Education and Inspections Bill

We got on very well in parental interview. John McIntosh, the headmaster, has asked me how one can achieve choice and diversity in a school—and he does so—unless one interviews parents. My hon. Friend the Member for Havant (Mr. Willetts) and other hon. Members have made an important point. There is not a problem in my rural, prosperous constituency, which has a mix of grammar and comprehensive schools. We have two excellent grammar schools that regularly appear among the top 20 state schools in league tables, and comprehensive schools, such as William Farr, whose headmaster told me only a few weeks ago that he already has a foundation school. The Bill not will make a scrap of difference to him, as it is now so hedged around with caveats on admissions and the code of conduct that in many parts of the country it will make very little difference. I wish to talk about inner London, as I feel strongly about the problem that we face in metropolitan areas—an issue rightly raised by my hon. Friend. The London borough of Hammersmith has the fastest growing population of parents who send their children to private schools. Unless they can get their children into free schools, which are Lady Margaret school, the London Oratory or the Sacred Heart school, they will not stay in the state sector. That is the problem. Surely middle class parents—people in the Labour party who want diversity—should be worried about that. Why are people fleeing from state schools in inner London and the metropolitan areas?