Clause 1

Part of Children, Schools and Families Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 10:15 am on 28 January 2010.

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Photo of Nick Gibb Nick Gibb Shadow Minister (Education) (Schools) 10:15, 28 January 2010

I was pleased that the Minister started by saying that he agreed with the sentiments behind the amendments that my colleagues and I tabled, as well as those tabled by the hon. Member for Yeovil. I was also pleased when he said that he would reflect on what has been said.

The Minister said that the guarantee document was a public law document and that its redress mechanism was contained in the Bill. As such, he said that it did not, in his opinion, give rise to private law rights. He then said that he would confirm that guarantees would not lead to contractual obligations. However, he also said that they were unlikely to lead to liabilities in tort. We therefore need explicit reassurance, confirmation and clarification in the Bill that the guarantees in clause 1 will not lead to such liabilities. The same issues apply to the home-school agreements introduced by the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. Given that it was felt in 1998 that there was an advantage—