Education and Inspections Bill

I shall come to that point later in my speech. We do not oppose that approach—in fact, we welcome it. It would be better if groups of schools and colleges in an area came together to collaborate and co-operate on timetables and teaching and were judged by their collective efforts and not by the individual exam results of each institution. I welcome the Secretary of State’s support for federations, which already exist in many areas, and I also welcome the change in language on supporting collaboration, but the problem is that the Bill does not include a lot of those proposals. As has been said, schools could collaborate through loose federations and more formal learning networks, or we could require schools and colleges to work together in a community learning trust, which would still allow external partners to participate. [Interruption.] I have no problem with the concept of a trust; my problem concerns particular details. [Interruption.] I also have a problem with giving freedom on admissions. Reducing the number of parent governors on a trust rules out community governance. We need to reform education and focus more on students’ needs. When one examines the most poorly performing secondary schools in England, one finds that they are plagued by three interrelated problems—poor discipline, truancy and young people opting out of post-16 education altogether. Pupils are currently voting with their feet. In the months of posturing leading up to today’s debate, the word ““choice”” has been oft used and much abused, although it actually appears only three times in the Bill. The Government have not used the word ““choice”” in respect of young people, and we need an education system that gives young people choice and encourages them to take responsibility in their lives.