Clause 17
Education and Inspections Bill
6:45 pm
Jacqui Smith (Minister of State (Schools and 14-19 Learners), Department for Education and Skills; Redditch, Labour)
It is worth remembering that clause 17 deals with a range of prescribed alterations and subsequent clauses deal with the processes for proposing alterations. We have had a broad discussion about the possible range of the prescribed alterations. I shall discuss the reason for not including admissions in the clause towards the end of my remarks.
There is a certain amount of truth in the accusation by the hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton that when we agreed that, in the case of new schools, there might be an argument for a community school in some circumstances, we opened the door slightly to the case made by my hon. Friend the Member for Bury, North for amendment No. 188. I disagree with my hon. Friend that the logic of our position on new schools implies the logic of his amendment.
We have, of course, established arrangements to deal with the circumstances of new schools. We think that those are the right arrangements and that the decision about entry into the competition should be for the Secretary of State. The amendment, however, does something rather different. It would make it possible to change the category of an existing foundation or voluntary school, which it was planned would continue in operation, to that of a community school.
We have, I think, made it pretty clear, and I have certainly made it clear in debating the relevant provisions, that our vision and policy is for the local authority to enhance its new role as a commissioner, rather than a direct supplier, of education services, and for the school increasingly to enhance its role with the support of external partners and the bringing in of similar capacity; the impetus that comes from the self-determination of a foundation or voluntary aided school is likely to help it to focus on improvements that need to be made for its pupils and in its work in with the community. That has been the objective of the Bill and the reform.
Interestingly, my hon. Friend used the example of a failing school. He talked, I think, about demoralised governors, and suggested that as a possible justification for changing from foundation or, presumably, voluntary aided status to that of a community school. I think that if a foundation or voluntary aided school is in such a state that it needs greatly increased local authority control, a change of category is unlikely to be an adequate or appropriate solution. If the failure is very extreme, as we will discuss later in the Bill, a better solution might be for the school to close and to make a completely fresh start. Although there might be an option for it to be a community school, it does not necessarily follow that a community school would be the best solution. A competition might be just what was needed to bring in a range of possible approaches that would increase dynamism and a sense of possibility in the school.
In the case of the high-performing local authority to which my hon. Friend referred, as the Bill makes clear, it is able to work in that school improvement role with all schools, regardless of their category. A school would not need to change from foundation status to community status in order to benefit from a high-performing local authority that put an emphasis on standards, which drove improvement through the way in which it operated.