Education and Inspections Bill

I seem to recall that in the alternative White Paper, which I think that Ministers truly understand now, we suggested piloting trusts. My hon. Friend is absolutely right: that is not a party political point. It became clear to me that, without significant reform, an education Bill based on the White Paper would not command wide support on the Labour Benches and elsewhere. In his introduction to the White Paper, the Prime Minister quite rightly emphasises the real improvements in education since 1997. Teachers’ pay is 20 per cent. higher in real terms. There are an extra 32,000 teachers and 130,000 support staff. There is improved literacy and numeracy. Ofsted reports that the proportion of good and excellent teaching in primary schools has risen from 45 per cent. to 74 per cent. There have been big improvements in GCSE results and more children are gaining university places. All of that has been achieved within existing structures. Recently, however, we appear to be in danger of talking down our own achievements and implying that further progress cannot be achieved or sustained. That is in marked contrast to our earlier education mantra: standards, not structures. Labour MPs and Labour councillors were entitled to ask what had changed, where the evidence was and where the proposals came from. At the last election, in the Labour document ““Schools forward not back””, we attacked Tory education policy. The document stated:"““The current catchment areas used by schools would be abolished and schools would be forced to introduce their own admissions system. This policy would see the end of community based schools and lead to a massive increase in bureaucracy for headteachers, with each school having to design their own admissions process.””" The fundamental concerns of many colleagues centred around the potential for pupils from poorer areas to be disadvantaged as popular schools expanded and wealthier and better informed parents were able to set up their own schools, operating their own admissions policy. There was also concern that local education policy should remain democratically accountable—something lamentably missing from the tenor of the debate.