Education and Inspections Bill

My Front-Bench colleagues believe that the Bill is timid—it certainly would be for a Conservative Government, but it is as radical as we will get from a Labour Government. Indeed, when the legislation is passed into the right hands it could be every bit as radical as the Prime Minister originally intended. It will certainly mean an end to the pretence that we have a comprehensive education system and it will mean a significant decline in the power of local education authorities. I understand why some Labour Members are concerned about the direction of travel of the legislation. It will not be everybody’s cup of tea. The quality of education has become so poor in many areas, with thousands of schools failing, that the middle classes are gradually withdrawing from the public sector, especially in the cities. As one Downing street adviser put it,"““we have to persuade the critical mass of people to switch from the private to the public sector””." Otherwise, he argued, they would demand tax cuts rather than supporting public sector investment. The Conservative party has already been down the independent road. We tried to use grant-maintained schools to raise standards and choice in education, in an attempt to break away from the dead hand of LEAs. Grant-maintained schools made a small but important contribution. Their impact could have been more significant, but unfortunately there was not a broad political consensus on the issue at that time. This time, we have a wider political consensus on trust schools and extra freedoms, so, if we can get the Bill through Parliament largely unaltered, one roadblock has been removed. The Bill provides an excellent foundation on which a Conservative Government can and should build. A number of specialist schools are currently permitted to select 10 per cent. of pupils on aptitude, which is to be applauded, by why only 10 per cent. and why include only certain specialisms such as PE and information technology? If the principle is sound, why not extend the practice to a wider range of specialisms and increase the percentages? I have not had time to say everything that I want—this is the abridged version of my speech—but the Bill is a great platform on which the Conservative party can build further educational reforms. A party that has dismantled the comprehensive education system can hardly complain when we kick dust on that system’s grave.