consider extending
the Allowance to postgraduate students, those studying part-time
and those undertaking work experience placements as part of a
course of study. We also recommend that the Government examine
ways of simplifying the application process.
Response: The Government
recently announced that the Disabled Students Allowance (DSA)
is to be extended to part-time students from September 2000. Many
postgraduate students will have benefited from DSAs while they
were undergraduates and may still be in possession of any specialist
equipment paid for through the DSAs. We have no plans to extend
DSAs to postgraduates and those students on work experience placements.
However, some limited funding is available for postgraduates through
studentships under the banner of the DTI Research Councils.
DSAs cover the additional costs students incur in
respect of their attendance on a course because of their disability.
Substantial sums, up to £10,250 a year for non-medical personal
helpers, and up to £4,055 for specialist equipment are available
through DSAs. Local Education Authorities, who administer the
allowances, are under a duty to ensure that monies paid out will
be used for their designated purposes. The application process
is designed to establish firstly, that the student has a disability,
and secondly, the course-related needs that arise from the disability.
Once the need has been established, the Local Education Authority
can pay the allowance. The system has been simplified and has
no means test or age limit.
We are concerned that DSAs are paid as quickly as
possible so that students receive the additional help they need
to successfully complete their course. Guidance issued by the
Department emphasises this.
Further Education
13. We welcome the aims of the White Paper and
proposed role for the new Learning and Skills Council in addressing
the needs of disabled people in post-compulsory education.
Response: We appreciate
the Committee's welcome for the Government's plans for the new
Learning and Skills Council (LSC).
The LSC will be able to fund a broader range of provision
for disabled people. The LSC Prospectus, published on 14 December
reinforces the importance placed on meeting the needs of disabled
learners.
Students with disabilities must be supported to ensure
that they can achieve their full potential. The LSC will promote
equality of opportunity with providers and employers to ensure
that the type and content of learning opportunities meet the needs
of different groups. We recognise the importance of high quality
providers of education and training who specialise in meeting
the needs of disadvantaged groups, including disabled people.
In addition, we will ensure that the LSC's funding framework is
designed to deal effectively with the needs of all learners.
Monitoring access and quality of provision of
further education for disabled people
14. We believe that it is vital for standards
to be monitored across the further education sector. Monitoring
should include measurements concerning the widening of opportunities
for disabled students. We hope that both OFSTED and the new independent
Inspectorate for adult learning and work-based training will include
such standards in their work.
Response: The new post-16
quality assurance arrangements will use a Common Inspection Framework
and will include equality and personal support principles. It
will link to the monitoring of access and quality of provision
for disabled students.
The drive for more consistent and higher quality
will be central to the new arrangements. We want all providers
to demonstrate high and rising levels of retention, completion
and achievement, and a responsiveness to the diverse needs of
learners. We will be working with a range of partners, including
the Further Education Funding Council, TECs and providers, to
produce new performance indicators, which will provide a basis
for judgement about quality that can be used by providers for
self assessment.
OFSTED and the new Adult Learning Inspectorate will
support the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), and will develop
a common framework for inspection which will be comparable with
the LSC's quality improvement strategy, and will reflect the diversity
of post 16 learners and cover equal opportunities.
15. We hope that the FE Standards Fund will include
funding targeted at improving access for disabled students, and
that the widening of opportunities for disabled students will
be one criterion by which Colleges are judged to be Beacon colleges.
Response: Colleges can
call on the Further Education Standards Fund to improve teaching
and learning for students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.
The fund is not generally available to improve physical access
for disabled students because it is not a capital fund.
We are considering whether a review of the criteria
for Beacon Colleges should be commissioned.
The new further education bodies
16. The Committee believes that it is vital that
disabled people and their organisations are properly represented
on these Boards and the national Learning and Skills Council.
Response: We are committed
to diversity in all public appointments, that includes disabled
people. Appointment on merit will therefore apply in all Learning
and Skills Council (LSC) appointments. Board appointments to the
National and the Local Councils will be made in line with Nolan
principles following open and national advertisements.
We will expect the LSC to build into all its policies,
programmes and actions equality of opportunity, working closely
with the Equal Opportunities Commission.
Education in basic skills
17. It is important that the impetus to improve
the quality of teaching of basic skills is not lost in the context
of the proposed changes laid out in Learning to Succeed.
Response: Specific action
planned to improve the quality of basic skills teaching includes:
the introduction of intensive
training for all existing basic skills teachers so that they receive
three days training by summer 2001;
the development of a
new initial teacher training framework and qualifications for
new entrants to basic skills teaching by the Further Education
National Training Organisation and the Basic Skills Agency; and
the development of standards
in basic skills teaching to underpin the training of all further
education teachers.
Raising the quality of teaching and training for
all learners is fundamental to the aims of 'Learning to Succeed'.
As part of its quality improvement strategy, the Learning and
Skills Council (LSC) will be expected to ensure that all education
and training provision which it purchases is of good quality,
continuously improving, and offers effective teaching and training
by appropriately qualified staff who have continuing development
opportunities.
All provision purchased by the LSC will be subject
to independent inspection to look at the quality and the effectiveness
of the teaching and training provided. The Government is developing
a range of qualifications for post-16 teaching and will be consulting
on these.
18. We recommend that the Government examine ways
in which the availability of self-advocacy courses might be improved.
Response: The development
of life skills is an important part of provision in further education
for those with learning difficulties. The introduction of the
Learning and Skills Council will increase flexibility for funding
provision.
In developing a national strategy on adult basic
skills, a working group is looking at the specific needs of adults
with learning difficulties and or disabilities who have basic
skills needs. The working group has a wide range of members, including
a number of representatives from organisations for and of people
with learning difficulties. It will advise on how best to meet
the needs of this particular section of learners.
Moving beyond basic skills
19. We recommend that the Government undertake
an audit of good practice, with an analysis of what makes it possible
and what changes are required to create more opportunities for
people with learning difficulties to undertake vocational education.
Response: The Department
of Health is leading a cross-Department initiative to produce
a Strategy for People with Learning Difficulties, which it hopes
to publish towards the end of this year. One strand will cover
supporting independence, which includes how best to help people
with learning difficulties into education and employment.
The Government will consider the Committee's recommendation
in the development of this strategy.
Specialist colleges
20. The Further and Higher Education Act 1992
provides that, if proper provision can be made for a student in
a sector college, then funding should not be directed to a specialist
placement. The Committee supports this principle. However, while
recognising that the aim is for disabled people to be able to
access mainstream further education with support tailored to their
individual needs, in the interim some individuals may be better
served by specialist colleges. It is important that decisions
about funding of placements are based in all cases on the individual's
needs and circumstances.
Response: The Further
and Higher Education Act 1992 requires the Further Education Funding
Council (FEFC) to fund alternative provision where mainstream
provision is not adequate and where it is in the best interest
of the individual to do so. The FEFC strives to meet the needs
of disabled students. If a student wishes to attend a specialist
college the case is individually assessed. If the student/guardian
is not happy with the outcome an appeal can be made. The FEFC
is currently looking at how to make the appeals process easier.
Every effort is made to ensure that individual students are able
to attend college where they will be happiest and safest.
There are around 2000 students currently funded to
attend courses in specialist colleges. Sector colleges can claim
extra funding for students needing more support and claims increased
by 12% in 97/98, demonstrating how the sector is adapting to offer
the best service to all students. We have made considerable progress
in taking forward the recommendations of the Tomlinson report
'Inclusive Learning'.
The new Learning and Skills Council, which becomes
operational in April 2001, will build on this good practice.
Further education for 19-25 year olds with profound
and multiple learning difficulties
21. We believe that ensuring that young people
with complex and multiple impairments and learning difficulties
have access to further education opportunities post-19 will be
one of the biggest challenges for the new Learning and Skills
Councils.
Response: The Learning
and Skills Council (LSC) will have wider powers to provide funding
throughout Further, Adult and Community education where it feels
it is in the best interest of the individual student. They will
therefore build on the work undertaken by the Further Education
Funding Council, providing support for those with complex and
multiple learning difficulties.
The Government's aim is to build a new culture of
lifelong learning which cuts across all sections of the community,
and to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to develop their
potential, from the most disadvantaged groups through to the most
able. The LSC will have the right resources, levers and policy
instruments to ensure that it is able to achieve this. It will
work with partners at national and local level to assess learning
needs and to create a range of learning opportunities accessible
to everyone, particularly the disadvantaged.
22. We welcome the Government's proposals to abolish
the distinction between Schedule 2 and non-Schedule 2 courses.
We recommend that the Government re-examine the provisions of
the Further and Higher Education Act with a view to increasing
the number and variety of courses available to those with profound
or multiple disabilities.
Response: The recent White
Paper, Learning to Succeed, plans major reform of the arrangements
for planning and funding learning opportunities for adults, including
funding courses whether or not they lead to qualifications. We
must aim for a balance which attracts both those who want, or
need, to gain qualifications and those who want, or need, access
to learning for other reasons. This may include the experience
and enrichment it gives them individually and society as a whole.
This might be particularly appropriate for students with profound
or multiple disabilities.
This approach will be necessary if we are to achieve
one of our key objectives, a commitment to lifelong learning in
everyone. The national responsibility for arranging post-16 further,
adult and community learning and work based training will lie
with the Learning and Skills Council (LSC ). We will ensure that
its planning and funding arrangements helps students with profound
or multiple disabilities, thus allowing them to achieve their
full potential.
There are 40 non-schedule 2 pilots being run by the
Further Education and Funding Council (FEFC) during 1999/2000.
These include courses for those with profound and multiple learning
difficulties. The FEFC will monitor these projects and they will
help to inform the LSC's work in this area.
With the creation of the LSC in April 2000 and the
abolition of Schedule 2, we have provided the flexibility to fund
a broader range of learning opportunities for adults with profound
and multiple learning difficulties.
Disability Statements
23. It would be helpful if colleges received clear
messages from the funding councils about what are the minimum
standards expected in disability statements, examples of good
practice and advice on how to do better. We therefore recommend
that the effectiveness of disability statements should be one
of the standards applied when colleges are inspected.
Response: The Further
Education Funding Council has commissioned an evaluation on the
effectiveness of disability statements. We will publish a good
practice guide in the Spring of 2000.
24. Statistics are required on type of impairment,
retention levels, levels and types of support provided, as well
as the more obvious statistics concerning entry onto courses and
qualifications achieved.
Response: Following a
pilot scheme with 4 colleges in 1998/99, the Further Education
and Funding Council (FEFC) intend to collect detailed information
on learning difficulties /disabilities for the 200/01 Individual
Student Record exercise. This will make it possible to separately
identify students by their type of learning difficulty or disability
and whether they fall into both categories.
We are seeking advice from the FEFC on the feasibility
of the collection of information on the type or level of support
via the Individual Student Record in 2000/01. This might include
collection of the following data on whether a student is supported
by:
-
-
transport (eg between
college buildings); or
a signer for Deaf students.
Access to information
25. A national information strategy is needed
to enable disabled adults to gain access to information, advice
and guidance about both courses and support available. Those devising
and implementing this strategy must consult with and involve disabled
people themselves.
Response: The development
of a new strategy for the provision of a local Information, Advice
and Guidance (IAG) service for adults began in April 1999. We
have made £7 million available in the current financial year
for this purpose. This will ensure that all adults have access
to high quality information, advice and guidance services to help
them make informed and better decisions about learning and work.
The initial emphasis is on the development of a basic
information and advice service that is free. We have asked Lifelong
Learning Partnerships, who are responsible for developing services
under contract, to give priority in their plans to meeting the
needs of socially disadvantaged and disabled people. We will ensure
that disabled people are consulted about , and involved in next
year's specification for local IAG services.
Physical barriers to access
26. We therefore recommend that the Government
ensure that sufficient funds are available for those institutions
of further and higher education which need to do so to make the
necessary adjustments to their premises to improve access for
disabled students by 2004.
Response: We will introduce
legislation in this parliamentary session to address the Disability
Rights Task Force's recommendations on education. We will consult
on the details of this legislation. Access to and within education
facilities will be a key consideration as the legislation is developed.
Work experience and industrial placements
27. We recommend that funding be made available,
perhaps through the Access to Work Scheme, to provide support
for disabled students undertaking work placements.
Response: see paragraph
28
Access to equipment and support
28. We recommend that the Government consider
establishing regional resource centres to co-ordinate the provision
of scarce or expensive equipment for disabled students.
Response paragraphs 27
& 28: The establishment of the Learning and Skills Council
provides an opportunity to look afresh at the support available
to disabled students. Long term coherent arrangements are needed
to remove barriers that currently inhibit the full participation
of disabled people in society and which facilitate people's progress
from learning to work.
Sign language interpreters
29. We recommend that the Government establish
a national training programme to increase the supply of British
Sign Language interpreters and communication support workers.
Response: We are in discussion
with the Royal National Institute for the Deaf, Council for the
Advancement of Communication with Deaf People and the Further
Education Funding Council to discuss how best to increase the
number of qualified interpreters and communicators.
Transport
30. We recommend that the principle whereby help
with travel to work costs is provided under the Access to Work
Scheme be extended to cover the cost of travel to an educational
establishment, although we recognise that it may be better to
deliver this support through the existing mechanisms for student
support rather than the Access to Work Scheme. It is important
that assistance should be available to disabled students of all
ages.
Response: We accept that
more needs to be done to avoid situations where the amount of
support on offer is determined by location rather than need. As
set out in the Social Exclusion Unit Report Bridging the Gap,
the DfEE intends to test out innovative approaches to providing
additional help with transport costs. This will include a variant
of Education Maintenance pilots focusing on transport, and the
development of a Youth or Learning Card giving an entitlement
to travel discounts. We expect to implement the pilots from September
2000.
Transition from Education to Employment
31. We believe that the proposals for a new youth
support service contained in the Social Exclusion Unit's Report
present an opportunity to address many of the present problems
in transitional provision for disabled young people.
Response: see paragraph
34
32. We are pleased that the Social Exclusion Unit
has identified disabled people as a group for whom appropriate
careers guidance is especially important and we recommend that
the Government ensure that there is adequate provision of specialist
careers advice for disabled people under the auspices of the new
youth support service.
Response: see paragraph
34
33. We recommend that the new youth support service
be given the freedom and resources to adopt an innovative approach
to helping disabled people during their first few months of work
through the provision of services such as job coaching and work
trials.
Response: see paragraph
34
34. We recommend that the Government extend the
provisions of the new youth support service, in the case of disabled
people, to the age of 25.
Response: Paragraphs 31-34:
The new information, support and guidance service for young people
will build on the current good practice in the Careers Service,
Youth Service and a range of other statutory and voluntary services.
The new service must provide young people with disabilities with
the support they need to make effective transitions and to remain
in learning. Care will be taken to complement Employment Service
provision with the work of the Learning and Skills Council.
An announcement about the development of the service
is expected early in the Spring. We will consider the Select Committee's
recommendations in drawing up the detailed arrangements following
that announcement.
35. We recommend that the Government examine the
possibility of establishing a single source of access to equipment
and support for disabled people in education, training and employment.
Response: The establishment
of the Learning and Skills Council provides an opportunity to
look afresh at the support available to disabled students.
Better access to education for adults with mental
health problems
36. We recommend that the funding councils make
available pump-priming funds to enable better access to adult,
higher and further education for people with mental health difficulties.
Response: In Further Education,
the FEFC already makes available funding to provide additional
support for disabled people. We are determined that the funding
systems of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) do not disadvantage
any group of potential learners. Local LSCs will have broad
funding powers which will enable a more flexible approach to meeting
individual needs. In particular, budgets will be available to
support the promotion of equality of opportunity projects and
initiatives which meet the needs of people who have greatest difficulty
in accessing learning opportunities. This will include people
with mental health difficulties. Pump-priming initiative funding
will be available for small scale local projects.
A consultation document on the funding arrangements
of the LSC was published on 11 January 2000. We will take into
account the views of the Committee.
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