Education and Inspections Bill

I thank the Minister for his response to my amendments. I have listened to him with some care, but I want to reflect further on his response and read it in Hansard. I accept that the Government are proud of what they have achieved on trust schools thus far. Indeed, I believe that at Prime Minister’s Questions today the Prime Minister praised specialist schools and the concept of diversity and choice. We commend that and believe that it is a step in the right direction. However, a more courageous stance was taken in the White Paper. Many of the points set out in the White Paper, which are not included in the Bill, are achievable. We should continue to strive to achieve those things. The noble Earl, Lord Listowel, and the noble Lord, Lord Skidelsky, commented on children with special needs. As I said in my opening remarks to this group of amendments, local authorities should recast themselves as the commissioners and quality assurers of educational services and not be the direct suppliers. That allows them to focus on promoting the interests of parents and pupils far more confidently and powerfully than in the old days of the local authority, and allows them to play a much more strategic role, which the noble Lord, Lord Kinnock, asked for back in 1992. I refer to the schools commissioner, the role of the school improvement partners and, particularly with regard to special needs, the choice advisers. We have tabled later amendments which seek to take that point further. The choice advisers will give advice to parents on schools in their area. All those constituent parts lead in the right direction. We want more choice and diversity but the right advice and information must be available so that parents can find out what different schools offer to prospective pupils. I want to touch briefly on the matter raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Massey. It is my understanding that becoming a foundation school cannot lead to a change in the religious character of the school.That is explicitly ruled out by Clause 18(4)(a), so encouraging the establishment of foundation schools does not necessarily equate with having more faith schools. We have to be careful about that. We will perhaps discuss the noble Baroness’s amendment later tonight but I stress that we recognise the great benefit that charitable organisations bring to the school system. Charitable organisations enable schools to strike out as independently run state schools with their own distinctive ethos. Independence, combined with the power of parents to choose, provides the great driver for better standards. I was concerned that the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, said that what the Conservatives are trying to achieve—which is what I believe the Government are trying to achieve—is setting schools apart from one another. That is not the case. I mentioned chains of schools. All over the country schools are encouraging other schools on best practice, giving advice and counsel and demonstrating through their own success ways in which other schools can raise their standards. We should all be proud and pleased about what is happening in that regard. People in all communities want to get involved in their local schools. The more we free up schools to allow them to develop their own ethos, set their own budgets, set their own style and allow head teachers to fulfil their role as leaders of their schools, the better it will be for communities and our children. It is disappointing and depressing that the Liberal Democrats want to hang on to the dead hand of bureaucracy. We should free up local authorities to play a much more powerful role in strategy, rather than having simply to provide each child with a school place and seeing that as the extent of their duties. The focus on a more innovative approach will allow local authorities to be more dynamic. I find the Liberal Democrats’ approach depressing, and I hope that they may come to see it our way, as it were, as they listen to the debates on this Bill.