Clause 34
Education and Inspections Bill
4:00 pm
Nadine Dorries (Mid Bedfordshire, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 363, in clause 34, page 25, line 7, at end add—
‘(2) The provisions of Schedule 4 only apply to land which was purchased and paid for by the local authority or by the Secretary of State.
(3) Schedule 4 does not apply to land which was provided by the foundation or charity for the purposes of the school, or which was purchased by the foundation or charity for the use of the school.'.
It may be reasonable for the Secretary of State to make detailed provisions in schedule 4 for disposal or change of use of land that the state and the local authority or the Department for Education and Skills originally made available to foundation or voluntary aided schools. It is not reasonable, however, for the Secretary of State to have such rights over land that was supplied by the charity itself. Most voluntary aided schools stand on land that was purchased at some time in the past by the relevant charity—often the Church of England or the Roman Catholic Church. Many such schools were also entirely paid for by the churches before they became voluntary aided, and my own daughter went to a Roman Catholic primary school that was built by the local church and handed over before it became a voluntary aided school.
In effect, the clause requisitions land from such charities, or at least subjects them to the whim of the Secretary of State as to how they may or may not use their land. Given the number of playing fields sold off by local authorities in recent years, it is as well to keep voluntary aided and foundation school playing fields out of the clutches of the Treasury.
The hon. Member for Wakefield (Mary Creagh), who is not present at the moment, has done a substantial amount of work on child obesity—a huge problem in this country. We do not want to see land that could be used for children’s physical activity and for general school activities being taken away, nor do we want the Secretary of State to have the ability to take it away. All Governments have been guilty of selling off school playing fields and school land. The lives of Governments come to a natural end—ours came to a natural end, the present Government’s life may be coming to its end and so shall the life of any future Conservative Administration—and school land needs protection from future Secretaries of State, future occupants of the Treasury and future Governments, whoever they are. Will the Minister therefore review the clause?