My Lords, I find myself following the noble Lord, Lord Nash. I wanted to say that it was a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Baker, but it is equally a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Nash. I have very little to say on the report since it has been covered fully by the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher. I say in passing that the wisdom and clarity of the speech of the noble Viscount, Lord Eccles, was a very good contribution to the debate.
As we have heard from all sides of the Committee, the extremely long, but apparently inexhaustive, list in Clause 1 appears to be overreach at an extraordinary level. As was said at Second Reading and earlier today, it is really a power grab by the DfE without any real understanding of what the purpose of all these things then residing with the Secretary of State would be. As the noble Lord, Lord Baker, said, they are things that have never been seen. It is remarkable. It would be remarkable for school governors and staff to think that head teachers were going to be appointed in Sanctuary Buildings. It seems so remarkable as to beggar belief. These are unacceptable propositions.
As I thought about speaking today, I reflected that when I started teaching in the early 1970s, we thought of and talked about education as a national service locally delivered. That is what I would like to continue to see it as. I think all noble Lords would agree that the aspiration of the education service in England should be a good local school for every child. That seems to chime both with the title of the White Paper, Opportunity for All: Strong Schools with Great Teachers for your Child, and with the SEND Review: Right Support Right Place Right Time—it does not say local, but it has that sense of local.
Where is the local dimension in Clause 1? It is absent. It resides with the Secretary of State. Some matters are best dealt with at national level—my noble friend Lord Knight referred to one—such as remuneration, salaries, conditions of service, pensions and so on. That means that there would be coherence across teaching and education staff nationally, which has massive advantages because it means that teachers are free to move around the country and take their expertise from one place to another. In particular, when thinking about women teachers, it means that they do not have to worry when they move from one school to another about what their situation might be with, for example, access to maternity leave and maternity pay. However, if all these things are different, as they are at the moment, that is a significant problem. Clearly there are things which would be better done at national level, although it is my contention that salaries, pensions and conditions of service would be much better done through a framework of sectoral collective bargaining rather than by being imposed by the Secretary of State.
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It would be appropriate for the Minister to listen attentively, as I am sure she always does and she has certainly been doing today, to everyone in your Lordships’ House who sees problems with Clause 1 and Clause 3
and to consider discussions with Ministers on the wisdom of withdrawing this clause and taking the advice that has come from different parts of your Lordships’ House about putting off Report until the autumn. That would mean that everyone could have calm and sober reflection about all the things that could and should be in the Bill and those things that are, frankly, entirely misplaced. It would give us an opportunity to have discussions with education professionals, local communities and all the stakeholders in education rather than moving forward in the way Clause 1 would have us move, into diktat by the Secretary of State. Time taken to review these clauses and possibly others, to consult on them and to come back with an approach that recognises the appropriate role of the school workforce, local communities, local authorities, parents and students in planning and decision-making would lead to much better outcomes from the Bill, and ultimately better outcomes from the Bill mean better outcomes for the education of our young people and of course—a not insignificant consideration—much better conditions for our teaching staff and other staff in schools.
I hope the Minister can agree, particularly in the light of the references made by the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, to the report by the Delegated Powers Committee, that Clause 1 and Clause 3 are singularly inappropriate and should be removed from the Bill. I know that she cannot agree that today, but I would like to have some time reflecting and to come back on Report in the autumn.