Education and Inspections Bill

I have given way once and I do not accrue another minute if I give way again. I must carry on. We need to explore in more detail—I hope that we will do so in Committee—some of the concepts that seem to go unchallenged. I pick out the issues of diversity, choice and independence as three of the most important concepts that go unchallenged. I am quite relaxed about schools being slightly different; I am not really bothered what the name on the front door of the school says. I recognise that there is a public demand for a wider range of products and services in all spheres of our public life, but what matters at the end of the day is not the name of the school. In fact, I am not sure that what matters is the school’s ethos, because I get slightly nervous about the term ““ethos””. It really is a euphemism for selecting those who are similar to us. However, I am bothered about diversity within the school. If the Government are going to fulfil our absolute commitment to raising standards of education and achieving the potential of all children, we have to recognise the differences among all children, and we have to be able to provide diversity of curriculum and diversity of pastoral care arrangements within each school. Some people take it as read that choice is a good thing. I do not think that we can have a system of totally free choice without paying attention to the practical consequences of implementing that. In any system of education, health care or of any other aspect of the welfare state, choice has to operate within a series of constraints. The key issue for Government is to decide what constraints there are going to be and in whose interests they operate. There could and should be such a thing as managed choice that works in the greatest interest of the greatest number rather than a na&-uml;ve view of totally free choice, which will inevitably advantage those who are most confident and articulate. I am fairly relaxed, and have been for 20 years, about the commissioner-provider split. I am fairly relaxed about more innovation in the system, but if the system is going to be freed up, two things are of paramount importance. First, we need to have the powers for local authorities to manage at the strategic level and to co-ordinate in the interests of all children. Secondly, we have to have a tight admissions policy that works in the interests of all children. If we do not have a set of rules—