Education and Inspections Bill

I welcome the Bill. It is symbolic of the change in this Government’s attitude to education. By freeing the provision of education, putting more emphasis on parental choice and giving schools the opportunity for greater freedoms, it marks a comprehensive departure from Labour’s past. It is a recognition by the Government that to make the next step-change in improving standards, we need to free the education system in this country. We need to harness the accountability that increased parental choice and increased diversity of provision can bring to the education system. For far too long we have relied on centralised control and direction to raise standards in our schools. The measures in the Bill will lay the foundations for a change in emphasis in our education system. The Bill will introduce more choice and more diversity. That will benefit parents and pupils, not just in leafy suburbs, but in urban areas and cities as well. For too long we have allowed education in our inner city areas to be neglected. Too often, education has not been seen as a route out of deprivation and social problems. I am concerned that the Government have already made too many concessions since the White Paper and the vision that the Prime Minister set out in its foreword. The concession that the Secretary of State made to allow LEAs to set up new community schools will be used by the weakest local authorities to hide their performance. Local authorities that are strong, confident and proud of the schools in their area will have no fear of new providers. The hon. Member for Battersea (Martin Linton) pointed out from his experience of a visit to Sweden that competition from new providers can raise standards, improve diversity in the system and lead to better results, not just in the new schools but also in the schools already in the area. We need to learn that important lesson from experience in Sweden. We also need to say to those people who do not believe that autonomy and freedom can contribute to an improvement in standards that they should look at the value added tables for schools published earlier this year. What type of school was at the top of those tables in raising attainment beyond the expectation of children at the end of key stage 2? The answer is city technology colleges—the Conservative forerunners of academies. Schools with the least freedom—community schools—actually experienced a reduction in standards at key stage 4 compared to their results at key stage 2. It is vital that the Government hold firm to the reforms and recognise that parental choice, diversity and freedom lead to higher educational standards. That was the basis on which I fought the last general election. I am pleased that the Government were thinking what we were thinking, and I am delighted to be able to support the Bill.