Special Educational Needs and Disability (Support) Bill

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John Bercow introduced his Special Educational Needs and Disability (Support) Bill for second reading on May 15.

The Bill would put a duty on English councils to ensure all teaching staff had sufficient training and expertise to provide "an appropriate education" for pupils with disability or SEN.

He highlighted that children with SEN were nine time more likely to be permanently excluded from school and 80 per cent of children with learning difficulties had been bullied.

Bercow, who led a government review of services for children with speech and language difficulties, said he was concerned about the "paucity of outcomes" for such youngsters and condemned the current inspection regime as "deficient".

On inspections, Bercow told MPs: "There is often, as I say, a cursory approach. A perfunctory, box-ticking, let's-get-it-out-of-the-way reference to that set of issues almost as an optional extra or periodic afterthought.

"Up with that, parents and others are increasingly simply not willing - as Churchill would have said - to put."

Bercow criticised schools for being too ready to exclude pupils with behavioural problems which could be connected with a disability.

He said: "We've got to move away from the idea of a permanent exclusion as a regular weapon and establish the proper notion that it is a mechanism of last resort to be applied if, and only if, all other potential and preferable avenues have been fully explored."

Conservative shadow children's minister, Tim Loughton backed the Bill, saying it was "refreshing" to get back to "weighty issues after the distractions of the past week".

Loughton said: "It contains important measures to address the woefully inadequate provision for SEN that exists across the whole of the UK.

"We cannot justify continuing to sweep under the carpet these problems and attribute them to bad behaviour. It needs to be taken head-on, once and for all."

For the Liberal Democrats, former teacher, Paul Rowen backed the Bill, warning current provision was "very much a postcode lottery".

He said of the measure: "It's not too proscriptive. It provides a framework from which we can move forward to ensure we get the best out of our young people."

Junior schools minister, Sarah McCarthy-Fry said she shared Bercow's commitment to securing improved outcomes for children with special educational needs or disabilities but that she was "not convinced" his proposals were the best way of securing progress.

McCarthy-Fry agreed it was important to address the "patchiness" in SEN training but said that bringing in a new duty was not necessary and outlined a range of measures being taken by the government.

She also said Ofsted was currently revising its inspection framework and would look at how SEN provision is assessed as part of that process.

But she said the government's mind was "not closed" if further change was necessary.

Bercow withdrew his Bill in response to Ms McCarthy-Fry's commitments on the issues.

He said: "I had a little list ... of no fewer than 25 commitments which I had some reason to hope and anticipate the government would make today."

As the minister spoke "I was able to tick off each and every one of the 25", Bercow said.

But he warned the government he would keep a "beady eye" on progress made on the matters.

Progress

House of Commons

First reading: January 21 2009 [HC Bill 26]

Second reading: May 15 2009