Academies Bill [HL]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his amendments. His questions have ranged very widely and well beyond the question of academies. Sure Start, nursery education and the pupil premium are all part of a strategy to deal with the problems that he raises. As we all know, the problems that he raises take us way beyond what the education sector in itself can deal with. We have been discussing those with special educational needs across a range of amendments already and have stressed that academies will serve local children of differing abilities, as now. The only exception will be outstanding converting grammar schools, which will be expected to partner weaker local schools. There will be no increase in the number of schools selecting by academic ability, including free schools and converting independent schools. We are offering additional freedoms to academies in a number of areas, including the curriculum, but those freedoms are underscored by a requirement that ensures parity with maintained schools in relation to admissions, exclusions and SEN. That means that Amendment 19 is, I suggest, unnecessary. The requirement to make provision for pupils with SEN effectively includes a requirement to make provision for prospective pupils with SEN. On Amendment 20, at the moment a child without a statement cannot be enrolled in a maintained special school unless temporarily admitted for an assessment of their SEN. Academies and special schools would also be able to admit only children with statements of SEN. This is right; if it were not the case, non-statemented pupils with lesser needs would take up places in special academies previously reserved for statemented pupils, with local authorities left to find a place for those with more complex and costly needs. On Amendment 62, the Secretary of State already has a power to agree a broad range of SEN provision with academies, without it being in the Bill. Moving on to Amendment 42, I am sorry that the noble Lord, Lord Baker, is not in his place. It is already accepted that specialist academies are not limited to specialism in academic subjects, as he explained with enthusiasm during our first evening in Committee. On Amendment 44, similarly, the legal definition of ability already includes academic ability. Amendment 71 raises some wider issues and the question of encouraging academies to make a much more active effort in providing guidance and advice to disadvantaged pupils and their families—in a sense, to go out into the hedgerows and compel them to come in. This has, until now, been a duty of local authorities and it will be something that local authorities continue to do. Local authority duty extends to advice concerning academies. There is a limit to how far one can legislate in detail on this, but we very much see academies—as primary and secondary schools do now—working with the other social services, looking for children who would benefit from that sort of education. To end where I started, some of these points are covered by other policy areas where the previous Government and the new coalition Government have already engaged, such as the pupil premium, Sure Start and elsewhere. Given that, I hope the noble Lord will withdraw his amendment.