The hon. Gentleman and I agree on that point. It is very helpful to have local councillors from all political parties serving on the governing bodies of local schools because it gives them a real insight into what happens in the classrooms.

The hon. Gentleman will also know of the schools White Paper, which recently started its progress through the House of Commons in the Children, Schools and Families Bill. It includes the development of the new school report card, which echoes an issue raised in the commission report. The report card is part of the wider changes to strengthen schools' accountability to parents and the public generally, raise standards and reform pupil testing and assessment.

The school report card will include information, ranging from exam data to pupil well-being, that will provide a broader and clearer picture of each school's performance in one easily accessible place. It will provide a single, clear and prioritised set of outcomes against which schools can be judged by all parts of the system, with predictable outcomes for both excellent or poor performance.

The hon. Gentleman mentioned the need to support parents and all the different community groups in Westminster. We too acknowledge that strong, stable families are the bedrock of our society. Families give children the love and security they need to grow up and explore the world, and families are where most of us find the support and care necessary for a happy and fulfilling life-as children and adults, parents and grandparents.

As the hon. Gentleman knows, the Government are strongly committed to supporting all parents, including grandparents and carers, in sustaining strong and resilient relationships. The recently published Green Paper focused on enabling families to help themselves, and its proposals are clearly set out.

The national strategies programme has been working closely with the local authority in Westminster and has praised it for its high quality secondary team, which makes effective use of school improvement partners, consultants and external advisers. The authority should also be applauded for its advanced plans to construct a centre of support and excellence, which will be forged from combining two special schools and the development of their strong outreach capacity to help more teachers and school leaders in the local authority to support students with special educational needs.

For the one Westminster school that is currently judged by Ofsted to require special measures, the school improvement partners and the local authority are working closely to ensure that improvement is rapid and sustainable. Clearly, Westminster is a local authority that is committed to raising school standards for the benefit of all students-an accolade that it has progressively worked for and one that it will continue to prove.

Much of the fine work for which Westminster is being recognised in this debate could also relate to London as a whole. As I am sure the hon. Gentleman is aware, today's London schools have come on quite a long journey from where they were at the start of the century. In 2001, 179 London schools had fewer than 30 per cent. of their pupils achieving 5 GCSEs at A to C grades, including English and maths. Last year, that figure had dropped to 15 schools.

During London's journey, from one of the poorest to one of the best performing areas of the country, the implementation of our London challenge has played a key role. The hon. Gentleman talked about the need for boroughs-particularly the smaller ones-to collaborate. I am struck by the collaboration that has already happened in the sharing of best practice. Through the challenge, we can identify and prioritise the schools that need extra help and analyse particular issues for the London education system.

For each school, we worked with local authorities to develop specific and targeted solutions to the problems, including tackling low attainment in individual schools and addressing the issues that were facing London in particular, such as low aspiration and a shortage of high quality teachers. As London continues to improve, I want us to ensure that success is spread across the capital. To that end, we are supporting all London boroughs to work together in clusters on aspects of school improvement.

Westminster is the lead authority for a five-borough cluster that has been working together since autumn 2009, funded by London challenge. The Westminster cluster is making immediate headway on narrowing the gap in achievement between disadvantaged children and their peers through cross-borough working with a core group of schools. That work has a particular focus on hard-to-reach families, parents and carers, and local culture and values and the early years sector. Work has started with more than 30 schools, and targets have been agreed by all. I look forward to seeing the progress that will be made in the coming months.

Westminster has also been funded by London challenge to work with Kensington and Chelsea on a pilot research project, which draws on an approach initially established in New York schools. It has been delivering significant results for some of the "hardest to move" pupils, improving their skills, motivation and attainment. The model has been adapted for use in a UK context, and 12 primary schools across the two authorities are involved in the pilot. Teachers will work collaboratively to develop strategies to unlock and accelerate the learning of a small group of students, as a means of improving teaching and learning across the whole school. Such examples show how my Government have worked in partnership with Westminster council and Westminster schools to deliver dramatic improvements in results.

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing the debate and thank him for highlighting what is going on in education in Westminster. If we want educational standards to improve, we must treat each school individually, and offer them tailored support and guidance so that they can do even better. Many Westminster schools are working closely with teachers, students, local authorities and other educational professionals to offer local students the best education possible.

Through this partnership and our continued work in the London challenge, we can ensure that those standards not only stay high, but steadily rise in the years to come.

Question put and agreed to.

Sitting adjourned.