It is pleasure to follow the recent speakers, particularly my noble friend Lord Triesman. That was an exceptional speech and his personal experience really gave us food for thought. I echo what the noble Lord opposite said about people who take that life-changing decision for themselves and their families to adopt. I too am looking forward to what the Minister has to say in response.
I would also like to support my noble friend Lord Hunt and others in their desire for the Government to commit to the existing position on no new grammar schools. We understand that the Prime Minister is in generous mood with his Back-Benchers at the moment, and it would be a real shame for a change to the current rules to be made in that context. We are concerned about that, given some of the comments referenced by others, and want to make sure that it does not happen.
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I shall just reflect on what the noble Lord opposite said about academies having the finger unfairly pointed at them. We understand that in many areas, through choice, academies co-operate very well with local authorities as the admissions authority. They share admissions arrangements and it is done in a way that we would like to see done everywhere and accepted and understood. In our Amendment 160 we are clear that local authorities should be the admissions authority, and amendments have been tabled by others. In particular, in his introduction to this group, my noble friend Lord Knight made the case extremely well. We think that local authorities should have the responsibility because they have the responsibility for the well-being of the children in their areas. This is not just about making sure that every child has a school place; it is about making sure that the way that the system works is fair to children and their parents.
Local authorities can fulfil the honest broker role very successfully. We know that parents often feel insufficient agency, shall we say, and are tempted into gaming the system. As the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, said, sometimes that is done on some very questionable information or perhaps an out-of-date reputation of a particular school. We would be interested in supporting
there being more information that is relevant to making that decision, rather than some of the marketing that parents see from year 5 onwards.
We have reports every year of schools giving out supplementary forms, asking for personal details or encouraging, in subtle ways, contributions to the school or using very subjective tests that are deeply concerning. On the surface, they can be explicable in some way, but we know what is really going on. It would be good if the Minister could let us know how widespread she assesses these practices to be.
Local authorities have a good understanding of the educational landscape in their areas. Obviously, they have responsibility for place planning and that is a vital function, but so too is ensuring that children are admitted to school fairly. In our amendment I have made special reference to looked-after children. Noble Lords will know that, in most cases, looked-after children are in the system due to abuse or neglect. They are more likely to have mental health problems, more likely to have additional needs, and less likely to do well at school. Some 35% of care leavers are not in education, employment or training, compared to 11% of the general population. Local authorities have an existing duty to promote educational achievement of looked-after children, and one of Josh MacAlister’s five missions is to secure a quality education for looked-after children. But we know that they currently are less likely to go to a good or outstanding school; the Children’s Commissioner is very clear and is challenging the Government on that.
We note the inadequacy to date of the Government’s response to MacAlister. I know it is relatively early days, but so far we have just had a letter and an opportunity to discuss a Statement. We really want to see more, and I would be grateful if the Minister could commit to writing to us on her assessment of the current situation in relation to looked-after children. We know that there is a substantial legal framework around all this and that guidance does exist, yet we still find outcomes to be as poor as they are. What is her assessment of the current situation? Can she bring us up to date on the Government’s intention to support this group of people in particular? Having said all that, I just want to get on the record our concerns about children who have experience of the care system. We particularly want to see the Government clarifying and making the good practice that happens—we know that it does, with local authorities being the lead organisation for admissions in some places—the norm across the country.
Just finally, we have had to shoehorn this discussion into the Bill because it does not seem to say anything about admissions beyond the Secretary of State being able to have a power to make orders about them. This has been a most worthwhile, enlightening and enriching debate, and it would be good if the Government could be a bit more forthcoming about what they plan to do.