New clause 2 - Powers of Head Teachers
Anti-social Behaviour Bill
3:15 pm
Mr Bob Ainsworth (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Coventry North East, Labour)
Potentially it could. The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. I am aware from comments made by Liberal Democrat Members during this debate, such as the hon. Member for Mid-Dorset and North Poole, that they, unlike Conservative Members, have kept themselves abreast of some of the changes that we have made. I know how busy shadow Home Office spokespeople must be, and perhaps they have not been able to do that. We have made considerable changes that mean that appeal panels, even where they found that the exclusion was not justified, do not have to send the pupil back to the school and thereby undermine the head teacher. We have made considerable changes to improve the situation.
The hon. Member for South-East Cambridgeshire (Mr. Paice) asks me if I can put myself in the position of a head. Yes, I can. Can he not put himself in the position of parents who believe that their child has been permanently excluded from a school unfairly with no right of appeal whatever to anyone in any circumstances? That is what the hon. Gentleman is suggesting.