Clause 31
Education and Inspections Bill
2:30 pm
Annette Brooke (Children & the Family, Cross-Portfolio and Non-Portfolio Responsibilities; Mid Dorset and North Poole, Liberal Democrat)
I concur with the hon. Member for Sheffield, Hillsborough (Ms Smith). Amendment No. 359 would take us back to grant-maintained schools. The schools in question would become separate, and a collaborative model of education would be almost impossible. That is why it is so important to have an input by local authority governors.
I do not believe in the local authority having a majority. That side of the argument seems far more extreme than mine. I believe simply that the local authority must have an input. My local authority moved on so much further when working with our small number of secondary schools when grant-maintained status was abolished. When foundation status came in, we had healthy links with, not prescription from, the local authority. Every school buys into the LEA governors training scheme, which advertises for governors. The route by which the governors enter does not matter. It is a well respected service. Surprisingly, lots of services provided by local authorities are well respected and will be purchased at a reasonable price. The training by a local authority governors scheme, when it is good, is a great advantage. However, there is a bias in this matter, because even those of us who support local authorities do not support a majority of local authority governors.