The three speeches/headings immediately before

1. 1 earlier: Edward Balls

   The hon. Gentleman has asked his question and the best thing would be for the Secretary of State for Health to answer it later. Obviously, I do not know the details of the case, but I should say that it is the extra investment in doctors and nurses and in our accident and emergency units across the country that is delivering the improvements in waiting times and in health care for people in our country.

   I wish to discuss a question that goes to the heart of the debates that we will have in the coming months and of the issue raised by the hon. Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford relating to school improvement: what happens when leadership is not strong, when school rolls are falling and when a school is struggling to hire a head of maths or English? In such circumstances, parents are right to say that they want action, which is why in this Bill we will provide stronger powers for parents to demand change from local areas. In addition, over the past two years we have challenged governing bodies and local authorities to drive improvement and radical change where it is needed.

   As I said, that has delivered huge results. In 1997, more than 1,600 schools were not meeting the basic benchmark-that was what we inherited-but 638 schools were doing so when we launched our national challenge two years ago and as a result of £400 million of money that we are investing the figure is now 270. We are not now talking about one in two, but one in 12 and we will get the number down to zero by 2011. My message to the small number of councils that do not act and drag their feet is that there is no excuse for that and we must improve every school in every area.

   We are clear that that improvement must be led by the schools themselves, local commissioners must step in where action is not being taken and we have powers and are taking further powers to demand that they act where progress is not being made. In July, when we published the White Paper, I told the House that I was concerned about school improvement in Leicester, Blackpool and Gloucestershire, and I asked independent expert advisers to report on what more could be done. Today, I have accepted and published the reports on Blackpool and Gloucestershire, where, with the full agreement of those local authorities, we are now moving ahead on school improvement, new academies and new national challenge trusts. We will receive the reports on Leicester, Kent and Suffolk shortly.

   In addition, the Minister for Schools and Learners has today written tailored letters to a further 30 local authorities, which contain 38 national challenge schools where we are concerned that the action we want is not being taken. We have particular concerns about four of those 30 and we will need to know that there is a plan in place by Christmas. If there is not, we will use the powers that will commence in January to demand improvement in those schools and we will expect the local authority to issue a warning notice.

   We are also particularly concerned about progress in Dudley, where there were plans for an academy but for some reason that I do not fully understand the Conservative administration in that local authority has decided that an academy may not be the right approach to take. I am sending in an expert adviser to see what has happened, what has gone wrong, who has been advising the local authority on its plans, whether the authority is getting the wrong advice and whether, in fact, we should be moving forward with this. We will see what the expert adviser tells us when a report is made to us by Christmas. If the hon. Member for Surrey Heath wishes to clarify the point, I would be happy to take an intervention now.

2. 2 earlier: Lee Scott

   Will the Secretary of State ask his colleague the Secretary of State for Health to step in to stop immediately the proposed cuts to accident and emergency services at the King George hospital, which serves my constituency, as well as that of the hon. Member for Ilford, South (Mike Gapes)?

3. 3 earlier: Edward Balls

   I have taken enough interventions; I will come to the hon. Gentleman in a second.

   Our "21st century schools" White Paper also sets out a significant devolution of power and responsibility to head teachers. We are going to implement Jim Rose's review of the primary curriculum and create more space for teachers to be able to deliver that curriculum. We will introduce a new licence to practise for teachers, similar to that held by other high-status professionals such as doctors and lawyers. We will put the wider elements of personal, social and health education on a statutory footing, guaranteeing for the first time that all children are receiving sex and relationship education, with the parental opt-out lowered to 15. We will make the process of establishing an academy easier and reduce bureaucracy, so that all academies are guaranteed charitable status, and we will introduce a new registration system for home educators. I am told by the Opposition that there is nothing in this Bill. These are radical reforms, delivering for parents and schools the support they need to deliver for every child. As I said, the Opposition should be supporting them, rather than playing politics with this Bill.

   Before I move on, let me turn to accountability. We will match these new flexibilities by strengthening school accountability in our school report card, which will include information on attainment but also set out for parents how well their school is doing for every child, in stretching the most able, and in areas such as discipline, sport and health. Because parents are clear that they want to know how their children and local primary schools are doing, I have announced in a written statement this morning that, following the recommendation of our expert group on assessment, we are, of course, retaining key stage 2 tests in English and maths, and I have today approved the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency's choice of the preferred test operator-Edexcel-to deliver English and maths tests for 11-year-olds in 2010. We will also-again, implementing the recommendations of the expert group-publish teacher assessment data for pupils in year 6 alongside those externally marked tests, and from 2011 we will introduce a new form of local moderation of teacher assessment as we build confidence in teacher assessment, alongside that objective information for parents.