Clause 35
Education and Inspections Bill
4:45 pm
Annette Brooke (Children & the Family, Cross-Portfolio and Non-Portfolio Responsibilities; Mid Dorset and North Poole, Liberal Democrat)
I do not wish to speak to amendment No. 72. Perhaps it will hearten people to learn that I have less to say. Amendment No. 71 is simply a probing amendment. It arises from the fact that in the Children Act 2004 there is a duty placed on local authorities to co-operate with other partners to promote and safeguard the welfare of particularly vulnerable young people. When the 2004 Act was passed, we were concerned that a duty was not placed on all schools to co-operate with other partners, such as health services.
We have become more concerned about this lack of duty for schools given the proposals to give a greater number of schools more autonomy. Indeed, given some of the comments we have heard about the abolition of local education authorities, our concerns are growing. The amendment would replace the phrase “have regard to” with the words “act in accordance with”. Obviously, children and young people’s plans stem directly from the requirements of the 2004 Act and, therefore, we need to be reassured that schools who have this new great independence and autonomy have a duty to co-operate with those other important services, which will be so vital for children, teenagers—if we are thinking of certain health issues—and many others. The amendment arises from our concern that certain activity needs to take place within a local framework.