Lord Lexden (Con)

My Lords, Amendment 25 has the support of my noble friend Lord Black of Brentwood. We are both profoundly conscious of the importance of the contribution the independent sector of education makes to providing for children with special educational needs and disabilities. I hope the Government also recognise this important contribution and will join us today in paying tribute to it. One-fifth of pupils in independent schools receive SEND support—a significantly higher proportion than in the state sector. The small schools, which are so numerous in the independent sector of education, are ideal places for such pupils. They thrive under the careful, compassionate supervision of their dedicated teachers and the staff who support them. Many of these schools, cherished by pupils and parents alike, are members of the Independent Schools Association, of which I am president, giving me an interest, which I declare. The continued success of these schools needs to be safeguarded at a time when SEND provision in the state sector is in crisis—a crisis which will not be relieved for some time through the plans for significant improvement that the Government are quite rightly making. Everyone hopes that the Government’s plans will eventually succeed, but arrangements are needed of the kind for which this amendment provides. Amendment 25 would help safeguard the future of independent schools that specialise in SEND provision, which are so badly needed in our country today. Under this amendment, an independent school that has 50% or more pupils with a registered SEND need would retain its charitable rate relief. The Government say that such relief must be confined to schools with some 50% of pupils with education, health and care plans. That is the wrong dividing line. There are nearly 100,000 pupils with a registered SEND need in independent schools whose parents do not want or, in many cases, have been unable to get an EHCP, which is notoriously difficult to acquire, since a long and often expensive obstacle course awaits those who apply for it. In Committee, the Minister was at pains to stress that the majority of children with special educational needs have those needs met in state schools. Of course that is so, but it is wrong to neglect or diminish the crucial extent to which independent schools supplement the state’s provision, working in the spirit of partnership which is the predominant characteristic of the independent education sector today. Without this amendment, invaluable SEND schools can be expected to find themselves in grave difficulty or will be forced to close. I beg to move.