Academies Bill [HL]

I understand the point that my noble friend Lord Phillips makes. As I said, we have discussed it. It is in no one’s interests to come up with proposals that would damage education overall in an area. That is not the intention or purpose. The decision whether to go ahead with a free school will not be taken in isolation. The Secretary of State has the discretion to take all relevant considerations into account as part of the approval process. Those considerations would, I am sure, include the kind of issues that the noble Lord, Lord Phillips, raises. I go back to my earlier point: it seems inconceivable that concerns of the kind that he has raised with me and the views that I know are held by the people concerned with this case would not be made known, not least by my noble friend. The Secretary of State would have to reflect on those in making his decision. During the application process, proposers will be expected to discuss their plans with any local partners, including the local authority, and we will encourage them to do that. The Secretary of State has said—as I mentioned in our debate about the free schools announcement, he wrote to local authorities about this at the end of last week—that, alongside other checks in place, he will talk to local authorities to make sure that he fully understands the local context and circumstances before making a final decision on whether to support the establishment of a free school. I hope that these are common-sense and practical reassurances and that they will provide some comfort that the process gives the Secretary of State the flexibility to take these issues into account. As I also mentioned, these are early days of the free schools policy. Our approach is to work through the implications of the applications as they come in. I am sure that, over time, we will resolve these issues; we certainly have a willingness and desire to do so. Amendments 98, 106 and 136 envisage academy conversions going through the existing statutory-proposal route for closure or a similar process in relation to conversion, which would delay the process by several months. Because the school is converting, rather than ceasing to exist, we do not believe that that is either appropriate or necessary. Amendment 114 would restrict the proportion of schools that could convert to academy status within any single local authority area. I have already said that I understand the point about the potential wider impact of a large number of conversions within a single local authority. The Secretary of State has written to local authorities, explaining that he envisages that they will continue to have a role in making these decisions and we will work through these issues with them.