Clause 57 - Powers of secretary of state to secure proper performance of lea's functions
Education Bill
4:45 pm
Mr Stephen Timms (Minister of State (School Standards), Department for Education and Skills; East Ham, Labour)
I refer the hon. Gentleman to our debate on earned autonomy. The autonomy that we envisage here is tightly circumscribed. It is certainly not the case that schools that take up earned autonomy will no longer have dealings with the LEA. The LEA's central role is its concern for improvement
in all the schools in its area, although he is right that that does not include city academies. That role will be central to the Ofsted inspection. The question will be whether that school improvement role is being exercised effectively. If it is, no intervention is needed. If it is not, intervention may be needed. The clauses allow us to make some modest changes to the rules relating to interventions to ensure that they work effectively.