Education and Inspections Bill

Some perfectly legitimate issues have been raised in the debate, and I hope that I can provide the reassurances that have been sought. Amendments Nos. 79 and 80 seek to give local authorities the freedom to establish community schools if they are formed by the merger of any two or more primary schools which the authority proposes to discontinue. Local authorities may seek to publish proposals outside a competition under Clause 10. I can tell the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, that the merger of a junior and an infant school into a single school is exactly the sort of situation where such consent may be granted under Clause 10. I should apologise to her and to other noble Lords as my honourable friend Jim Knight’s letter on this issue should have referred to Clause 10—proposals outside competitions with the consent of the Secretary of State—and not to Clause 11, which covers special cases where a competition is never required; for example, nursery schools. Amendment No. 82 would extend the additional requirements in respect of rural primary schools, which was added to the present arrangements by an amendment to the Education Act 2005 made by this House. It would extend those present arrangements to all schools. The Government recognise, not least under the influence of your Lordships, which was very plainly felt in a government defeat, the particular importance of rural schools to their communities, and we support and encourage their preservation unless there are strong educational grounds for closure. This is why we already have a presumption against the closure of rural schools in statutory guidance to those who decide school organisation proposals. In addition, we have the provisions in the Education Act 2005 which the House inserted as factors that must be taken into account before any decision can be made. Those considering making proposals to close any school will look at a range of factors, including those set out for rural schools in the 2005 Act—the impact on standards, pupil number forecasts, the pattern of parental demand and levels of diversity—in addition to the factors set out in Clause 15. The body that takes the final decision on such proposals will expect to see hard evidence and well reasoned arguments for closure on these and a range of other grounds. I turn to Amendments Nos. 85 and 86 to Clause 17. I should make it clear that Clause 17 re-enacts provisions giving the Secretary of State the power to direct a local authority to close a maintained special school on a particular date when—and I stress this point—it is considered that it is in the interests of the health, safety or welfare of the children. I entirely accept the points made by the noble Baroness,Lady Williams, about the need to have maximum possible engagement with parents in the school community in all such cases. But this is a reserved power to be used only when there are particularly vulnerable pupils at risk and it would not therefore be appropriate to go through the normal local decision-making processes that apply in other cases. Clause 17, even in these limited cases where there are particularly vulnerable pupils at risk and closure is in the interests of the health, safety and welfare of the children, allows for consultation with, "““such other persons as the Secretary of State considers appropriate””." We would expect that to include parents of children attending the school, as indicated in the amendment. We believe it is covered, and I have made it clear for the record how the Secretary of State would behave in those circumstances. We do not believe that publishing statutory proposals for the closure of schools under the clause would be appropriate, because emergency action may be needed very quickly, and the normal length and scope of consultation may not be appropriate because of the particular health and welfare issues at stake when the Secretary of State decides to proceed to closure. However, the clause already requires the Secretary of State to give notice of the direction in writing to the governing body and head teacher of the school. Before issuing a direction, not only should the interested parties be consulted, as I have said, but a letter giving the direction should clearly set out the reasons for that direction. I believe that answers the other points made by the two noble Baronesses. On Amendment No. 90, on post-16 provision, Clause 18 already specifies that the prescribed alterations permissible under it may include alterations of any nature except those listed in subsection (4). They do not include the enlargement or the addition of a sixth form. Subsection (3) says that prescribed alterations may include anything that is not ruled out by subsection (4). Therefore, the objective, which the noble Baroness seeks to achieve, is met by the clause. Furthermore, the illustrative regulations made available to the Committee specify in Schedules 2 and 4 that alterations such as the introduction or expansion of sixth-form provision are among those for which proposals must be published. Enlargements and the addition of sixth forms are significant changes to school organisation for which consultation and the publication of statutory proposals have long been required. This will continue, and it will include consultation with the consultees whom the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, listed. Amendments Nos. 93 and 102 would, in effect, make it impossible for a school to expand unless that expansion was endorsed by the local authority. I do not want to get into the underlying issue of whether it is a good or a bad thing for schools to expand, but I simply want to make it clear—I think this meets the noble Baroness’s point—that local authorities already play, and will continue to play, a decisive part in decision-making in expansion cases over and above one form of entry. Indeed, their role will be enhanced under the Bill in that the Bill abolishes school organisation committees and replaces them with local authorities as decision-makers. The local authority must decide expansion beyond one form of entry. However, we do not believe that a school should be required to have the consent of a local authority before it can submit expansion proposals. That would negate our intention to give schools the capacity to expand appropriately to meet the needs of pupils and parents. We think that schools, including community schools, to which the noble Baroness referred, should be able to submit proposals to expand. Any category of school may publish proposals to expand and to add sixth-form provision. The local authority then decides but, in a dispute between a school and the local authority, the school may in prescribed circumstances appeal to the adjudicator when proposals are turned down by the local authority. I hope that responds to the points made by the noble Baroness to her satisfaction.