Diolch Llywydd. I move amendment 54 and I wish to speak to it along with amendment 61, which is also tabled in my name, and also make some references to amendments 56, 57 and 58, all of which I support, in the name of Llyr Gruffydd.

Amendment 54 seeks to amend the Bill so that it will require the individual development plans for each learner with additional learning needs to contain information about transport arrangements that may be required as a result of those needs. During Stage 1, the Children, Young People and Education Committee heard evidence that the current support system often overlooks the transport needs of learners requiring support. Stakeholders told the committee that they believe that the transport requirements of learners should be considered as part of individual development plans.

The National Union of Teachers gave an example of a student with autism who might have difficulties with bus timetables and handling money. This may mean that alternative transport needs have to be arranged for pupils in those sorts of situations. Diabetes UK raised similar concerns, as did the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. They believe that the risk of acute complications from some conditions mean that standard school transport may not be appropriate for all individuals, particularly for longer home-to-school journeys.

The Anaphylaxis Campaign confirmed that similar travel issues could be faced by young people suffering from anaphylaxis. They said that they'd been in contact with parents who'd had to take their children out of school because of inadequate home-to-school transport provision. Epilepsy charities also expressed similar concerns.

So, amendment 54 seeks to address those concerns by ensuring that the school transport arrangements required as a result of individual learning needs are actually included within individual development plans. This will ensure that they're not an afterthought by decision makers in schools and local authorities but that they're properly considered as part of the plan.

In addition, including transport arrangements in individual development plans will allow them to become the subject of tribunal rulings when disagreements arise. This will further focus the minds of decision makers in local authorities, schools and further education institutions to ensure that transport arrangements are not overlooked. There's nothing like a potential tribunal ruling to ensure that transport arrangements receive the proper focus from decision makers.

Now, I understand that a review of the Welsh Government's guidance on home-to-school transport is currently under way. This is a very welcome review because we all know that our constituency postbags have, from time to time, been filled with concerns about the way that that guidance is sometimes interpreted by local authorities. But I'm afraid that, even with that guidance being under review, it does not address the fundamental concerns of stakeholders in the same way that my amendment will. 

It's only by requiring individual development plans to contain information on transport, including to further education institutions, and by making them subject to tribunal rulings that there will be any hope, I believe, of dealing with this issue once and for all.

Moving on then to amendment 61, this is an amendment that seeks to ensure that guidance is issued to schools and colleges regarding the provision of additional learning needs support prior to the preparation of individual development plans. Now, the purpose of this amendment is to ensure that needs are met while people are waiting for, perhaps, formal assessments for an individual development plan. Now, we know that one of the problems with the current system is that, very often, it takes a long time for people to get a package of support that is appropriate to meet their needs. And that could still be the case, on occasions, in terms of trying to get formal arrangements in place when negotiating with the national health service, local education authorities and others to arrange for a package of support for individuals, even under the new system.

So, amendment 61 is designed to address the potential hole that people can fall through while those arrangements are being made, so that interim provision, effectively, can be put in place. So, I do hope that Members will feel that they're able to support both amendments 54 and 61.

I said earlier that I want to put on record my support for the amendments that have been tabled by Llyr Gruffydd. These, of course, are amendments that seek to ensure that schools, colleges and local authorities consider rather than simply decide whether to provide additional learning provision through the medium of Welsh. There are other amendments that have been tabled further on that we'll be debating, which also complement these three amendments. But, as part of that broader package, I think it's absolutely essential that we strengthen the Welsh-language provisions in this piece of legislation to ensure that people realise the opportunities that they ought to have to receive services from public service providers through the medium of Welsh. I look forward to listening to the rest of the debate.