Education written statement – made at on 21 October 2013.
Michael Gove
The Secretary of State for Education
I am proposing an Amendment to the Children and Families Bill that will place a clear requirement on all types of state schools to make arrangements for supporting pupils at the school who have medical conditions. This will not apply to early years provision as there is already sufficient coverage of this issue in the statutory early years foundation stage. In meeting the new requirement, schools must have regard to statutory guidance. This amendment will be considered during the House of Lords Committee stage of the Children and Families Bill.
Throughout the passage of the Bill, there has been much debate about the needs of children with long-term medical conditions, such as diabetes and epilepsy. There is cross-party support to ensure that children and young people have their health needs met in schools. My Department has also met with various health organisations and charities and parents and children (with long-term medical conditions) to listen and discuss this issue. While a vast Majority of schools take these issues seriously, it is clear some families have had poor experiences. This new duty, underpinned by statutory guidance, will help schools to ensure that they are taking reasonable action to support children with medical conditions, where necessary. It will also give parents of such children confidence that support should be in place while they are at school.
It is our intention to work with health organisations, parents and the school work force on the drafting of the statutory guidance (building on existing good practice) which will also be subject to a public consultation in the new year.
Through this amendment to the Children and Families Bill we believe we will achieve the following: better educational outcomes for children with long-term health conditions; greater reassurance to parents that their children will receive the support they deserve in the school setting; and clearer guidance on what we expect of our schools.
The house of Lords is the upper chamber of the Houses of Parliament. It is filled with Lords (I.E. Lords, Dukes, Baron/esses, Earls, Marquis/esses, Viscounts, Count/esses, etc.) The Lords consider proposals from the EU or from the commons. They can then reject a bill, accept it, or make amendments. If a bill is rejected, the commons can send it back to the lords for re-discussion. The Lords cannot stop a bill for longer than one parliamentary session. If a bill is accepted, it is forwarded to the Queen, who will then sign it and make it law. If a bill is amended, the amended bill is sent back to the House of Commons for discussion.
The Lords are not elected; they are appointed. Lords can take a "whip", that is to say, they can choose a party to represent. Currently, most Peers are Conservative.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
