Clause 86 - development work and experiments
Education Bill
6:45 pm
Mr Phil Willis (Harrogate and Knaresborough, Liberal Democrat)
In one of our earlier sittings, the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, South and Cleveland, East (Dr. Kumar) raised a question with the hon. Member for Altrincham and Sale, West about faith schools such as fundamentalist Muslim schools. The latter said that as a key element such a school would be required to conform to the national curriculum. That seems in exact contradiction to the amendment. Are we saying that all schools in the independent sector should have the proposed powers? Would they cover existing public schools such as Eton or Winchester, if they wished to apply but did not follow the national curriculum? The hon. Gentleman is trying to run two horses in opposite directions at the same time.