Education and Inspections Bill

The hon. Lady makes my point exactly—the Bill is not needed to do all that is claimed—and I am grateful to her for emphasising that fact. This is a Conservative Bill, but Labour Members will support it in the Lobby tonight. We heard the right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe (Mr. Clarke) make it absolutely clear that these are Tory proposals. Labour Members can dance on the head of a pin about whether or not the Bill will create grant-maintained schools mark 2, but the reality is that that is exactly what they will be. That is why the Bill has so excited Tory Members under their new leadership. We have only to go back to what Lady Thatcher said at the Tory party conference in 1987:"““Give parents and governors the right to take their children’s schools out of the hands of the local authority””." Little did she know that a Labour Prime Minister would do exactly that, but the question that we as a party—my hon. Friend the Member for Brent, East (Sarah Teather) made an outstanding contribution in her first speech in her new role—and, indeed, those Labour Back Benchers who have the courage to stick to their Labour principles have to answer is, in fact, whether these are the right proposals. First, where is the evidence? I asked the right hon. and learned Member for Ruscliffe, who is a former Secretary of State for Education and Science, and the current Secretary of State to produce any evidence to support the proposals. The White Paper said:"““the expanded involvement of the private sector will improve education””." Where is the evidence that that will occur? It said that, under the Bill,"““all will benefit from an education service based on choice and diversity””." Where is the evidence for that? Not a single bit have the Government been able to produce in support of that claim. It also said that"““parents want to attend Parent Councils and establish new schools.””" Where did that come from? There is no evidence at all that that is what parents want. The vast majority of parents want good local schools, and when they have had the opportunity to take up some of those advantages, they have not taken them. Let us consider the grant-maintained system. Despite the fact that schools were bribed to become grant-maintained and extra resources were involved, how many did it? Just fewer than 1,000 primary and secondary schools took up that offer. Let us take the Education Act 2002—