Clause 14
Education and Skills Bill
11:30 am
David Laws (Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Children, Schools and Families; Yeovil, Liberal Democrat)
I beg to move amendment No. 171, in clause 14, page 7, line 37, leave out subsection (4).
I will try not to detain the Committee too long on the amendment, nor shall I contradict the position that I set out in the previous debate, but I want to raise a parallel concern about the way in which the Government are framing their policies in relation to the transfer of information, because as well as running the risk of quite sensitive information being passed over without proper checks, the provisions in subsection (4) allow parents and pupils to opt out of passing some quite basic educational information to the local authority.
This probing amendment is designed to find out why the Government have decided to insert that provision and whether it is simply a manifestation of the fact that subsection (3)(c) is so sweeping in the powers that it could give that protection of this type is necessary. It is designed to tempt the Minister into indicating that there may be a distinction between information that is purely educational—most of us would regard it as sensible for there to be a right to pass over such information—and more sensitive information that might require an opt-in.
In its response to the Bill—a clause-by-clause briefing—the Local Government Association suggests in relation to the subsection that
“This appears to suggest that if parents and/or young people are unwilling to provide information, we”—
the local authorities—
“will not necessarily be able to arrange for the most helpful support to that young person”.
The briefing goes on to state:
“There may be other legal reasons for this, but it does seem potentially unhelpful if we are pursuing the principle that the local authority has a duty to promote participation and support the young person in so doing.”
Previous debates have shown that we do not support the elements of compulsion and criminalisation in the Bill. However, if those duties are to be included in the Bill and if the local authority is to be charged with ensuring that the young person is in an education and training setting, is it sensible for young people and parents who do not want to comply with the measures to have an opt-out from all educational information, other than the minimal information contained in clause 14(3)(a) and (b)? Surely basic educational information should be able to pass without that hindrance and my probing amendment is designed to elicit a response from the Government on that point.