(1) On the application of one or more qualifying bodies (“the applicant”), the Secretary of State may by order make provision—

(a) conferring on the applicant exemption from any requirement imposed by education legislation;

(b) relaxing any such requirement in its application to the applicant;

(c) enabling the applicant to exercise any function conferred by education legislation on any other qualifying body (either concurrently with or in place of that other body); or

(d) making such modifications of any provision of education legislation, in its application to the applicant or any other qualifying body, as are in the opinion of the Secretary of State consequential on any provision made by virtue of any of paragraphs (a) to (c),

for the purposes of facilitating the implementation of innovative projects that may, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, contribute to the raising of educational standards in England.

(2) In forming an opinion as to whether a project may contribute to the raising of educational standards in England, the Secretary of State shall—

(a) have regard to the need for the curriculum for any school in England affected by the project to be a balanced and broadly based curriculum which promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of children,

(b) consider the likely effect of the project on all the pupils who may be affected by it.

(3) The Secretary of State shall refuse an application for an order under this section if it appears to the Secretary of State that the proposed order would be likely to have a detrimental effect on the education of children with special educational needs.

(4) An order under this section shall have effect during a period specified in the order which must not exceed three years.

(5) Before making an order under this section, the Secretary of State shall, if they consider it appropriate to do so, consult the Chief Inspector.

(6) Where the applicant is or includes a qualifying foundation, references in paragraphs (a) to (d) of subsection (1) to the applicant (so far as they would otherwise be read as references to the qualifying foundation) are to be read as references to the governing bodies of all or any of the foundation or foundation special schools in respect of which the applicant is the foundation.

(7) For the purposes of this section—

“the Chief Inspector” means His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills;

“children” means persons under the age of nineteen;

“education legislation” means—

(a) the Education Acts (as defined by section 578 of the Education Act 1996),

(b) the Learning and Skills Act 2000, and

(c) any subordinate legislation made under any of those Acts;

“maintained school” means—

(a) a community, foundation or voluntary school,

(b) a community or foundation special school, or

(c) a maintained nursery school;

“qualifying body” means—

(a) a local authority,

(b) an Education Action Forum,

(c) a qualifying foundation,

(d) the governing body of a maintained school,

(e) the head teacher of a maintained school,

(f) the proprietor of an Academy, a city technology college or a city college for the technology of the arts,

(g) the proprietor of any special school that is not maintained by a local authority but is for the time being approved by the Secretary of State under section 342 of the Education Act 1996, or

(h) the governing body of an institution within the further education sector;

“qualifying foundation” means the foundation, as defined by subsection (3)(a) of section 21 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, of any foundation or foundation special school that for the purposes of that section has a foundation established otherwise than under that Act;

“subordinate legislation” has the same meaning as in the Interpretation Act 1978.—

This new clause would enable the Secretary of State to exempt certain bodies from certain requirements of existing education legislation for the purpose of implementing projects which may raise educational standards in England