Clause 34
Education and Inspections Bill
4:00 pm
Jacqui Smith (Minister of State (Schools and 14-19 Learners), Department for Education and Skills; Redditch, Labour)
Clause 34 introduces schedule 4, which makes a number of amendments to the provisions in schedule 22 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 that protect land at foundation, voluntary and foundation special schools that was provided, or enhanced, at public expense. Thehon. Lady based many of her opening remarks onthe contention that the clause was somehow about the Secretary of State getting her hands, or the Government’s hands, on land that was provided by a trust or charitable organisation. There is nothing in the Bill, however, about transferring land that was originally provided to the state by a trust or by a Church. Clause 34 and schedule 4 set forth not only a process but considerable protection for land on the basis of its origin, as does the guidance that I have circulated on those provisions. However, we also have to ensure that land that has been publicly provided is equally protected for public use: public assets have protection at a time when the relationship between a school and a trust is discontinued, for example. That is what the provisions are about. The hon. Lady’s amendment would weaken the provisions to protect publicly funded land, and I therefore oppose it.
Schedule 4 provides that where the governing body, foundation body or trustees of a foundation, voluntary or foundation special school propose to dispose of certain land that has been acquired or enhanced using public funds, they will be required to notify the local education authority of their intention to do so and how they propose to use the sale proceeds, which must be reinvested on capital expenditure. Local authorities in those circumstances can object to the disposal and to the reinvestment proposals and they can claim a share of the value proportionate to the public investment. When there is not agreement, the matter can be referred to the schools adjudicator for determination.
At present, the governing bodies and foundation bodies of foundation, voluntary and foundation special schools can dispose of land held on behalf of the school that was acquired or enhanced at public expense only with the consent of the Secretary of State. The trustees of foundation and foundation special schools also require the Secretary of State’s consent to dispose of land acquired at public expense. The Secretary of State is already involved in decisions about disposal at foundation and voluntary-aided schools.
When trustees propose to dispose of all other land that they hold on behalf of maintained schools that was acquired or enhanced by public expenditure, they do not require the consent of the Secretary of State. They are required to inform the local education authority only after they have sold the land.
Once the trustees have disposed of the land, depending on how they received the public expenditure, they are required either to pay the local education authority a just amount of the sale proceeds or to undertake to the local education authority to use the sale proceeds for the purposes of the school or another existing or proposed school.
Our aim in schedule 4 is to introduce a uniform procedure to be followed when a body or trustees propose to dispose of publicly funded land and will enable the local authority to have some input inthe future use of the land or the proceeds of any disposal. It is the Government’s duty to protect public investment in schools and that is exactly what schedule 4 does.
The hon. Lady did not dispute those aims in introducing her amendment, not least because she focused not on publicly funded land but on land that had not been provided or enhanced by public funds. The schedule and the clause provide safeguards for publicly funded land held by governing bodies, foundation bodies and trustees of maintained schools. I recognise that the amendment aims to ensure that the assets provided by trustees or schools cannot be put at risk. As I said, they should not be, and I assure the hon. Lady that our proposals will not affect the ownership by foundation or voluntary schools of assets that they or their trustees have provided and which have not been improved using public expenditure.
We have discussed the matter with the leading voluntary bodies and overall they are content with our proposals. The amendment would restrict the public safeguards to land purchased and paid for by a local authority or by the Secretary of State. For example, it would mean that land which is acquired or enhanced by the trustees of a school, who actually pay, but where the money comes from the Secretary of State, would not be counted as publicly funded. It would mean that land acquired by the governing body, foundation body or trustees of a school with the proceeds from the sale of publicly funded land would not be protected either. I do not think that that is what the hon. Lady intended, and I hope therefore that she will feel able to withdraw the amendment.
As the hon. Lady got us on to the issue of playing fields again, it would be worthwhile for me to put on the record that, under section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, there are separate provisions for the protection of school playing fields. She is right that the previous Government presided over the sale of a lot of playing fields. However, we do not know how many were sold because there was no way of measuring it. There was no process for the approval of a sale and no requirement for a body to approve such a sale such as the one that exists now comprising of the major organisations interested in those elements. None of that was in position pre-section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act. We can now measure that and have protections in place, none of which will be put at risk by the proposals in the legislation.