Academies Bill [HL]

My Lords, we have had one or two little forays about governors and governing bodies in Committee. I have to admit that I am surprised at how small a role governors appear to play in the Bill. I reaffirm my position as president of the National Governors Association in moving this rather specific amendment on its behalf. There is general concern about the small number of parents on governing bodies. I am probing, I hope, to get a full answer on what the Government intend to do about it. The composition of the governing bodies of maintained schools is set out in the School Governance (Constitution) (England) Regulations 2007. The precise arrangements will depend on the type and size of the school, but, broadly speaking, the arrangements mean that at least one-third of governors will be parent governors; at least two governors, but not more than one-third of the total, will be staff governors; and at least one will be a local authority governor. Existing academies are not covered by any such regulations. Their governor arrangements can vary widely, depending on the views of the proprietor. Academies tend to have some form of limited company arrangement. Some will have a body which calls itself a governing body, while others will state that the school is governed by the limited company, but that there will be an advisory body which may include some parental representation. The NGA very strongly supports the need for the governing body to represent different stakeholders with an interest in the success of the school. This Government—not least with their launch of the idea of free schools—have a track record of championing the role of parents in setting the ethos and direction of a school. However, surely the way in which parents can most effectively do this is as members of a governing body. An academy is currently required to have only one elected parent as a member of its governing body. One elected parent governor does not represent parental involvement of the kind and extent that government Ministers have been promoting in other ways—or, incidentally, of the kind of numbers involved which the NGA also strongly champions. Its preferred option is to have at least one-third of the governing body as parent governors. The NGA’s advice to any of the outstanding schools which will opt to convert to academies is to retain the current structure, which it believes has served the schools well to date—at least, there is no evidence to the country. Without the amendment or an equivalent provision, the conversion to academy status would allow a school dramatically to reduce the number of parent governors. Elections to a governing body take place via a democratic process, which is an additional safeguard that is important, perhaps not least because of the move towards more responsibilities for how academies are managed and operated being transferred back to the Secretary of State’s department. Without the amendment, it looks as if the Bill will move away from parental involvement, rather than increase it, as promised. As the noble Lord, Lord Bates, said earlier, governing bodies are increasingly important in ensuring that excellent education is delivered in all our schools. The Bill will add considerably to those responsibilities. To ensure that schools do that vital job even more effectively, I hope that the Minister can reassure me that the Secretary of State, by one means or another, will ensure that an acceptable proportion of the local school’s parents are on all governing bodies of academies. I beg to move.