Education and Inspections Bill

I am confused and should like some guidance from the Minister. My first point concerns Amendment No. 1, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Buscombe, on primary duties. I am not entirely clear what a primary duty is. The Education Reform Act 1998, which I regard as an important anchor point indeed for the educational system, states that the Secretary of State, the local education authority and/or the governing body have to, "““exercise their functions…with a view to securing that the curriculum for the school…promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society; and…prepares such pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life””." I think that that is a supremely good definition of education. Would Amendment No. 1 in any way change the emphasis? Would that definition remain in place if Amendment No. 1 were accepted? Secondly, I entirely support the noble Baroness, Lady Buscombe, in asking the Minister whether he will kindly give a clear definition of fair access. Is fair access going to be defined in regulations? If it is, could we please see a draft of the regulations or have an idea of what they will say? I am not suggesting that there are not reasons for having a general, sweeping idea of fair access, but it will be very difficult when it has to be applied. There are not and never will be infinite resources for education, and choices therefore have to be made. Gifted children, for example, concern me very much. What is fair access for a gifted child? Is it simply fair access to a more or less ““bog standard”” school, or is it access to a school that will stimulate that child and cause him to succeed and fulfil his potential? I believe that nearly all children—not all children, but nearly all children—thrive on competition provided the competition is such that they can succeed at least from time to time. That inevitably implies that children must learn alongside other children of more or less equal ability and who have received more or less the same training and experience in life to give them a chance to be able to compete and to stimulate one another to succeed. How will that be secured? In very large schools, it may be possible to secure it by having forms of streaming and dividing into different sectors within the school. However, we have at home, in a house belonging to my family, a small school. At the moment it has 12 pupils and is thinking of increasing the number to 18. These children have a very special need and cannot cope in a big school. They have failed in a big school—they have been a disaster in a big school—whereas they are doing very well in this small school. Small schools cannot provide for a huge range of academic ability. What about ability in subjects that are outside the academic curriculum? I know of two children who have quite exceptional musical ability. What is fair access to schooling for a child who has quite exceptional musical ability? These are the kinds of question that have to be answered, and I think we need to know the kind of answers that the Government are going to give.