Clause 6 - Exemptions available to qualifying schools
Education Bill
9:00 pm
Mr Graham Brady (Altrincham and Sale West, Conservative)
If the Minister were a charitable man, he would have spoken at length on clause stand part. However, I cannot expect quarter to be given if none is asked for.
The amendments would advance our key concern with the earned autonomy provisions: the exemptions related to school performance. In many respects, the phrase ''earned autonomy'' is not borne out by the Bill. We have rehearsed questions of ministerial discretion and the extent to which Ministers' opinions may be considered valid criteria. In clause 6, we see again that more discretion lies with Ministers than is appropriate or can readily be explained or justified, given their claims that they want an open and transparent process through which autonomy can genuinely be earned.
Amendment No. 11 deals with a specific aspect of ministerial discretion. In line 25 on page 4 of the Bill is the wonderfully open-ended word ''may''. The Minister says that autonomy will be earned through the fulfilment of appropriate, objective and transparent criteria. This evening, he has kindly undertaken to give the House before we complete our consideration of the Bill at least an inkling of what those criteria will be, for which I have thanked him.
However, even when we cross the initial threshold and achieve the criteria, and a school has seen whether it qualifies and whether its achievements will earn it autonomy, we reach another gateway in clause 6(1). It states:
''Regulations may for the purposes of this section...designate any curriculum provision''
and so on. Through the amendments, particularly amendments Nos. 11, 13 and 14, my hon. Friends and I seek to restructure the clause. They would rearrange subsection (1) to differentiate the two paragraphs that set out exemptions as of right and the two that set out discretionary exemptions.
If something is exempted as of right, there should not be ministerial discretion as to whether regulations are produced to allow that exemption to take place. Being a fair-minded man, I am prepared to accept that Ministers should have the discretion that exists in the Bill if they are openly saying that something should be available on a discretionary basis. That makes perfect sense. If something is available as of right, however, it does not make sense that the Minister can choose not to make regulations to allow that to happen.
In wishing to re-order subsections (1)(a) to (d), I am seeking to change the burden on Ministers accordingly in order to ensure that current subsections (1)(a) and (1)(c) are covered by a requirement that regulations shall designate as of right. For the two paragraphs (b) and (d), which provide for discretionary exemption,
the amendments leave the current wording that regulations may designate, which seems entirely sensible and appropriate.
The aim is to create a process that brings into play a dynamic that will impose certain obligations on Ministers, if the criteria that they have set out are met, instead of the stop-start process whereby Ministers examine individual applications to determine whether someone qualifies or whether a school has genuinely earned autonomy. It would increase the degree of certainty for schools, so that they can know what will happen as they move through the process. The amendments are particularly relevant.
Amendment No. 68 deals with the question of parliamentary scrutiny. The Minister raised the issue—perhaps with a degree of irony—and said that it was important. The amendment would require that regulations are introduced under an affirmative resolution procedure, rather than moved by Ministers under a negative procedure. While it is my intention to make life easier for schools, when possible and appropriate, I do not have a similar concern for Members of Parliament, who should do their job of scrutinising legislation. My amendment would increase the burden on Members of the House, who would be expected to earn their living by scrutinising the regulations under clause 6(1).
By accepting the amendments, we would improve the transparency of the Bill and the dynamism of the process. We would make life easier for schools, as they claim what they rightly regard, in many cases, as their entitlement to greater autonomy based on their performance and achievements.
Amendment No. 66 would create a power under clause 6(2) to provide for inspection of schools and publication of performance information. It is entirely consistent with the Official Opposition's approach to raising standards in schools. I was pleased that the Secretary of State, when challenged by one of my hon. Friends on Second Reading, confirmed her admiration of and gratitude for the actions of the previous Conservative Government in setting out the agenda for publication of performance data and ensuring rigorous inspection of schools. It would be a retrograde step if, under the earned autonomy provisions, we were to lose some of the levers and tools that are available for assessing schools' performance, particularly given that, as the Minister has said, some of the performance indicators might at least in part be the basis on which autonomy would be earned. If schools with earned autonomy did not have to continue to submit performance data, we would have no way of finding out about the effectiveness of the earned autonomy. We would not know whether the school continued to qualify for it, or whether a problem had arisen, making it appropriate to review the situation.
I should be interested in the Minister's comments. My hon. Friends and I would want the matter of earned autonomy to be dealt with by way of an open, predictable process in which schools would know where they stood. However, we would want a quid pro
quo; the public, Parliament and Ministers should have a right to know what was going on in the school that had been granted autonomy and how it was working. My amendment would provide for a power to prescribe measures for inspection and publication of performance data. As far as I can see, there are no such measures in the Bill.