Part of Education and Skills Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 1:00 pm on 28 February 2008.
Nick Gibb
Shadow Minister (Education) (Schools)
1:00,
28 February 2008
It need not be an institution—just parents getting together to home educate their children. It is difficult to be an expert in maths, geography and science. A group of parents may well get together and collectively educate those children in one of their homes, and this provision will mean that that will constitute an independent educational institution. That is why home educators are concerned, and the Minister has done nothing to alleviate that concern. As for health and safety, as one of my e-mail correspondents this morning said, there is already plenty of legislation under which local authorities can intervene if they feel there are safety issues affecting children.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
