Schools White Paper

My Lords, I very rarely intervene on a Statement, but today I feel that I cannot let this moment go by without comment. I shall never forget the stubbornness of the new Labour Government in 1997, when Lady Blatch battled away hour after hour as they destroyed and abolished grant-maintained schools. She would have been intrigued and surprised yesterday to hear the Prime Minister, in his passion of the day, say that the Government had had a partial change of heart and now accept that the provision of education for our children is best done by giving freedom to schools to organise themselves. Does the Minister share the sadness of many people that a whole generation of children has been denied the educational opportunities that are now proposed?