Academies Bill [HL]

That question is a long way above my pay grade. The Secretary of State seems to have quite a lot of influence in the Government at the moment. We will see how it goes and I wish him the best of luck. The Minister said that the funding agreements would be published for each school; each application would be considered separately; and freedom of information requests will get all the information they require in relation to each school. We understand all that but it is different from parliamentary scrutiny of the overall policy and the criteria on which the Secretary of State will make the decisions. This is an issue which will not go away. It will probably be debated in considerable depth when the Bill gets to the House of Commons. We will observe with interest how it gets on. In the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 17 withdrawn. Amendments 17A and 17B not moved. Clause 2 : Payments under Academy agreements Clause 2 : Payments under Academy agreements Amendment 18 had been retabled as Amendment 19A. Amendments 19 to 20 not moved. Amendment 21 Moved by