UK Parliament / Open data

Children, Schools and Families Bill

Debate on bills on Tuesday, 23 February 2010, in the House of Commons.
Children, Schools and Families Bill. Report stage. New clause 17 debated and agreed to. New clause 1 debated and negatived on division (172 to 277), new clause 2 debated with new clauses 6-9 and 19. New clause 2 agreed to on question, new clause 7 negatived on division (173 to 280). Some amendments agreed to on division (386 to 41). Third reading debate. Agreed to on division (268 to 177) and Bill passed with amendments.
Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
506 c173-269 
Session
2009-10
Department
Department for Children, Schools and Families
Legislative stage
Third reading and Report stage
Procedure
New clauses
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Children, Schools and Families Bill. As amended in Public Bill Committee.
Friday, 5 February 2010
Bills
House of Commons
Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Public acts
Legislative scrutiny: Children, Schools and Families Bill; Other Bills. Human Rights Joint Select Committee eighth report with formal minutes and written evidence.
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Parliamentary committees
House of Lords
House of Commons
Proceeding contributions
William Cash | 506 c201 (Link to this contribution) I am glad to see that we are now in agreement.
Ed Balls | 506 c201 (Link to this contribution) indicated assent.

Show all contributions (159)
William Cash | 506 c201 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Secretary of State for his comments, and I shall listen to what he has to say i...
Ed Balls | 506 c201 (Link to this contribution) This is a rather frustrating exchange, Mr. Deputy Speaker. When the hon. Gentleman has finished spea...
William Cash | 506 c200 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the Secretary of State would be kind enough to explain the situation.
William Cash | 506 c200 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State indicates that they would not fall within that category. For the purposes of ...
William Cash | 506 c200 (Link to this contribution) I understand that but, as I may be able to explain as I move into the argument, the law on this subj...
David Laws | 506 c200 (Link to this contribution) It might help the hon. Gentleman to know, as he might not have been aware of the context earlier, th...
William Cash | 506 c199 (Link to this contribution) He is listening. Good. Is that what he said?
William Cash | 506 c200 (Link to this contribution) That, if I may say so, is something that we need to discuss. The Liberal Democrat proposal in new cl...
Ed Balls | 506 c200 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has just set out the current legal position with 100 per cent. accuracy.
Annette Brooke | 506 c197 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention and see the point that he is getting at. I can clari...
Edward Timpson | 506 c197 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to the hon. Lady for giving way. Where a child is in the care of a local authorit...
William Cash | 506 c199 (Link to this contribution) I want to confine my remarks to new clause 10, and the issue of reasonable punishment. With respect ...
Jim Cousins | 506 c197-9 (Link to this contribution) I do not intend to detain the House for long, and I wish to address my remarks entirely to new claus...
Annette Brooke | 506 c197 (Link to this contribution) I am about to conclude, but I shall give way once more.
Ann Cryer | 506 c206 (Link to this contribution) Yes, boundaries have to be established with children, but does not the hon. Gentleman understand tha...
William Cash | 506 c206 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State is adopting the role of Confused.com and trying to arbitrate in the matter. T...
Ed Balls | 506 c206 (Link to this contribution) I hope there is no confusion. If the hon. Gentleman could clarify that there is no confusion, we wou...
William Cash | 506 c206 (Link to this contribution) That was a very helpful intervention.
William Cash | 506 c206-7 (Link to this contribution) The problem that the hon. Lady poses is that there are circumstances in the real world where there i...
William Cash | 506 c204-5 (Link to this contribution) It has been used in a great number of cases. As I said earlier, many of them turned on the applicati...
Richard Shepherd | 506 c205 (Link to this contribution) I refer to the exchange between my hon. Friend and the Secretary of State on the 1996 Act. That was ...
William Cash | 506 c204 (Link to this contribution) That is exactly my point. I entirely agree that teachers are in a difficult position, and that it is...
Ann Cryer | 506 c204 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is clearly very knowledgeable on this subject. Has he done a great deal of resear...
William Cash | 506 c202 (Link to this contribution) The short answer to that question is that, as I said earlier, all such matters are subject to review...
Ed Balls | 506 c202 (Link to this contribution) I am very sorry to disappoint the hon. Gentleman, but it was the Education Act 1996 that banned the ...
William Cash | 506 c203 (Link to this contribution) The fact that the Human Rights Act was not passed until 1998 would not have prevented somebody from ...
Ed Balls | 506 c203 (Link to this contribution) I hesitate to ask, but does the hon. Gentleman recall whether he voted for or against the 1996 Act? ...
William Cash | 506 c203-4 (Link to this contribution) I understand that entirely, Madam Deputy Speaker. However, the right hon. Gentleman is the Secretary...
Speaker | 506 c203 (Link to this contribution) Order. May I remind the hon. Gentleman that we are not in Committee but on Report?
Ed Balls | 506 c201-2 (Link to this contribution) The issue is whether a teacher in a Sunday school or a madrassah should be able to claim the reasona...
Ann Cryer | 506 c202 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman arguing for the reintroduction of corporal punishment in schools? Is he saying...
William Cash | 506 c202 (Link to this contribution) I do not put it in quite such precise terms as the hon. Lady would like to draw me into doing. I am ...
Annette Brooke | 506 c195-6 (Link to this contribution) It is extremely important to change the culture when it comes to co-operation on serious case review...
William Cash | 506 c196 (Link to this contribution) New clause 10 states:""Only a person with parental responsibility for a child within the meaning of ...
Annette Brooke | 506 c194 (Link to this contribution) I thought that I had answered the hon. Gentleman by suggesting that there could be an appeal mechani...
Ed Balls | 506 c195 (Link to this contribution) I am listening carefully to the concerns raised by the hon. Lady—and, indeed, the hon. Member for Ea...
Annette Brooke | 506 c196-7 (Link to this contribution) I thought that I had made it clear that this new clause tackles a particular area that we think has ...
Annette Brooke | 506 c196 (Link to this contribution) It is true that many people think smacking should be banned across the board, but that view has been...
William Cash | 506 c196 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady's new clause states that persons""with parental responsibility for a child within the ...
Tim Loughton | 506 c194 (Link to this contribution) Before the hon. Lady does so, I wish to point out that we seem to have a huge difference in our amen...
Tim Loughton | 506 c194 (Link to this contribution) In what cases does the hon. Lady think it would be legitimate to place a statutory responsibility on...
Annette Brooke | 506 c194 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, because it takes me on to amendment 88, which was t...
Tim Loughton | 506 c186-9 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a valid point. We know that part of the problem is the huge case load placed on...
Annette Brooke | 506 c189 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree with the point made in new clause 21 that the assessment of compliance...
Tim Loughton | 506 c189-91 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely. That is entirely in harmony with the approach in our proposals. We need a very clear wal...
David Laws | 506 c191 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
David Laws | 506 c191 (Link to this contribution) I think that the hon. Gentleman is saying—although he might be hiding behind the Secretary of State—...
Tim Loughton | 506 c191 (Link to this contribution) I said it quite clearly: I said that the Government have already asked Sir Roger Singleton to look i...
Annette Brooke | 506 c191-4 (Link to this contribution) I, too, shall commence my remarks by talking about serious case reviews. The hon. Member for East Wo...
Ed Balls | 506 c212 (Link to this contribution) The rise in referrals, which means that harm is coming to the attention of the authorities, has been...
John Hemming | 506 c212 (Link to this contribution) Does the Secretary of State share my concern at the fact that the number of serious incident notific...
Ed Balls | 506 c213-4 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Gentleman knows, there has been a downward trend over recent years, but if there was a g...
John Hemming | 506 c212 (Link to this contribution) I apologise to the Secretary of State for not having been very clear. By "serious incident notificat...
Ed Balls | 506 c211-2 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is right. It was because people in this House, and people with expertise and direct pe...
Ed Balls | 506 c212 (Link to this contribution) As the social work taskforce has stated, initial training, training within the profession, pay and p...
Tim Loughton | 506 c212 (Link to this contribution) I genuinely hope that we do get more people coming forward to be social workers who are of sufficien...
Annette Brooke | 506 c214 (Link to this contribution) I absolutely agree with the Secretary of State that sections of the review would have needed to be r...
Ed Balls | 506 c214-5 (Link to this contribution) I completely agree with the hon. Lady that we need a change of thought process. The NSPCC laid down ...
Tim Loughton | 506 c215 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Secretary of State for being true to form by trooping out the usual suspects, i...
Ed Balls | 506 c209-10 (Link to this contribution) I have been really indulgent. If I could just set out the current position, I shall absolutely take ...
William Cash | 506 c209 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Ed Balls | 506 c208-9 (Link to this contribution) This has been a full and substantive debate, covering a wide range of issues. On the spirit of the d...
Joan Walley | 506 c207-8 (Link to this contribution) You will be pleased to know, Madam Deputy Speaker, that I shall not detain the House for long with t...
William Cash | 506 c207 (Link to this contribution) I agree. I concede that this is a difficult area, but it is important that we do not lock ourselves ...
Angela Watkinson | 506 c207 (Link to this contribution) Further to the comments of the hon. Member for Keighley (Mrs. Cryer), is it not a sad fact that the ...
Ed Balls | 506 c210-1 (Link to this contribution) The answer is set out in Sir Roger Singleton's letter to me of 27 January, in which he says:""We nee...
Annette Brooke | 506 c211 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Secretary of State for the assurances that he has given. As I said repeatedly, I wanted ...
William Cash | 506 c210 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Secretary of State for his clear exposition of where he stands. However, this q...
Speaker | 506 c210 (Link to this contribution) Order. I hope that the hon. Gentleman is going to conclude, as he knows that interventions should be...
Lord Bellingham | 506 c236 (Link to this contribution) May I draw attention to the extra safeguards in our new clause 9, which differentiate it slightly fr...
Edward Timpson | 506 c238 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister explain why she does not see the pilot that is under way and an evaluation of the ...
Bridget Prentice | 506 c236-8 (Link to this contribution) I hope that, as I go into the detail of our amendment, that differentiation will become clear. Howev...
Edward Timpson | 506 c239 (Link to this contribution) In that case, what is the Minister's objection to our new clause 2?
Bridget Prentice | 506 c238-9 (Link to this contribution) To some extent, I would say that they will be an integral part of that review. I shall go on to expl...
Mike Hancock | 506 c239 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. Will she explain why, if she has no objection in princ...
Bridget Prentice | 506 c239 (Link to this contribution) On one level, I have no objection to it in principle. There is much to be said for some of the thing...
David Laws | 506 c233-4 (Link to this contribution) I agree with much of what the hon. Member for North-West Norfolk (Mr. Bellingham) said. I do not int...
Bridget Prentice | 506 c239 (Link to this contribution) I am not prepared to accept it tonight because I think that our amendments satisfy the concerns that...
Speaker | 506 c216 (Link to this contribution) Order. I apologise for interrupting the Secretary of State, but it is difficult for Hansard writers ...
Ed Balls | 506 c215-6 (Link to this contribution) I was coming to that issue. My hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, Central made importan...
Edward Timpson | 506 c215 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State address the proposal in new clause 1 on the appointment of the author of...
Ed Balls | 506 c215 (Link to this contribution) I hear the hon. Gentleman's point, but I do not agree with it. I do not agree that the NSPCC is a "u...
Lord Bellingham | 506 c223 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
Speaker | 506 c219 (Link to this contribution) I ask the Serjeant at Arms to investigate the delay in the No Lobby.
Tim Loughton | 506 c217-9 (Link to this contribution) I concur with the Secretary of State that we have had a good debate. It was a debate that we needed ...
Ed Balls | 506 c216-7 (Link to this contribution) I apologise, Madam Deputy Speaker—I was addressing my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne...
Speaker | 506 c223-7 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:
Lord Bellingham | 506 c227-33 (Link to this contribution) I should declare my interest as a barrister, albeit one who has not practised for quite a long time....
Tim Loughton | 506 c185 (Link to this contribution) I agree. It is not merely a case of identifying certain individuals who did not perform the job to t...
John Hemming | 506 c185 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the absence of more detail in serious case reviews makes it diffi...
Tim Loughton | 506 c185-6 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is right. It is no good just looking at a serious case review in isolation, thoug...
Graham Stuart | 506 c186 (Link to this contribution) The Select Committee on Children, Schools and Families heard evidence that many children's social wo...
Tim Loughton | 506 c181-3 (Link to this contribution) This group of amendments concerns a very serious subject: serious case reviews. This is the first op...
Edward Timpson | 506 c183 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend share my concern that, if we had seen only the executive summary, we would not h...
Tim Loughton | 506 c183-4 (Link to this contribution) That, of course, is exactly right, and it is why we need much fuller accounts of what goes wrong in ...
Jim Cousins | 506 c185 (Link to this contribution) It seems to me that the hon. Gentleman should be rather less surprised by the attitude of the Britis...
Tim Loughton | 506 c180 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
Speaker | 506 c180-1 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:
Lord Coaker | 506 c178-9 (Link to this contribution) I sometimes wonder whether it is worth coming forward with concessions; if those are the reactions t...
Nick Gibb | 506 c177 (Link to this contribution) If the guarantee is a real guarantee, there is a high likelihood that it will give rise to contractu...
David Laws | 506 c177-8 (Link to this contribution) I start by thanking the Minister for Schools and Learners and his team for the generally productive ...
Nick Gibb | 506 c177 (Link to this contribution) That says something about the extent to which the Minister feels that the guarantees are worth anyth...
Lord Coaker | 506 c177 (Link to this contribution) I am not a lawyer. We have had this discussion before, and the hon. Gentleman has conceded that he i...
Nick Gibb | 506 c174-6 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for his courtesy and careful consideration of the deliberations in Com...
Lord Coaker | 506 c176 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making an interesting point, but does he not agree that there is a difference ...
Lord Coaker | 506 c173-4 (Link to this contribution) I welcome Members across the House back to our deliberations on this important Bill. I hope that Opp...
Lord Coaker | 506 c179 (Link to this contribution) This is an interesting point. I do not believe that they would abolish it, because when it is set ou...
Lord Coaker | 506 c173 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
Speaker | 506 c173 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss Government amendment 67.
Lord Coaker | 506 c258 (Link to this contribution) We always have discussions with people outside the House, as do our officials. My right hon. Friend ...
David Laws | 506 c258 (Link to this contribution) Can the Minister tell us why the amendment was necessary, and when it was agreed with people outside...
Judy Mallaber | 506 c258 (Link to this contribution) Promoting the principles of equality, tolerance and diversity is essential to a child's development ...
Lord Coaker | 506 c258 (Link to this contribution) Such schools could say that that is the view of their particular religion, but what they will not be...
David Laws | 506 c258 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister clarify, in the light of amendment 70, which has been passed today, whether it wil...
Lord Coaker | 506 c258 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Gentleman briefly, but for the last time, because I want some of my hon....
Lord Coaker | 506 c257 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time. I hope to leave time for other hon. Member...
Lord Coaker | 506 c257 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Gentleman and probably to some of my hon. Friends in a few moments, but ...
Nick Gibb | 506 c260-2 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for the courteous way in which he conducted the Committee proceedings, and for ...
Lord Coaker | 506 c260 (Link to this contribution) I can give that assurance. As part of the changes being made to school improvement partners, there w...
Joan Walley | 506 c260 (Link to this contribution) On the provisions for health and well-being, will the Minister give the House a commitment that he w...
Lord Coaker | 506 c260 (Link to this contribution) When, or if, the Bill is passed shortly, that will be the case.
Lembit Opik | 506 c260 (Link to this contribution) On home education, which the Minister has not mentioned and which was not debated on Report because ...
Lord Coaker | 506 c259 (Link to this contribution) Of course I can give my hon. Friend that assurance. What we are trying to do is reassure faith schoo...
Harry Cohen | 506 c259 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend assure me that no faith school teacher will be allowed to spread long-term fear ...
Lord Coaker | 506 c259 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. No school will be allowed to foster homophobic or any other so...
David S Borrow | 506 c259 (Link to this contribution) As a gay man representing a constituency with a large Catholic population and a majority of faith sc...
Lord Coaker | 506 c258-9 (Link to this contribution) At present, faith schools can teach about homosexuality, but they are not required to do so in an ac...
David Laws | 506 c264 (Link to this contribution) It is no use the Secretary of State shaking his head, because that is what the Government are saying...
David Laws | 506 c265 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, it will. In spite of what the Secretary of State and the Minister have told us, the sad risk...
Annette Brooke | 506 c265 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend share my fear that the amendment will trump the very good bits in the Bill on pe...
David Drew | 506 c265 (Link to this contribution) I shall be very brief as I hope, Mr. Speaker, that you will call the hon. Member for Beverley and Ho...
Graham Stuart | 506 c262 (Link to this contribution) What Badman did identify correctly was the need for support for home-educating families. There is no...
David Laws | 506 c263 (Link to this contribution) I, too, want to thank all those who have supported the Bill on its progress through the House so far...
Nick Gibb | 506 c262-3 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The antipathy that the Government have created between local aut...
David Laws | 506 c263-4 (Link to this contribution) His new friend, yes. In spite of these small bright points in the Bill, we will also be voting agai...
Lord Bellingham | 506 c239 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for giving way; I wanted to help her a bit on the subject of the pilot...
Bridget Prentice | 506 c239-41 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a fair point, which is why I hesitate as I reply to him. I want to consider...
Edward Timpson | 506 c241-3 (Link to this contribution) At the outset I must declare an interest, in that I have been a family law barrister for 12 years, a...
Bridget Prentice | 506 c243 (Link to this contribution) One of the reasons why I am hesitant about the Opposition's new clause 2 is that part of it is super...
Edward Timpson | 506 c243 (Link to this contribution) In that case, what is the concern? Where is the guarantee in the Bill as drafted that those pilots w...
John Hemming | 506 c243-5 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for North-West Norfolk (Mr. Bellingham) wants to speak for a minute just before 9 pm...
Lord Bellingham | 506 c245-6 (Link to this contribution) We have had an interesting debate. Conservative Members are very keen to make this part of the Bill ...
Bridget Prentice | 506 c246 (Link to this contribution) I am with the hon. Gentleman—I accept new clause 2.
Lord Bellingham | 506 c246 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to the Minister for that. As I am on a roll, is she prepared to accept new clause...
Speaker | 506 c246 (Link to this contribution) I ask the Serjeant at Arms to investigate the delay in the No Lobby.
Angela Watkinson | 506 c204 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend acknowledge that school teachers are sometimes in loco parentis? For example, wh...
William Cash | 506 c202 (Link to this contribution) That is where I am about to move to, but we needed to identify the parameters before moving to quest...
Annette Brooke | 506 c197 (Link to this contribution) I think that I have given way enough. We believe the most practical reform in this context is to am...
Bridget Prentice | 506 c234-6 (Link to this contribution) I rise relatively early in this fairly short debate, partly to respond to the amendments tabled by t...
Subjects
Complaints
Children
Disclosure of information
Accountability
Corporal punishment
Homosexuality
Exemptions
Faith schools
Family courts
Family law
Judgements
Family proceedings
Protection
Parents
Pupils
Media
Offences against children
Personal, social, health and economic education
Standards
Schools
Witnesses
Reviews
Social work
Local Government Ombudsman
Teaching methods
Haringey
Doncaster
Local safeguarding children boards
Relationships and sex education
Legislation
Children, Schools and Families Bill 2009-10
Link
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