My Lords, the amendment is in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Glentoran. The principles behind the amendment are reflected in the amendment with which it is coupled, standing in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Wallace of Saltaire, in the context of music, drama and the arts. I support that amendment as well, not least because best practice by independent schools involves both sport and the arts in terms of engaging with the local community.
I was delighted to hear the Minister state, in response to an earlier amendment, that the key issue with regard to the Bill is to give the Charity Commission the tools with which to do the job. That is precisely what we intend in tabling these amendments. The core reason behind them is that there is very good practice by many independent schools in terms of engaging on the use of sports facilities, exchange of coaches and engagement with pupils from the independent sector and the state sector in their catchment area to improve the opportunities for young people in the totality of the catchment area. The problem is that this is not consistently applied. There are pockets—islands—of good practice. The lack of consistency of good practice is the result of the current structure of support that we have in legislation to date. I shall address that in a little more detail.
I say that there are some good examples. I will not rehearse many of them, as I did at Second Reading, but I shall focus on some, not least because of the amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Wallace of Saltaire. Tonbridge School, for example, engages with the local community not only through sporting activities but in music, drama, dance, chess, art and design. Indeed, it brings them all together in true Olympian fashion—the vast majority of the history of the Olympic Games has been about engaging both through the arts and sport. It is good to see a school such as Tonbridge engaging so actively, not just once a year but throughout the year, to ensure that primary-age children in particular benefit from the facilities which the independent sector has and which primary schools and many secondary schools in the area do not.
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There are outstanding examples of secondary schools with first-rate sports facilities, but the reality is that by comparison with the independent sector we have a
long way to go, particularly in the cities, before we provide the opportunities for young people that those fortunate enough to go to many independent schools with outstanding facilities enjoy. That is reflected, as I made clear at Second Reading, in the statistics regarding the success of the independent sector, which represents some 7% of children who are educated in this country. Team GB had more than 50% of its medallists in Beijing coming from 7% of the children of this country. Think of the talent out there that is not being identified and developed, despite the good work which has been done to date by the Charity Commission and by government. That is simply not enough, and this amendment seeks to take it one step further with all schools by embedding best practice through stronger regulation.
The British Olympic Association—I declare a former interest as being its chair from 2005 to 2012 in the run-up to London 2012—worked on this. I congratulate Jan Paterson on endorsing the work done at Tonbridge School both in the arts and in sport. On one occasion, some 1,000 primary school students came along to a major event and were provided with Team GB T-shirts and pins, with an Olympian on hand to present the prizes at the end of the day. Those are inspirational moments, but too much of London 2012 was about generating inspiration and not capturing that inspiration for long-term participation. That is the opportunity that we must still grasp. We have an outstanding success rate at the highest level of sport in this country. We must take that inspiration, not just in Olympic sports but across the board, to encourage young people actively to participate. This amendment can help in that direction.
Why is the current legislation insufficient? It goes back to the Charities Act 2011 and the present public benefit requirement. Section 4(2) states:
“In determining whether the public benefit requirement is satisfied in relation to any purpose falling within section 3(1), it is not to be presumed that a purpose of a particular description is for the public benefit”.
In the interpretation of that provision, there was a lack of clarity which led to misunderstandings. It led to the Charity Commission having a different view from that of many independent schools; it led to case law coming forward—two specific examples ended up in the courts; it has led to continued misunderstanding; and it has led, I regret to say, to recalcitrant independent schools going for the lowest common denominator by ignoring the sports or arts element in favour of another element in order to meet the public benefit requirement, while still having outstanding sports or arts facilities with which they are not engaging with the local community.
I am seeking today to take forward the debate that we started at Second Reading and to see whether there is a way whereby we can move further in the direction of embedding best practice in every independent school that has outstanding sports facilities. In my view, the decline in local authority spending on sport and leisure is due to a lack of statutory duty and funding, and that makes it more important than ever that we utilise other sports facilities—which lie idle during the summer holidays, for example—with local communities.
We need to get young people active. We have seen a fall in participation in sport since London 2012. At the one point in our lifetime when we would have expected to see a substantial rise in the percentage of the population engaging in sport and recreation, we have actually seen a decline. That, to me, is a tragic reflection of a lack of effective policy and it is something we need to remedy. It is one reason why I tend to rise to my feet on occasions such as this. We need to ensure that we have a sports legacy from London 2012 to match the remarkable urban regeneration legacy which has transformed the East End in a very short space of time.
The press, I am glad to say, have taken an active interest in this as well. Those of your Lordships who read the Independent on Sunday yesterday will have seen prominence given to the importance of encouraging private schools to share sports facilities with local communities. The new chief executive of the Sport and Recreation Alliance, Emma Boggis, has written:
“I just wanted to add our support to the debate around private schools with charitable status sharing facilities with state schools and local communities. For many of our members having access to facilities is clearly important to help them deliver their participation targets and having a diverse range of options available is important particularly in an environment where the squeeze on local authority budgets does impact on”,
local authority,
“investment in facilities”.
Again, she recognises that many schools are case studies in excellence in this context, but the current structure that we have in law, and the current structure with regard to the interpretation of public benefit and the Charity Commission’s work, has meant that there is no consistency. It is “consistency” that is foremost in my mind in proposing the amendment before the Committee today.
I conclude by referring to the Independent Schools Council’s work on this. An excellent report has shown that the vast majority of schools—in fact, nearly all of them—engage in some way with the local community through sport and recreation, either through hosting joint sporting events, inviting pupils to use the facilities of the school, inviting pupils to attend coaching sessions or seconding coaching staff. Hardly any of them second coaching staff—a maximum of 70 out of 1,073 who engage in sport in some way. Coaches are critical. They are absolutely key to the success of any initiative in sport. I would like to see consistency rather than a piecemeal approach. Very few do all but they should all do all if they are going to benefit from the public benefit status that they currently have.
I regret to say that the position is even worse in the arts. I am as strongly supportive of this initiative applying to the arts as I am of it applying to sport and recreation. Of the 1,073 schools in partnership with state schools, only 399 reach out to the local community through drama, and many of these schools have magnificent facilities, outstanding teachers and a real opportunity to engage. An independent school is not an island in a community; it is an inherent part of that community, and it is through the arts and sports and recreation that much more work can be done to engage with the local community.
I close by saying that I praise those schools where best practice is implemented. The current structure that we have in law and the current arrangement that we have with the Charity Commission creates a loophole through which those who do not wish to engage fully can move and still gain the benefits of charitable status. I want to close that loophole, explore with the Committee ways of doing so and potentially, as a result of the exchanges today, come back at a later stage with a proposal which has the support of government and, I hope, the support of the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Cross Benches. I know that the noble Baroness, Lady Grey-Thompson, is very supportive of the position that I have attempted to outline to the Committee today and to take it forward at that stage. However, perhaps we will not need to get to that conclusion because, as I said at the outset, there is an opportunity here for the Minister to rise to his feet and give a very short answer, saying, “Thank you so much because you have given us the opportunity today to provide the commission with the tools with which to do its job”. I beg to move.