Education and Inspections Bill

moved Amendment No. 73: Page 7, line 45, leave out from ““include”” to end of line 2 on page 8 and insert ““prescribed matters”” The noble Lord said: In moving this amendment I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 94 to 101, 104, 109, 117 to 120, 124, and 133 to 136. I have written to noble Lords about these amendments so I hope I can be brief. Turning firstly to Amendment No. 73, Clause 8 deals with proposals under Clause 7 relating to community schools. The effect of this amendment is to make it clear that regulations may prescribe matters which the Secretary of State will take into account in deciding whether or not to consent to the publication of proposals for a new community school in a competition. The clause as originally drafted referred only to the educational standards of authorities and individual schools and the extent of diversity among the schools. This amendment will allow a wider range of factors to be specified in regulations than would be appropriate on the face of the Bill, and for these to be more easily modified following consultation if this is felt necessary. Regulation 7 of the illustrative regulations made available to the Committee indicates the kinds of factors we have in mind. These will include the range of curricular specialisms and the range of extended services offered by schools, as well as the general standards of attainment and the range of special educational needs provision. Government Amendments Nos. 94 to 98, 100, 104 and 109 are technical and remedy deficiencies in the drafting of the Bill. The only amendment of substance which I should just say a word about is Amendment No. 97 which provides that a local authority may publish proposals for an increase in the number of pupils admitted to a school. As it stands, the Bill provides only for a local authority to propose an increase in the physical capacity of a school. There may be circumstances in which a local authority wishes to increase the number of pupils admitted to a school without having to enlarge the premises significantly. This amendment brings the Bill into line with existing legislation governing school organisation, which recognises this distinction between a physical enlargement and an increase in the number of pupils admitted to a school. Amendments Nos. 99, 101, 117 to 120, 124, 133 to 136 are to protect the assets and the role of existing foundations that support schools. They follow extensive discussions, in particular with the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church, which account for the majority of such trusts. They give these trusts broadly the same protection as applied before the Bill. I beg to move.