Academies Bill [Lords]

Debate on bills and Committee of the Whole House (HC) on Wednesday, 21 July 2010, in the House of Commons.

Academies Bill. Committee stage (first day). Clause 1 agreed to, with amendments debated and withdrawn, and debated and negatived on division (202 to 312), (200 to 314), (218 to 321) and (213 to 327). Clauses 6 and 9 agreed with amendments negatived on division (213 to 322). Clause 10 agreed to, with amendments negatived on division (213 to 317). Progress reported. Committee to sit again tomorrow.

About these Parliamentary proceedings

Reference

514 c379-522

Session

2010-12

Proceeding contributions

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 514 c442 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Member should know that he cannot accuse another hon. Member of deceit. Perhaps he w...

Barry Gardiner | 514 c398-9 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to follow the courteous exchange between the hon. Member for South Swindon (Mr Buckland...

Show all contributions (391)

Robert Buckland | 514 c398 (Link to this contribution) There is a fundamental point, and I shall not shy away from it. I would submit—sorry, the lawyer is ...

Lord Coaker | 514 c398 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman says, ““I am sure that the Government will address the concerns expressed in this...

Robert Buckland | 514 c397-8 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a proper point. In the borough of Swindon, which I partially represent, we are ...

Damian Collins | 514 c397 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a very compelling case for maintaining the option of academy status for special...

Robert Buckland | 514 c397 (Link to this contribution) That is unfair. I acknowledge and bow to the hon. Gentleman's experience, but he underestimates wher...

Ian Mearns | 514 c396-7 (Link to this contribution) For a number of years, I was the chair of the board of governors in a special school that dealt with...

Sarah Teather | 514 c400 (Link to this contribution) I think that is semantics.

Sarah Teather | 514 c399-400 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to be taking part in the debate on this Bill from the Front Bench. As the hon...

Barry Gardiner | 514 c400 (Link to this contribution) Can the hon. Lady clarify that remark? She says that those schools have expressed an interest in bec...

Dan Rogerson | 514 c400 (Link to this contribution) I am struck by the fact that certain hon. Members, on Second Reading—I think we will hear this again...

Sarah Teather | 514 c400 (Link to this contribution) These schools have expressed an interest in finding out more information. We have never said that th...

Stephen Twigg | 514 c401 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is making a good case, but I struggle to understand why schools should have to apply f...

Sarah Teather | 514 c400-1 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a good point. A lot of straw men have been built up in order to knock them down...

Sarah Teather | 514 c400 (Link to this contribution) Okay, I agree—I accept the hon. Gentleman's point. Indeed, they have expressed an interest in obtain...

Barry Gardiner | 514 c400 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely not.

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 514 c400 (Link to this contribution) Order. Let me stop the hon. Gentleman there. He has the right to reply to the debate, and if we are ...

Lord Coaker | 514 c400 (Link to this contribution) This is an extremely important point; my hon. Friend the Member for Brent North (Barry Gardiner) got...

Sarah Teather | 514 c401 (Link to this contribution) This is a permissive power and not all schools will choose that route. In response to the concerns o...

Stephen Twigg | 514 c401 (Link to this contribution) On a related point, I am unclear as to what the process will be for schools becoming academies under...

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 514 c401 (Link to this contribution) Order. May I point out that the Minister should not respond to that intervention, because it was tot...

Glenda Jackson | 514 c402 (Link to this contribution) Will the specialised and more detailed approach to special schools be consulted upon on a much wider...

Sarah Teather | 514 c402 (Link to this contribution) The point made by the hon. Member for Beverley and Holderness (Mr Stuart), the Chair of the Select C...

Graham Stuart | 514 c402 (Link to this contribution) The Minister talked about areas of detail that needed attention. One of the most critical of those t...

Sarah Teather | 514 c401-2 (Link to this contribution) I think one element of it was in order, and I shall respond to it because I am keen to respond as be...

Lord Coaker | 514 c403-4 (Link to this contribution) I will be brief in responding to the Minister, who did not address one essential issue. Hon. Members...

Sarah Teather | 514 c403 (Link to this contribution) It does. I should probably be a bit firmer about completing a paragraph before taking interventions....

Lord Coaker | 514 c402 (Link to this contribution) It comes with the job.

Sarah Teather | 514 c402 (Link to this contribution) I keep being intervened on before I have completed my paragraph, but—

Sarah Teather | 514 c404 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman's Government recognised that providing freedom to schools will drive up standards...

Barry Gardiner | 514 c404 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that many schools will ask for further information because they feel that ...

Lord Coaker | 514 c404 (Link to this contribution) There are two things to say in response to that. First, the previous Government had a managed progra...

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 514 c409 (Link to this contribution) Before we move to the next group of amendments, I must announce the result of the Division deferred ...

Lord Coaker | 514 c404-5 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend. The other weakness in the Minister's response is that it is very unclea...

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 514 c409 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss amendment 48, in clause 3, page 3, line 15, at end insert...

Lord Coaker | 514 c409 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 32, page 1, line 21, at end insert—

Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 514 c410-1 (Link to this contribution) These are exactly the same arguments that were advanced by Labour during the discussion of grant-mai...

Lord Coaker | 514 c409-10 (Link to this contribution) It is good to come to the second group of amendments. May I formally welcome the Minister of State, ...

Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 514 c411 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a fair point, but it would be perverse for any head teacher with the suppor...

Lord Coaker | 514 c411 (Link to this contribution) Who will have local control over whether a primary school in the hon. Gentleman's constituency becom...

Lord Coaker | 514 c387-8 (Link to this contribution) I was going to make the same point, but it has been very well made by my hon. Friend, who brings her...

Nick Gibb | 514 c388 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the shadow Minister for giving way again; he is being very generous. He mentioned t...

Lord Coaker | 514 c388 (Link to this contribution) Changes in policy always improve as they go through Parliament, particularly when, as was the case i...

Chris Skidmore | 514 c391 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has rightly praised the work of special schools. If he is such a fan of them, why...

Lord Coaker | 514 c389-91 (Link to this contribution) I agree absolutely, and that point goes to the heart of both this amendment and a number of further ...

Chris Leslie | 514 c388-9 (Link to this contribution) As a former director of a local authority research organisation before I was elected to my hon. Frie...

Lord Coaker | 514 c391 (Link to this contribution) I was trying to finish, but I will give way.

Pat Glass | 514 c392 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that we are dealing with one of the educational myths? Special schools may...

Lord Coaker | 514 c393 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for that point, which relates to the one that I have made. Where is the s...

Robert Buckland | 514 c393-4 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Member for Gedling (Vernon Coaker), the shadow Minister, for saying some n...

Lord Coaker | 514 c392 (Link to this contribution) I totally agree with that. This has been an excellent debate. May I finish by saying that I think a...

David Ward | 514 c392-3 (Link to this contribution) Just to reinforce an earlier point, may I say that I closed 12 special schools as the relevant educa...

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 514 c395 (Link to this contribution) Order. It is not in order to refer to amendments that have not been selected. Will the hon. Gentlema...

Robert Buckland | 514 c395 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention. We have dealt, in interventions, with low-inc...

John Pugh | 514 c394-5 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making an extremely thoughtful contribution and I am certainly impressed by it...

Robert Buckland | 514 c395 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to my hon. Friend.

Graham Stuart | 514 c395-6 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a good point regarding the structure of schools. There is a feeling that the mo...

Robert Buckland | 514 c396 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for those comments. Now I shall give way to the hon. Lady.

Glenda Jackson | 514 c396 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman talked about the local authority, but the special needs schools in my constituenc...

Robert Buckland | 514 c396 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady makes a number of interesting points. First, I agree about the wider community. Her we...

Robert Buckland | 514 c396 (Link to this contribution) I was only trying to address the hon. Lady's intervention, which I had taken—

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 514 c396 (Link to this contribution) Order. The accountability of the exclusions process does not relate to the amendment. The hon. Gentl...

Robert Buckland | 514 c396 (Link to this contribution) Very well. I have been led astray by the hon. Lady's film persona on many occasions, and in a very p...

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 514 c396 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman should not be led astray by the hon. Lady. He should respond to the need t...

Robert Buckland | 514 c385 (Link to this contribution) I was very interested to hear the hon. Gentleman's concern about a lack of co-ordination for provisi...

Lord Coaker | 514 c385 (Link to this contribution) If it is an outstanding school, it has become one under the existing arrangements. We are worried th...

Lord Coaker | 514 c386 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the Minister first, and then to my hon. Friend the Member for Brent North (Barry ...

Lord Coaker | 514 c385-6 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is right. That provision is the result of an amendment in the House of Lords, and...

Lord Coaker | 514 c386 (Link to this contribution) It is my speech; I thank my hon. Friend—for he is my friend—the Minister of State. I will always giv...

Nick Gibb | 514 c386 (Link to this contribution) It's your speech.

Lord Coaker | 514 c386-7 (Link to this contribution) The point is that the whole of that system was based on local consensus. Local authorities and local...

Nick Gibb | 514 c386 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the shadow Minister for giving way. He was a very effective schools Minister, and, ...

Lord Coaker | 514 c387 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend underlines my point. I consider it ridiculous that the Bill allows consultation to ta...

Barry Gardiner | 514 c387 (Link to this contribution) Schools in Brent are in a difficult position, given the proposal to redistribute special educational...

Lord Coaker | 514 c381 (Link to this contribution) Of course outstanding schools can be trusted, but such schools have demonstrated that they already h...

Lord Coaker | 514 c380-1 (Link to this contribution) Of course we want freedoms extended to different schools where appropriate. However, if the hon. Gen...

John Redwood | 514 c381 (Link to this contribution) Why is it that extra freedom is good for a badly performing school, while a school that is performin...

John Redwood | 514 c381 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful. Is the hon. Gentleman now saying that Tony Blair's experiment was wrong for schools i...

Lord Coaker | 514 c381 (Link to this contribution) I give way to the right hon. Gentleman, who may want to come back to me on this point.

Lord Coaker | 514 c380 (Link to this contribution) No, I am not embarrassed at all; I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman will have to put up with me for...

Edward Timpson | 514 c380 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree with the recommendation in the previous Parliament of the Select Commi...

Rob Wilson | 514 c380 (Link to this contribution) At the start of the hon. Gentleman's remarks, he said that this was an important debate—and indeed i...

Lord Coaker | 514 c379 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 28, page 1, line 18, leave out from '(6)' to end of line 20. Just so that I...

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 514 c379 (Link to this contribution) Mr Hoyle.

Lord Coaker | 514 c379 (Link to this contribution) Right; I just thought that I would embarrass myself, rather than have everyone else embarrassing the...

Rob Wilson | 514 c379 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Lord Coaker | 514 c379 (Link to this contribution) I will in a moment. The hon. Gentleman should let me get started. If he gives me just two minutes, I...

Lord Coaker | 514 c379 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Gentleman now, because he looks as though he is about to burst if I do n...

Rob Wilson | 514 c385 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has been generous in giving way. The Avenue school in Reading is an outstanding s...

Dan Rogerson | 514 c384 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is even-handed, for which I thank him. I direct him to clause 5, which deals with...

Lord Coaker | 514 c384-5 (Link to this contribution) I have, and the subsection goes on,"““must consult such persons as they think appropriate.””" Why d...

Dan Rogerson | 514 c384 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Lord Coaker | 514 c384 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to a different part of the coalition.

Damian Collins | 514 c384 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is right that for parents choice is at the heart of the matter when deciding whet...

Lord Coaker | 514 c384 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the hon. Gentleman would like to table an amendment to provide that schools choosing such a ...

Damian Collins | 514 c383-4 (Link to this contribution) There has been pressure on special schools in particular. Under the previous Government, 186 special...

Lord Coaker | 514 c384 (Link to this contribution) One of the points behind the hon. Gentleman's question is to ensure that as many young people for wh...

Lord Coaker | 514 c383 (Link to this contribution) I have seen that briefing. I have explained how we have moved on from that point. We are now debatin...

Lord Coaker | 514 c383 (Link to this contribution) Let me finish the point, and then I will, of course. We are in Committee, so things are a bit calmer...

Chris Skidmore | 514 c383 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman remind the House who said:"““We need to make it easier for every school to a...

Lord Coaker | 514 c382 (Link to this contribution) That is a fair point. We want all schools to improve their standards. That is not my point. My point...

Pat Glass | 514 c382-3 (Link to this contribution) I am slightly concerned that words such as ““freedom”” are being used in this context. It is one of ...

Lord Coaker | 514 c383 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a very good point. There is a clear tension. We need to ensure that, where appr...

Damian Collins | 514 c383 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Lord Coaker | 514 c381 (Link to this contribution) No, that is a totally different scenario. I was not saying that at all. I was saying that to target ...

Lord Barwell | 514 c382 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman talks about a massive expansion, but surely the key point about this legislation ...

Lord Coaker | 514 c382 (Link to this contribution) It is simply not the case that the hon. Gentleman's Front-Bench team want this to be a gentle expans...

Lord Barwell | 514 c382 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will know that in London constituencies like mine, people in very disadvantaged c...

Karen Buck | 514 c441 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend give way?

Glenda Jackson | 514 c441 (Link to this contribution) I do not wish to be rude, but the hon. Gentleman is not a testament to his own education. He does no...

Chris Skidmore | 514 c441 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady says that the schools system in her constituency ““absolutely works””. Last year, 48.4...

Glenda Jackson | 514 c441 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely. My hon. Friend has made the point much more succinctly than I could have done. That is t...

Julian Smith | 514 c442 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady not accept that this Bill does not include the capacity to expand selection? It i...

Glenda Jackson | 514 c441-2 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree, and we must take that seriously. We have come so far in so many ways in this coun...

Karen Buck | 514 c441 (Link to this contribution) Is not my hon. Friend's point reinforced, and that made by the hon. Member for Kingswood (Chris Skid...

Glenda Jackson | 514 c441 (Link to this contribution) My I just finish the sentence? Then I shall be delighted to allow my hon. Friend to intervene. It s...

Tom Blenkinsop | 514 c440 (Link to this contribution) I think that my hon. Friend is describing the difference between an admissions policy, which can be ...

Glenda Jackson | 514 c440 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will be very disappointed. It is not a matter of class warfare, as he describes i...

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 514 c442 (Link to this contribution) Do you withdraw that word?

Julian Smith | 514 c442 (Link to this contribution) Of course I will. I think it is important—

Glenda Jackson | 514 c442 (Link to this contribution) How many Bills have been enacted in this place, the unconsidered consequences of which have created ...

Julian Smith | 514 c442 (Link to this contribution) I withdraw that word, but I think it is important that we do not represent the Bill inaccurately. Th...

Glenda Jackson | 514 c443 (Link to this contribution) That is an extremely salient point, and one is left wondering why the Bill has to be rushed through ...

Robert Flello | 514 c443 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that in rushing the Bill through with such haste precisely the danger she ...

Lord Evans of Rainow | 514 c443 (Link to this contribution) May I ask the hon. Lady to clarify something? Did she pass the 11-plus?

Julian Smith | 514 c442 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Lady telling the public that this Bill will expand selection? If she is, I believe that ...

Julian Huppert | 514 c435-6 (Link to this contribution) I tabled amendments 42, 43 and 44, which deal with one aspect of admissions to academies of a religi...

Ian Mearns | 514 c434-5 (Link to this contribution) Nevertheless, local authorities are uncertain about the financial implications and their capacity to...

Nick Gibb | 514 c434 (Link to this contribution) The ready reckoner is used to give an indication to prospective academies of what their funding migh...

Ian Mearns | 514 c434 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that information. It helps us to pad out the argument about how we feel a...

Ian Mearns | 514 c434 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Select Committee Chair for his comments, but I did emphasise the words ““in the first in...

Graham Stuart | 514 c433-4 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a powerful case were it not for the fact that the Government have made it c...

Ian Mearns | 514 c433 (Link to this contribution) I do not intend to detain the Committee for long as we are only three amendments into a 30-odd amend...

Caroline Lucas | 514 c436-7 (Link to this contribution) I am the author of four amendments in this group, and their purpose is to try to make it mandatory f...

Tony Baldry | 514 c437-8 (Link to this contribution) I hope that the Committee will excuse me if I intervene briefly in my capacity as Second Church Esta...

Glenda Jackson | 514 c439 (Link to this contribution) Following on from the hon. Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry), let me say that it is more than anecdot...

Tony Baldry | 514 c438-9 (Link to this contribution) For the more than 27 years I have represented my constituency, I have never yet received a complaint...

Glenda Jackson | 514 c440 (Link to this contribution) I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman simply does not know or whether he is deliberately blurring...

Chris Skidmore | 514 c439 (Link to this contribution) I simply do not understand the hon. Lady's assertion that academies will penalise those with special...

Julian Huppert | 514 c438 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Tony Baldry | 514 c438 (Link to this contribution) I do not accept that as a principle or an assertion, although I would be happy to meet the hon. Lady...

Julian Huppert | 514 c438 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way. First, he says that parents have a choice, but does he ac...

Tony Baldry | 514 c438 (Link to this contribution) I will, but let me finish my point. It is of fundamental importance that parents can educate their ...

Karen Buck | 514 c438 (Link to this contribution) Could the hon. Gentleman help me to understand why, across the piece and on average, faith schools h...

Chris Skidmore | 514 c440 (Link to this contribution) Many hon. Members simply do not understand the politics of class warfare that the hon. Lady describe...

Ian Mearns | 514 c428 (Link to this contribution) The way in which the legislation has been framed seems to have built in a mechanism under which that...

Nick Gibb | 514 c428 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friends have just made the point from a sedentary position that that is not the case. It is ...

Nick Gibb | 514 c428-9 (Link to this contribution) Thank you very much, Mr Evans. I will seek to do so. There will be parent governors on the governin...

Lord Coaker | 514 c429 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for that information. How many primary schools does he expect to become academi...

John Pugh | 514 c428 (Link to this contribution) I want to test my understanding of what the Minister is saying. In response to the hon. Member for E...

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 514 c428 (Link to this contribution) Order. This is not a wide-ranging debate on academies in general. We are debating the amendment, so ...

Lord Coaker | 514 c429 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate that the Minister may not know the answer to this, but what is his estimate of the VAT ...

Nick Gibb | 514 c429 (Link to this contribution) The discussions will carry on through August; not everyone is rushing away. Those schools that are d...

Lord Coaker | 514 c429 (Link to this contribution) But what will happen in counties such as Leicestershire, where the schools are now on holiday? How w...

Nick Gibb | 514 c429-30 (Link to this contribution) I will happily respond to the hon. Gentleman's questions. As he knows, having been a Minister, there...

Glenda Jackson | 514 c430 (Link to this contribution) The issue is not standards but capacity. There are insufficient places, and for the majority of prim...

Nick Gibb | 514 c430 (Link to this contribution) That is a different issue, and capital will be available to deal with the increasing population of y...

Mark Field | 514 c430 (Link to this contribution) The Minister will be aware that there are specific issues in inner London, particularly given the ma...

Nick Gibb | 514 c430-1 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that important issue on behalf of his constituents, whic...

Lord Coaker | 514 c431-2 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for his response and the information that he gave us in answer to some of our q...

Dan Rogerson | 514 c432 (Link to this contribution) The ready reckoner was the subject of debate in the other place, and I have had sight of a letter to...

Ian Mearns | 514 c432 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 19, page 1, line 22, at end insert—

Lord Coaker | 514 c432 (Link to this contribution) I was not aware of that letter. It would have been even more helpful if the hon. Gentleman had told ...

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 514 c432-3 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

Ian Mearns | 514 c422 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman refers to schools working in partnership on school improvement programmes, and cl...

Lord Barwell | 514 c422-3 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, but my experience in my part of the world is very d...

Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 514 c422 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has hit the nail on the head. It is better to have looser language in the Bill becaus...

Lord Barwell | 514 c422 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes the point far more eloquently than I can. At some point in the future, the shad...

Nick Gibb | 514 c426 (Link to this contribution) That is an argument taken ad absurdum, and I do not think it is very effective.

David Ward | 514 c426 (Link to this contribution) On the Minister's defence of the Bill as being of a permissive nature, does he believe we should als...

Nick Gibb | 514 c425-6 (Link to this contribution) May I add my welcome to the hon. Member for Gedling (Vernon Coaker) to the Opposition Front-Bench ro...

Glenda Jackson | 514 c425 (Link to this contribution) I have not been quite so hyperbolic in my choice of verbs as the hon. Gentleman, but it seems to me ...

Graham Stuart | 514 c425 (Link to this contribution) I think that it was rather more to do with the fact that the Government of the day wanted to monitor...

Glenda Jackson | 514 c423-4 (Link to this contribution) The Government argue that the Bill is permissive, but my hon. Friend the Member for Gedling (Vernon ...

Nick Gibb | 514 c426-7 (Link to this contribution) No primary school is being forced down any channel, that is the whole essence of the proposals. We w...

Lord Coaker | 514 c427 (Link to this contribution) Of the 203 schools to which the Minister refers, how many are primary schools?

Nick Gibb | 514 c427 (Link to this contribution) They were not permitted to become academies under the hon. Gentleman's tutelage and stewardship. The...

Stephen Pound | 514 c427 (Link to this contribution) I am not entirely opposed to academies—we have an extremely good one in Ealing North—but there is a ...

Graham Stuart | 514 c426 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Hampstead and Kilburn (Glenda Jackson) made an important point about the need to...

Nick Gibb | 514 c428 (Link to this contribution) Any Government face such challenges, but the Government whom the hon. Lady supported for 13 years we...

Stephen Pound | 514 c427 (Link to this contribution) I do not want to trespass on the Minister's good nature or generosity. I quite rightly praised West ...

Nick Gibb | 514 c427 (Link to this contribution) An academy can, of course, have the local authority represented on its governing body, but it is up ...

Glenda Jackson | 514 c428 (Link to this contribution) The Minister rightly says that he does not believe that there will be a one-size-fits-all approach. ...

Nick Gibb | 514 c427 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that it matters. What matters is that the academy is engaged with the local community...

Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 514 c420 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will doubtless concede that this is permissive legislation and, therefore, school...

Dan Rogerson | 514 c420 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. We have served together on a number of Pub...

Lord Coaker | 514 c418 (Link to this contribution) It is never as simple as yes or no. The hon. Gentleman and I have worked together a great deal over...

Dan Rogerson | 514 c418-20 (Link to this contribution) May I welcome you to the Chair, Mr Evans, at this stage in the proceedings? Earlier, Mr Chope remind...

Lord Barwell | 514 c421-2 (Link to this contribution) First, I thank the hon. Member for Gedling (Vernon Coaker) for being so generous in his speeches on ...

Stephen Pound | 514 c420-1 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the hon. Gentleman to the sceptical wing of the coalition and respect his position. Yester...

Dan Rogerson | 514 c421 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to hear that the hon. Gentleman is such an assiduous constituency MP that he is there...

Graham Stuart | 514 c418 (Link to this contribution) Yes, is the answer.

Lord Coaker | 514 c418 (Link to this contribution) Oh dear. Well, I mean, you know—

Graham Stuart | 514 c417-8 (Link to this contribution) The Minister makes a reasonable point about the quality of the evidence that the Govt should provide...

Lord Coaker | 514 c416 (Link to this contribution) It is not for me to extrapolate, but for the Government to demonstrate through evidence. I am no lon...

Nick Gibb | 514 c416 (Link to this contribution) The evidence base is the same one that the shadow Minister used when, as my hon. Friend the Member f...

Lord Coaker | 514 c416 (Link to this contribution) The Minister has not set the evidence out. The impact assessments mention CTCs, but not primary scho...

Chris Skidmore | 514 c416-7 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman talks about evidence, and we have that of GCSE performance. I am sure that he wel...

Nick Gibb | 514 c416 (Link to this contribution) That is an opinion, not evidence. I take the hon. Gentleman's point about opinion, but the evidence ...

Lord Coaker | 514 c417 (Link to this contribution) This is a Committee stage, but the hon. Gentleman has retreated into a Second Reading political stat...

Lord Coaker | 514 c417 (Link to this contribution) The dramatic rise in standards—the improvements in reading, writing and maths—in primary schools is ...

Lord Coaker | 514 c417 (Link to this contribution) I will give way again, but I want to make progress, otherwise, at 10 o'clock, everyone will say, ““W...

Chris Skidmore | 514 c417 (Link to this contribution) The fact that nearly 300,000 pupils are not achieving level 4 in the three R's at key stage 2 is cle...

Lord Coaker | 514 c414-5 (Link to this contribution) I agree. We have serious doubts about the capacity of primary schools, and about what the costs wil...

Glenda Jackson | 514 c414 (Link to this contribution) Briefly, it is hardly going to advance educational standards if a proposed academy cannot get up and...

Lord Coaker | 514 c415 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the Minister in a moment, but to his hon. Friend first.

Lord Coaker | 514 c415 (Link to this contribution) Let me finish the point, and then I will, of course, give way. It is the same with the equality imp...

Lord Barwell | 514 c415 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman said that he had approved an all-through school in my constituency. Where was the...

Lord Coaker | 514 c416 (Link to this contribution) The evidence came from the local people, the local authority and local schools discussing with each ...

Lord Coaker | 514 c411-2 (Link to this contribution) In the spirit in which debate has been conducted in Committee today, I thank the hon. Gentleman for ...

Sammy Wilson | 514 c412 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman not accept that, first, the Bill requires that there must be consultation an...

Lord Coaker | 514 c412 (Link to this contribution) Unusually, I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman, because a much tighter form of words in the Bill ...

David Ward | 514 c412 (Link to this contribution) The way around that would have been to specify certain obvious consultees and then to add the words ...

Lord Coaker | 514 c412 (Link to this contribution) I have tabled an amendment to that effect, as the hon. Gentleman will no doubt have noticed. Other t...

Rob Wilson | 514 c412 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making a strong case, but I would like him to clarify something. In the debate...

Lord Coaker | 514 c413 (Link to this contribution) As I said at the beginning of the debate on the previous amendment, for which the hon. Gentleman was...

Glenda Jackson | 514 c413 (Link to this contribution) I rise in the light of the remarks made by the hon. Members for Peterborough (Mr Jackson) and for Ea...

Lord Coaker | 514 c413 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend's point about the need for parents to be consulted, which relates to wha...

Sammy Wilson | 514 c413 (Link to this contribution) I have listened to the hon. Gentleman's explanation of why he objects to the catch-all phrase ““appr...

Andy Slaughter | 514 c459 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman anticipates the point that I was just about to make. The new academy is not openi...

Mike Hancock | 514 c459 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman says that he has two academies in his area—one already there, and one under const...

Andy Slaughter | 514 c458-9 (Link to this contribution) . Having listened to the whole debate, I wanted to make just one or two comments on the issue of sel...

Mike Hancock | 514 c458 (Link to this contribution) The point I was trying to make was about the unfairness of a policy that is so loosely written and c...

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 514 c457 (Link to this contribution) Order. We are not having a Second Reading or general debate on academies; we are debating amendments...

Mike Hancock | 514 c456-7 (Link to this contribution) I apologise for not being here for the whole debate, but I was at a Defence Committee meeting for mo...

Damian Collins | 514 c457 (Link to this contribution) In Folkestone in my constituency, since the launch of the Folkestone academy, results have improved ...

David Ward | 514 c455-6 (Link to this contribution) We are all fashioned on the anvil of experience, and I bring to this debate my own experience. On Se...

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 514 c456 (Link to this contribution) Order. It may be helpful to remind the Committee that the Chair is not obliged to call Members who h...

Lord Brady of Altrincham | 514 c462 (Link to this contribution) I am greatly reassured by the tone of what my hon. Friend has said, but it is not entirely clear whe...

Nick Gibb | 514 c462 (Link to this contribution) I will in a moment. This section of my speech is fairly technical, and I want to finish it before I ...

Lord Brady of Altrincham | 514 c462 (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend saying that if a grammar school transferred to academy status, it would not be abl...

Nick Gibb | 514 c462 (Link to this contribution) What I am suggesting now—it is as far as I can go at this stage—is that we will include the provisio...

Nick Gibb | 514 c461 (Link to this contribution) They will be subject to the same fair access protocols that have been agreed by other schools in the...

Lord Coaker | 514 c461 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister comment on Lord Hill's letter, in which he says that grammar schools will have the...

Nick Gibb | 514 c461-2 (Link to this contribution) I will deal with that, but I want to respond to all the points in order. My hon. Friend the Member ...

Mike Hancock | 514 c462 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister give way?

Nick Gibb | 514 c460-1 (Link to this contribution) This has been a wide-ranging debate, touching on the education shibboleths in all political parties....

Mike Hancock | 514 c461 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister explain the position on excluded children? He has intimated that academies will be...

Lord Coaker | 514 c466 (Link to this contribution) I do not have a problem with these things; if I was wrong, I was wrong. The hon. Gentleman is the Mi...

Nick Gibb | 514 c466 (Link to this contribution) The provision is consistent in the same way that it was consistent with the arrangement under the ho...

Lord Brady of Altrincham | 514 c463 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way a third time. He has been immensely helpful, and...

Nick Gibb | 514 c463 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I hope that I can be equally successful with other hon. Members. A...

Nick Gibb | 514 c462 (Link to this contribution) According to my understanding, that is correct. All the protections that currently apply under the b...

Lord Coaker | 514 c465 (Link to this contribution) May I just clarify how that relates to the paragraph 1.22 on page 15 of the admissions code? That st...

Nick Gibb | 514 c466 (Link to this contribution) Well, it can do, because even under the previous Government, when the hon. Gentleman presided over t...

Mike Hancock | 514 c463 (Link to this contribution) I am fascinated by the concept that certain processes will enable a grammar school that becomes an a...

Nick Gibb | 514 c463-5 (Link to this contribution) There is no change from the current situation. The catchment area of a grammar school after conversi...

Mel Stride | 514 c470 (Link to this contribution) Does not the hon. Gentleman accept that there is a correlation between increased parental choice—aft...

Iain Wright | 514 c470 (Link to this contribution) I would be happy to allow the hon. Gentleman to intervene on me again if he could provide a direct c...

Nick Gibb | 514 c466 (Link to this contribution) By the same mechanism that currently allows maintained grammar schools to expand by 25%. If the hon....

Lord Coaker | 514 c466 (Link to this contribution) He could write to me.

Iain Wright | 514 c467 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 20, page 1, line 22, at end insert—

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 514 c467-9 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

Iain Wright | 514 c469-70 (Link to this contribution) This group of amendments seeks to address two fundamental weaknesses in the Bill, namely a chronic l...

Caroline Lucas | 514 c475-6 (Link to this contribution) I completely agree with the hon. Lady. In spite of all their rhetoric about the big society, when th...

Iain Wright | 514 c471-3 (Link to this contribution) I certainly agree with choice in the education system, but it would be choice for a very narrow stra...

Heidi Alexander | 514 c475 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady agree that this lack of consultation with communities and local authorities runs ...

Caroline Lucas | 514 c475 (Link to this contribution) I want to speak to amendment 5, and to reinforce some of the points that have already been made abou...

Iain Wright | 514 c474 (Link to this contribution) I have no problem whatever with anything the hon. Lady says. If parents decide, for whatever reason,...

Charlotte Leslie | 514 c474 (Link to this contribution) I understand the Opposition's concern, but does the hon. Gentleman agree that the private school sec...

Iain Wright | 514 c474 (Link to this contribution) I disagree with the hon. Gentleman. In all their rhetoric on free-market schools, the Education Secr...

Chris Skidmore | 514 c474 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has a near-obsession with free-market schools, but nowhere in the Bill do I see t...

Iain Wright | 514 c473-4 (Link to this contribution) That is certainly not how I interpret the Bill. Amendment 50 is a probing amendment, because given t...

Graham Stuart | 514 c473 (Link to this contribution) I may be reading clause 10 incorrectly, but it seems to me to have precisely the opposite meaning to...

Dan Rogerson | 514 c476 (Link to this contribution) I have some issues with the whole concept and experience of free schools, having spoken to colleague...

Graham Stuart | 514 c480 (Link to this contribution) Although I agree with my hon. Friend that the amendment should be rejected, may we expect the Secret...

Nick Gibb | 514 c479-80 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely. That is the whole point. It is in the Bill. Any school that sought to establish itself w...

Graham Stuart | 514 c480 (Link to this contribution) If the Secretary of State will not produce a framework to show how he will approach such cases, will...

David Anderson | 514 c478-9 (Link to this contribution) I am really depressed by what is happening, particularly in relation to consultation. For years and ...

Andy Slaughter | 514 c476-8 (Link to this contribution) The Opposition amendments, which I support, are based on genuine fears about what may occur through ...

Charlotte Leslie | 514 c479 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that it would be utter lunacy and madness for either an additional school ...

Nick Gibb | 514 c481 (Link to this contribution) I will ponder the points that both my hon. Friends have made and I will write to them shortly to set...

Guy Opperman | 514 c481 (Link to this contribution) Surely it is a matter for both natural justice and judicial review? I am sure that the Minister has ...

Nick Gibb | 514 c480 (Link to this contribution) I will ponder my hon. Friend's point. I personally think that it is clear what sort of issues the Se...

Nick Gibb | 514 c482-3 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes his point in his own way, and I am sure that the hon. Member for Hartlepool wil...

Chris Skidmore | 514 c482 (Link to this contribution) New clause 5 mentions inducements to pupils, as my hon. Friend mentioned. The hon. Member for Hartle...

Nick Gibb | 514 c482 (Link to this contribution) We have allocated £50 million of funding from the harnessing technology fund to restart the standard...

Iain Wright | 514 c481-2 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister address the point I made on this subject? Parents might quite rightly be disappoin...

Caroline Lucas | 514 c483 (Link to this contribution) Why do we just have to take the hon. Gentleman's word for it? No disrespect, but if it is so self-ev...

Nick Gibb | 514 c483 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that it needs to be set out in the Bill, but the hon. Gentleman is absolutely right: ...

David Anderson | 514 c483 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister also think it correct that the professionals who deliver the education of our chil...

Karen Buck | 514 c445-6 (Link to this contribution) Can the hon. Gentleman help me with one point? If grammar schools are, as he and other proponents of...

Lord Coaker | 514 c447 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman and I have spoken on several occasions and exchanged pleasantries at debates not ...

Iain Wright | 514 c446 (Link to this contribution) He's only just started.

Mark Field | 514 c446 (Link to this contribution) Well, my point is actually rather important, because many of us fundamentally differ in our objectiv...

Lord Coaker | 514 c446 (Link to this contribution) Mr Evans, thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to some really important amendments that ...

Mark Field | 514 c446 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Karen Buck | 514 c446 (Link to this contribution) I understand the hon. Gentleman's point about the national statistics, but is he saying that, in Tra...

Lord Brady of Altrincham | 514 c446 (Link to this contribution) That would depend on the part of Trafford that one was in, and the figure would largely relate to th...

Lord Coaker | 514 c448 (Link to this contribution) That could be a debate that the hon. Gentleman will want to have another time. The context for this ...

Lord Coaker | 514 c448 (Link to this contribution) Such a difference in intake is certainly true in many cases. As my hon. Friend the Member for Hampst...

Karen Buck | 514 c448 (Link to this contribution) Is the Minister not wrong? There are actually cases in which two schools serve the same neighbourhoo...

Lord Coaker | 514 c448-9 (Link to this contribution) That is absolutely the case, and people are concerned that schools that are already fairly exclusive...

Nick Gibb | 514 c449 (Link to this contribution) What we are trying to do across government at the moment is reduce the bureaucratic burdens faced by...

Lord Coaker | 514 c449 (Link to this contribution) The question to the Minister is therefore why he does not put that in the Bill.

Nick Gibb | 514 c449 (Link to this contribution) For the same reason the hon. Gentleman did not put such measures in legislation for the 200 academie...

Lord Coaker | 514 c449 (Link to this contribution) The model that the Minister is working to is one that will lead to a massive expansion in academies ...

Lord Evans of Rainow | 514 c449-50 (Link to this contribution) Much of the debate has been on schools in areas of social deprivation and selective schools, but wha...

Mike Hancock | 514 c451 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is quoting the statistics of the exclusion rates in the 200-odd academies set up ...

Lord Coaker | 514 c450-1 (Link to this contribution) I apologise to you, Mr Evans and to the Committee. I was trying to answer the hon. Member for Weaver...

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 514 c450 (Link to this contribution) Order. We are straying somewhat from the amendments we are discussing on admissions and exclusions. ...

Lord Coaker | 514 c450 (Link to this contribution) In fairness, the hon. Gentleman makes a reasonable point on the need to concentrate not only on outs...

Lord Barwell | 514 c452 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is trying to make the case that the exclusion rates are higher in academies, and ...

Lord Coaker | 514 c451 (Link to this contribution) The Department was planning to have discussions with all those academies, and with their sponsors, t...

Mike Hancock | 514 c452 (Link to this contribution) I do not have a problem with what is in the Bill because I will be voting against it anyway. However...

Lord Coaker | 514 c452 (Link to this contribution) I was quoting earlier from point 20 in the equalities impact assessment. Let me try to make some pr...

Mark Field | 514 c452-3 (Link to this contribution) I will not detain the Committee for long as I know we have a lot more business to get on with. I wan...

Mark Field | 514 c444 (Link to this contribution) Amendment 49.

Lord Brady of Altrincham | 514 c444 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend, because I suspect that amendment 43 might have led me into all sort...

Mark Field | 514 c444 (Link to this contribution) You might have been excommunicated for a start.

Mark Field | 514 c445 (Link to this contribution) I suspect that, given his record in so many areas, the then Prime Minister was more guilty of cock-u...

Lord Brady of Altrincham | 514 c445 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is being uncharacteristically ungenerous; Mr Blair needs all the support that he can ...

Glenda Jackson | 514 c443 (Link to this contribution) Somebody else who does not listen—you are not the listening party, are you? The Bill's measures wou...

Lord Brady of Altrincham | 514 c443-4 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Member for Hampstead and Kilburn (Glenda Jackson) for giving me my cue, on...

Glenda Jackson | 514 c444 (Link to this contribution) Surely the hon. Gentleman would also acknowledge that there has been an explosion across the whole c...

Lord Brady of Altrincham | 514 c444 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Lady well knows, there has also been an explosion in the practice of parents paying over...

Nicholas Brown | 514 c509 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr Evans. Rather a lot of Members who voted in the Aye Lobby seem to have slipp...

Caroline Lucas | 514 c501 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for his reply, but he will not be surprised to hear me say that I do not think ...

Nick Gibb | 514 c501 (Link to this contribution) Apart from the hon. Gentleman, who is rarely reassured by any Front Bencher on either side of the Ho...

Jeremy Corbyn | 514 c501 (Link to this contribution) Not me.

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 514 c509 (Link to this contribution) Will the Tellers please come to the Table so that the numbers can be clarified? There now appears to...

Kelvin Hopkins | 514 c498 (Link to this contribution) Again, I am listening with interest to what the Minister is saying, but he will know, as I do, that ...

Nick Gibb | 514 c498 (Link to this contribution) The Conservatives have never said, either in opposition or in government, that we will pass a law re...

Nick Gibb | 514 c498-9 (Link to this contribution) I would hate to be on the opposite side of this argument with the hon. Gentleman. He will have to wa...

Diana Johnson | 514 c500 (Link to this contribution) Is it now the coalition Government's position that they are not going to proceed with making PSHE st...

Nick Gibb | 514 c499-500 (Link to this contribution) That is the position in every school at the moment. PSHE is not a statutory requirement in any maint...

David Burrowes | 514 c500 (Link to this contribution) I commend the position that my hon. Friend is taking on amendment 26. Does that amendment not highli...

Nick Gibb | 514 c500 (Link to this contribution) The coalition's position is that we are having a curriculum review and all these issues will be addr...

Dan Rogerson | 514 c501 (Link to this contribution) Earlier, I talked about monitoring the meeting of the criteria. On ensuring that academies deliver a...

Nick Gibb | 514 c500-1 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and that is the sort of issue we will look at when the review ta...

Nick Gibb | 514 c501 (Link to this contribution) Ofsted will, of course, continue to inspect academies. It will conduct those inspections against the...

Dan Rogerson | 514 c497 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady's telling of events of the closing days of the previous Parliament is interesting, but...

Diana Johnson | 514 c497 (Link to this contribution) The proposal is as it is. In the previous Parliament, there was a long debate on opting out of PSHE,...

George Hollingbery | 514 c497 (Link to this contribution) May I pursue my point a little further? I am a new Member, so forgive me if I am incorrect. Amendmen...

Diana Johnson | 514 c496 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an interesting point. We will have to see who comes forward to sponsor academie...

Jeremy Corbyn | 514 c496 (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend aware of any pressures being placed on the Government by those who have ambitions ...

Diana Johnson | 514 c496 (Link to this contribution) We believe that all academies—we are dealing only with academies this evening—should have the subjec...

George Hollingbery | 514 c496 (Link to this contribution) From reading the amendment, I am slightly confused. Perhaps the hon. Lady is about to develop this p...

Kelvin Hopkins | 514 c498 (Link to this contribution) I am listening to the Minister with interest, but I am somewhat astonished. I remember him when he w...

Nick Gibb | 514 c497-8 (Link to this contribution) Amendment 1 would require all academies established in future to follow the national curriculum rath...

Diana Johnson | 514 c497 (Link to this contribution) I, too, was not party to those negotiations, but I understand that that was not possible. I intend ...

Chris Skidmore | 514 c494 (Link to this contribution) I do not see economic education mentioned in the amendment—am I misreading it?

Diana Johnson | 514 c493-4 (Link to this contribution) The Opposition want every pupil in an academy and any school to reach their full potential, and clos...

Chris Skidmore | 514 c494 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Lady is not quite certain herself about what the amendment should mean or what the defin...

Diana Johnson | 514 c494 (Link to this contribution) When this matter was before the House in the last Parliament, economic education was part of PSHE, b...

Stephen Pound | 514 c493 (Link to this contribution) Before my hon. Friend moves on from amendment 1, I note that the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion ...

Diana Johnson | 514 c493 (Link to this contribution) I wish to speak to amendments 25, 30 and 26 in my name and those of my right hon. and hon. Friends, ...

Dan Rogerson | 514 c495 (Link to this contribution) I understand the point that the hon. Lady is making. I agree that it is important that all schools s...

Diana Johnson | 514 c494-5 (Link to this contribution) With the greatest respect to the hon. Gentleman, who is a very new Member of this House, it is clear...

Diana Johnson | 514 c495-6 (Link to this contribution) This Bill is about academies, and we have made it clear in the amendment that we want to make PSHE m...

Caroline Lucas | 514 c492 (Link to this contribution) I assure the hon. Gentleman that the only part of my notes that is from the briefing from the NUT, m...

Jeremy Corbyn | 514 c492-3 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry that I missed part of the hon. Lady's speech. Will she confirm that removing academies fr...

Caroline Lucas | 514 c492 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I do not think that the national curriculum is the ...

Chris Skidmore | 514 c492 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady agree that having freedom from national curriculum restrictions was extremely val...

Caroline Lucas | 514 c493 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his wise observation. He is exactly right. If children are put into p...

Kelvin Hopkins | 514 c490-1 (Link to this contribution) A recent television report said that there are six times as many teenage pregnancies in Britain than...

Caroline Lucas | 514 c491 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving me the opportunity to expand more widely on this poin...

Dan Rogerson | 514 c491-2 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is speaking in very inspirational terms about education and I happen to agree with her...

Steve Baker | 514 c491 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Lady mentions the subject, may I say that that does seem an absurdly reductionist approa...

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 514 c489 (Link to this contribution) With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

Caroline Lucas | 514 c489 (Link to this contribution) As Members will know, the amendment proposes that academies should follow the national curriculum. U...

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 514 c489 (Link to this contribution) Order. There is an awful lot of background noise in the Chamber at present. I cannot hear the speake...

Caroline Lucas | 514 c489-90 (Link to this contribution) As I was saying, under the Government's proposals once a state-maintained school becomes an academy,...

Stephen Pound | 514 c490 (Link to this contribution) I share the hon. Lady's concerns and I raised this very point with the Secretary of State when he wa...

Caroline Lucas | 514 c490 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. My notes tell me that this information came from a ...

Nick Gibb | 514 c483-4 (Link to this contribution) Well, no disrespect right back at you. The point is that the TUPE regulations are already in statute...

Chair of Committees of the Whole House | 514 c485 (Link to this contribution) Only amendment 20 can be pressed at this time.

Caroline Lucas | 514 c489 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move amendment 1, page 2, line 1, leave out paragraph (a) and insert—

Glenda Jackson | 514 c442 (Link to this contribution) No, I would not accept that, because the Bill is allowing a minute number of people who are engaged ...

Lord Coaker | 514 c414 (Link to this contribution) I am not a lawyer, but one of the phrases that people often use is ““for the avoidance of doubt””. G...

Lord Coaker | 514 c466 (Link to this contribution) What I was asking, even if we were wrong, is how what he has just said squares with the exclusion of...

Nick Gibb | 514 c480 (Link to this contribution) We need to try to get away from reams of guidance and secondary legislation. The wording of clause 9...

Nick Gibb | 514 c479 (Link to this contribution) I start by wishing Hattie a very happy eighth birthday on behalf of all Government Members. Happy bi...

Lord Brady of Altrincham | 514 c446 (Link to this contribution) There are a number of reasons, but the principal one is that most inner-city grammar schools were sa...

Nick Gibb | 514 c448 (Link to this contribution) Is it not an indictment of 13 years of Labour Government that outstanding schools are disproportiona...

Robert Flello | 514 c448 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend understand my concern that at the moment, not just in Stoke-on-Trent but more wi...

Caroline Lucas | 514 c491 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, because it absolutely proves the case that educatio...

Iain Wright | 514 c484-5 (Link to this contribution) I begin by thanking the Minister for his usual courtesy and kindness in wishing my daughter Hattie a...

Pat Glass | 514 c387 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the pattern of special educational needs in this country is changing ...

Lord Coaker | 514 c392 (Link to this contribution) If I was going to make a party political point, I would go away now to find out how many special sch...

Robert Buckland | 514 c395 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that guidance, but what I was seeking to explain is that there are some concerns a...

Jeremy Corbyn | 514 c499 (Link to this contribution) May I take the Minister back to the subject of PSHE teaching? If an academy does not include it in i...

Glenda Jackson | 514 c434 (Link to this contribution) I tabled questions asking which children in my constituency would benefit from the pupil premium and...

Nick Gibb | 514 c429 (Link to this contribution) It is very hard to say at the moment. I cannot anticipate what the number will be. For every applica...

John Pugh | 514 c453-5 (Link to this contribution) Speaking for the non-secular wing of the Liberal Democrats, I should like to say a few words about a...

Nick Gibb | 514 c466-7 (Link to this contribution) I am very happy to write to the hon. Gentleman if he would prefer that. The hon. Gentleman also ask...

Ian Mearns | 514 c467 (Link to this contribution) With your leave, Ms Primarolo, I am happy to withdraw the amendment and to defer to the amendments t...

Mel Stride | 514 c470 (Link to this contribution) Is it not the case, though, that if we do not sometimes have excess places, we deny parents the choi...

Lord Coaker | 514 c452 (Link to this contribution) As I said, what happens is that a problem is identified and an attempt is made to deal with it. It b...

Lord Brady of Altrincham | 514 c444-5 (Link to this contribution) My moral safety is now assured. I expect broad support from hon. Members on both sides of the House...