Academies Bill [HL]

I shall speak to Amendments 13 and 76, which are tabled in my name. When we debated the Bill at Second Reading, there was widespread concern throughout the House that academies should have obligations to meet the needs of pupils with special educational needs that are no less rigorous than those which apply to maintained schools. The Minister was very clear that he was fully committed to this, and I am grateful to him for the trouble he has taken in meeting Peers with these concerns and also in writing to provide assurance that that is what the Bill achieves. However, there are still areas that remain unclear, where the commitment could do with being spelled out more fully or where gaps in the obligations to which academies are subject need to be plugged. These amendments are directed at remedying these deficiencies. Amendment 13 is a probing amendment with two purposes: first, to ascertain whether academies receiving academy financial assistance will be required to have funding agreements in place; and, secondly, to ascertain whether meeting the needs of children with special educational needs and disabilities will be included as a standard requirement within arrangements for academy financial assistance, just as it currently is in funding agreements. Currently, academies are principally accountable through and governed by funding agreements signed with the Secretary of State. Clause 1(2)(b) introduces a new form of funding for academies— "““arrangements for academy financial assistance””." These are not found in the original academies legislation. Arrangements for academy financial assistance are a form of direct funding from the Secretary of State granted through powers conferred by Section 14 of the Education Act 2002. Arrangements for academy financial assistance are an alternative to funding through an academy agreement so that it appears possible that, where arrangements for academy financial assistance are put in place, an academy may not be required to have a funding agreement. While it is possible to have reservations regarding the scope and effectiveness of funding agreements as accountability mechanisms, there has none the less been clarity in funding agreements signed after 2007 that academies should have regard to the SEN code of practice and use their best endeavours to ensure that special educational needs are met. There are concerns that this new form of academy funding—arrangements for academy financial assistance—will bypass the safeguards contained in funding agreements in relation to SEN provision. This amendment gives the Minister an opportunity to make the position clear and to reassure us that academies receiving academy financial assistance will be required to have funding agreements, and that meeting the needs of children with SEN and disabilities will be included as a standard requirement within arrangements for academy financial assistance. Amendment 76 seeks to ensure that academy funding agreements are comprehensive in their coverage of the requirements that are laid on maintained schools in relation to pupils with special educational needs in Part IV of the Education Act 1996. I recognise that the intention behind the academies programme is not to weaken the SEN legal framework. The Government have stated that one of the broad principles on which they have approached the academies programme is that there will be no change to, or weakening of, the requirements governing SEN provision. In response to questions asked at Second Reading about the safeguards for children with SEN in funding agreements, the Minister made it clear that the provisions of these funding agreements mirror the legislative requirements on maintained schools. Since 2007, model funding agreements, which govern academies’ actions, have transposed measures from Part IV of the Education Act 1996 and made it clear that academies should have regard to the SEN code of practice. However, a contractual arrangement is one thing; a law is quite another. Contractual arrangements do not provide anything like the assurance provided by legislation. Even if we accept that funding agreements offer parents the same pathways to remedy as the law, which I question—I will have an opportunity to question this further when later amendments come up for discussion on Wednesday—existing funding agreements still do not refer to certain important aspects of SEN law that it is important not to lose. It is true that existing funding agreements mirror some of the duties in Part IV of the Education Act 1996, but concerns remain that other aspects of Part IV are not covered. For example, no existing academies have the same duties as maintained schools under Section 317A of the Education Act 1996 to inform a child’s parents if they consider that child to have special educational needs, or to admit a pupil with a statement when both the parents and the local authority wish the child to attend that school as maintained schools are required to do by Section 324 of the Education Act 1996. Amendment 76 therefore seeks further assurance that the academies programme will not result in a weakening of the requirements that govern SEN provision in schools and that all funding agreements will cover all the requirements of Part IV of the Education Act 1996. In particular, it would require academy agreements to contain provisions that set out the responsibilities of academies in meeting the needs of pupils with special educational needs or disabilities. In discharging these responsibilities, an academy should co-operate with the LEA in making provision for pupils with special educational needs or disabilities. An academy funding agreement should make provision to ensure that: academies use their best endeavours to ensure that an LEA can discharge its responsibilities in making arrangements for the provision of education for a pupil with a statement of SEN; academies have regard to the SEN code of practice; academies act as if they were a maintained school for the purposes of Part IV of the Education Act 1996; SEN co-ordinators are qualified teachers; and academies make arrangements to ensure that an independent appeals process is available to parents of pupils with SEN or a disability. I hope very much that the Minister will be able to accept this provision. If he did so, that would put beyond doubt his desire to see that funding agreements are fully comprehensive in transposing the requirements of special educational legislation in Part IV of the Education Act 1996.