Education and Skills Bill

This particular amendment was introduced by the Liberal Democrats, but I will return to Lord Elton in a moment. There is a common concern about extending the existing statutory duty on schools to take into account pupils' opinions. The concern is the extent to which the duty will be taken further and the fact that these additional duties will be statutory. As my noble Friend Lord Elton said in another place on Third Reading:"““I am sorry that it has to be in legislation. We are a litigious nation and it would be very unfortunate if we were to have a rash of cases of parents saying, 'You were not listening to my little Johnny'.””—[Official Report, House of Lords, 11 November 2008; Vol. 705, c. 572.]"