Contribution
My Lords, I shall speak briefly on these amendments. The best way forward is probably Amendment 30 in the next group, which is a cleaner way of dealing with this. I would sit a little uncomfortably with the idea of placing additional financial burdens on schools, although I understand the rationale that the Government have put forward for these changes.
The concern is that any analysis that has been done, particularly from the financial point of view, might suggest that this is perhaps a more minor element of the changes that are proposed as regards independent schools. However, there is a grave concern that the cumulative effect of this change, along with the national insurance and particularly the VAT contributions, is likely to lead to the closure of a number of schools. This is not unprecedented; I have seen it happen through various changes in other parts of the United Kingdom. As such, while this is perhaps the smallest element of those three changes, it could potentially become the tipping point for a range of schools.
Let us deal specifically with the two main amendments in this group: Amendment 25, from the noble Lord, Lord Lexden, and the amendment on sport in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan. There has been an explosion in the number of young people diagnosed with special educational needs throughout the United Kingdom, and there is much greater pressure, sometimes for very virtuous reasons. For example, we see that some children with particular physical disabilities, who many years ago would, sadly, have had a very low life expectancy, are now able to live into adulthood and, indeed, live a full life. That is something for us all to celebrate. However, there has been a massive increase in the number of children with special educational needs.
For many years, my part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, has tended to have much higher levels of special educational needs, and there may be an argument that other parts of the country are almost playing catch-up with Northern Ireland. But I can give your Lordships an indication that we should not be naive and believe that we will reach a plateau as regards those with needs that have to be catered for. Even in Northern Ireland over the last five, 10 or 15 years, those numbers have gone up and up, and there is no doubt that that situation will be replicated in the different parts of the United Kingdom.
With this comes increasing pressure to find appropriate educational settings for those many children. Again, judging from my experience, within the state sector that creates increasing pressures, where schools that perhaps have not been doing so before are having to provide specialist classes. The local authorities—in Northern Ireland’s case, the Education Authority—are having to scramble around to try to find where they can provide additional facilities.
In the Northern Ireland context, there is not a sizeable independent sector, but particularly in England the independent sector plays an important role in providing a level of specialist support for many of those children with special educational needs. It provides a certain level of safety valve in reducing the pressure within the system. I doubt this is the Government’s intention, but if we inadvertently create a situation where a number of these schools are forced to close, that will ratchet up further pressure within the state system at a time when we are already facing a tsunami of pressures, as has been identified by a number of noble Lords. The VAT exemption put forward by the noble Lord, Lord Lexdenm seems to be a sensible way forward, because the placing of that additional burden, which will almost inevitably lead to further closures, will be counterproductive to our young people as regards special educational needs.
Similarly, although the case is perhaps a little less acute as regards sport, accusations can be made of Governments of different political persuasions, over many years and decades, who have not been able to provide the level of sporting facilities in this country that our young people merit. We all glory in the great sporting triumphs of this nation, but, quite often, such triumphs have occurred in spite of the facilities in place rather than because of them.
Going back many years to Prime Minister John Major, he spoke of the need to open up fields and sporting facilities, but there was not the level of success that we should perhaps have seen. It strikes me that, if we do not have some level of exemption for our sports fields when it comes to rating purposes, we are simply accelerating the process by which many of those facilities will become no longer viable.
When schools find themselves in financial difficulty, it is about seeing what assets they have and what they can get rid of. Sport, unfortunately, is quite often seen as an extra and as an easy thing to cut, but that has a detrimental impact. What particularly persuades me towards the amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, is that it ties this in with community use. These facilities should not be castles shining on the hill, to which no one can gain admission. The partnership that should always be there between schools and the community must be at the heart of what we seek to do, no more so than in the issue of sport.
As such, whatever the Government’s intentions in relation to these changes, without some level of amendment, either through this group or the group beginning with Amendment 30, we will be taking a retrograde step, for both sports and special educational needs.