Clause 1 - Purpose and Interpretation of Chapter One
[Part I]Education Bill
4:30 pm
Mr Stephen O'Brien (Eddisbury, Conservative)
That point highlights the difficulty of the word ''innovation''. I would sympathise with a school that is at the forefront of innovative practice, which would find it inappropriate and frustrating to have such an imposition placed on it. The word ''innovation'' is tried and tested, especially in company law. In the context of intellectual property, an improvement or a development would be something growing from existing practice, such as in the hon. Lady's example. An innovation is something wholly new, and would be the basis of an intellectual property application if subject to a patent.
The word ''innovation'' has a meaning in the lay world that we understand. All parties welcome innovation and best practice in schools, especially when successful. However, the word ''innovation'' demands clarification. My remarks had to be made in a stand-alone speech rather than an intervention. I am concerned about amendment No. 3 being a charter for lawyers. The boot is on the other foot, because without amendments Nos. 1, 2 and particularly 3, the potential for a charter for lawyers exists. That is partly because of existing practice in law concerning use of the word ''innovation''. Under part 1, all schools can apply and some will be disappointed, which could lead to a legal challenge. That would become a lawyers' charter. To have a cause of action before the appropriate court, judgment would have to be made about what had taken place in schools, at whose initiative, in what time period and whether it qualified as an innovation, an improvement or a development of existing practice. The hon. Lady was kind enough to highlight that in her example.
Our discussion shows that the Bill is not clear and that the amendments are needed. I fully support the work of my hon. Friends. The Minister's judgment about the amendment being the cause of a lawyers' charter cannot be supported. On the contrary, the current wording is more likely to be a lawyers' charter and, therefore, more likely to cause interruption and disappointment for those who want the Bill's aims to succeed.