Schools: Academies

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch Excerpts

Monday 27th October 2014 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to improve the financial regulation of academy schools.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools (Lord Nash) (Con)]

My Lords, academies are subject to considerably more rigorous financial regulation than local authority maintained schools. For example, they have to publish annual, independently audited accounts; local authority maintained schools do not. They are subject to the rigorous oversight of the Education Funding Agency and anyone in a governing relationship with an academy, or an organisation closely linked to it, can provide services to a local authority maintained school at a profit; they cannot to an academy. However, we are continually looking at ways to refresh the financial regulation of academies.

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for his reply, but is he concerned about the increasing number of stories of academy chiefs being paid inflated salaries, heads employing family members and friends to provide school services, lavish expenditure on hotels and travel and, recently, a head paying £26,000 for furniture for her office? This is not their money, it is taxpayers’ money, but it seems that a small minority are using the academy funding system as a cash cow. Does the Minister accept that the Government’s centralised oversight of these schools makes it more difficult to supervise academy school expenditure effectively? Does he now accept that that was a mistake?

[Lord Nash]

The noble Baroness picks out some isolated examples. I point out to her, as I have before, that 36 of the 55 pre-warning notices that this Government have issued to academy sponsors have been to sponsors approved under the previous Government. This Government have considerably tightened up financial oversight and improved things such as control of grants. Of course, these figures are but nothing compared with the £10 billion overspend the National Audit Office tells us that the previous Government were heading for under the Building Schools for the Future programme.

Schools: Class Sizes

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch Excerpts

Wednesday 15th October 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

I suspect, sadly, the children. Certainly in primary schools in the early days I know that teachers have to spend a great deal of time getting pupils as they come into primary schools ready to learn.

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

My Lords, does the noble Lord not accept that all the evidence shows that smaller class sizes make a difference for younger children—for infants in particular—and actually that is one of the key markers of going on to have educational achievement. Does the noble Lord not recognise that the Government have now been missing their target for recruiting new teacher trainers for the last three sessions and that we are heading for the perfect storm where we do not have enough teachers and classes are getting bigger? That is inevitably going to damage children’s education.

[Lord Nash]

I am not rushing to take lessons from the party opposite on pupil place planning. The ONS data which came out at the beginning of the last decade made it clear that there was a pupil place crisis looming and it was not until 2008 that the previous Government even managed to produce predictions for the size of the school population. As I say, they actually cut the number of primary school places by 200,000 and slashed the funding by 26%. We are the first Government for a long time actually to increase the amount of money available and we have also invested in new free schools in places where they are needed.

Music Education for Children with Physical Disabilities

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch Excerpts

Wednesday 30th July 2014 Grand Committee

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

My Lords, I am very grateful to my noble friend Lord Lipsey for securing this debate and for his continuing diligence in championing the cause of music education. He has enabled us to have a fascinating debate and to hear some moving examples of how music can be transformative for people with physical disabilities.

As a number of noble Lords have pointed out, the national plan for music education has a clear aspiration of ensuring that children from all backgrounds should have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, to make music with others, to learn to sing and to have the opportunity to progress to a level of excellence. It also determined that all schools should provide high quality music education as part of a broad and balanced curriculum. These provisions, combined with the parallel entitlements for children with special educational needs and disabilities to have access to the same quality and standards of education as their peers, ought to have ensured that children with physical disabilities receive quality music education. However, we know that this is not the case, and it is worth exploring some of the barriers to that.

At the outset, we have to acknowledge that music education as a whole in the UK is not in great shape. For example, the numbers taking the subject at GCSE have been dropping, with only 41,500 taking the subject in England in 2012, which is down from 43,100 in 2011. Part of this decline can be explained in retrospect by the rather disastrous decision of the Secretary of State to introduce the EBacc system, which excluded music from the list of subjects to be measured. Despite the change of heart in 2013, which widened the league table subjects to eight, we are being told that music has continued to be squeezed within the overall curriculum. Even more worrying is the evidence that the top-performing schools for music GCSE are overwhelmingly in the independent sector. Therefore, music is in danger of becoming an elite subject, or one that is the preserve of parents who are prepared to pay for lessons, rather than one that is open to all, as was originally intended. That point about access was raised by the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, and other noble Lords.

We therefore need to consider what more can be done to make the aspirations of the national plan for music education a reality, particularly for children with disabilities. That is important, not only because children with disabilities have the right to equal access to this learning but because it offers another sensory route to expression and communication for children who are denied that through their disability. As the noble Lord, Lord German, pointed out, at its basic level, playing a musical instrument can help develop movement and motor skills. At a higher level, it can offer a unique form of self-expression and engagement—and we have heard some examples of that this afternoon.

First, I concur with the view of a number of noble Lords in the Room that music hubs appear to be working well. The recent government announcement of an increased grant of £75 million to support those hubs is obviously to be welcomed. However, we need to ensure that proper monitoring is in place to ensure that the money is spent wisely. I was collared the other day by some music teachers, who complained to me that the staff employed in the music hub had given themselves rather inflated salaries, at the expense of the music that was meant to be happening in the school. Can the Minister explain how that expenditure is audited and overseen to make sure that the money is being spent properly?

Secondly, we need to ensure that the music hubs collaborate and share resources with the specialist organisations and individuals working in this sector. This afternoon we heard about the One-Handed Musical Instrument Trust, which is obviously doing some very innovative work. I was particularly impressed by the work it is doing to create competitions to design accessible musical instruments, which is very much to be lauded. When I was researching this debate, I was struck by the large number of impressive charities that work in this field. However, they all seem to be struggling to fund their work. What funding is being made available? Are we sure that we take adequate notice of the contribution the voluntary sector can make? Perhaps the Minister could comment on that.

Thirdly, we should consider making it a specific requirement of Ofsted to assess the music provision in schools when it carries out an inspection. For example, its own report Music in Schools identified that music hubs sometimes found it difficult to engage with schools that were not providing high quality music education. Surely, if that is the case, and it is a problem, we should know about it. Fourthly, we need to address the failings in initial teacher training for primary school teachers. Weaknesses in primary school music were identified in the Henley review of music education but the training module that was developed was never fully rolled out or funded. Perhaps the Minister could update us on the plans for that.

Finally, as the noble Lord, Lord German, pointed out, we should encourage and support the expansion of music technology and the innovative uses we could make of it to open up new opportunities for children with disabilities to create music. Contemporary music technology can recreate the sounds of musical instruments as well as creating exciting new sounds, and can unite children’s enthusiasm whether or not they have SEN or a disability. I would be interested to know whether the Minister thinks that there is a bigger role for using technology in music to supplement the importance of learning to play an instrument. We have had a very interesting debate today and I have certainly learnt a lot. I very much look forward to hearing the Minister’s response.

Schools: Local Oversight

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch Excerpts

Monday 28th July 2014 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to increase local oversight of schools.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools (Lord Nash) (Con)]

My Lords, arrangements for the management of academies and free schools will be enhanced by the collective expertise and wisdom of eight regional schools commissioners supported by their head teacher boards. Two RSCs are already in situ, and the other six start in September. We have also strengthened the guidance for local authorities on intervening in maintained schools, and inspections are undertaken using a risk-based approach, with more frequent inspections for those schools not performing well.

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for that reply. Last week, when dealing with the Trojan horse Statement, he conceded that the department has to take its fair share of the blame for the failings that occurred in Birmingham. However, does he realise that, at the heart of the situation, people have lost confidence in the Secretary of State’s ability to manage thousands of schools from the centre? Does he not see that the proposed regional commissioners for academies who he has just mentioned just add a further level of confusion, as they will not apply to all state schools? Surely what is needed here is a strong system of local oversight for all schools, such as our proposed directors of school standards, that would give parents, teachers and governors real confidence that their voices will be heard and that poor standards will be addressed.

[Lord Nash]

I do not recognise the picture that the noble Baroness paints. We believe that this system is efficient; in devising it we were advised by people who have set up national and international organisations. We find that the position of the party opposite is confusing. On the one hand its leader tells us that nobody wishes to revert to the local authority system, while on the other its policy adviser, Mr Blunkett, says that he wants to have between 80 and 150 directors of school standards, all supported by their own bureaucracies, and many of whom will be recycled local authority people. We do not think that that is the way forward. There is no role for RSCs on maintained schools; that is a role for local authorities, and, as I say, we have clarified their role.

Birmingham Schools

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd July 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for repeating the Statement. The contents of the two reports that have led to the Statement clearly make for sobering reading. Failures in oversight and supervision go back years, to a time when the Conservative-run Birmingham City Council failed to hear the concerns of local head teachers and a delegation brought a dossier of complaints to the then Education Minister in the Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Hill, in 2010. Those complaints were registered with promises of action, only to disappear into the bowels of the Department for Education, never to be heard of again. Since then, despite repeated concerns being raised about the consequences of a lack of scrutiny of schools, we have been reassured that processes are in place to guarantee standards. However, the fact that these latest allegations came to light not through the diligence of Ofsted inspectors but from whistleblowers clearly demonstrates that these provisions were not sufficient. Does the Minister recognise that, in retrospect, the Government should have heeded the warning messages at a much earlier stage and introduced a much more robust system of oversight? Is he now in a position to share with us what exactly happened to the complaints that were raised with the noble Lord, Lord Hill, back in 2010?

I am aware of the similarities between the two reports published today, but also aware of the different tones of their conclusions. Clearly, when dealing with matters of potential community sensitivity we need to be confident in the strength of evidence before us. So we need to acknowledge that actual evidence of incitement to violent extremism or radicalism appears to be relatively weak. This does not mean that there is not serious cause for concern about the conclusions of both Peter Clarke and Ian Kershaw.

First, it is clear that all agencies involved, including the department, Ofsted and Birmingham City Council bear some responsibility for the poor governance of these schools. There are lessons here for the appointment and training of governors, as well as for the focus of future Ofsted inspections. Does the Minister welcome the recommendations on training and accountability of governors, and does he accept the case for them to be rolled out across all schools in future?

Secondly, there are concerns that secular schools are able to focus on a narrow, single-faith doctrine that rejects and denigrates other faiths, including teaching a very narrow interpretation of the curriculum. What advice do the Government propose to give in the future about the teaching of religious tolerance in both faith and non-faith schools?

Thirdly, there are concerns that girls are being segregated and given restricted access to subjects such as sport, biology and PSHE education. Will the Minister clarify how the Equality Act sits with these practices; whether girls are entitled to be treated equally and to mix with students of the opposite sex on equal terms; and how we can be assured that these rights will be protected in all schools in the future?

Finally, is it not now time for the Government to face up to the failures of their own policies for school oversight, so aptly described by Peter Clarke as “benign neglect”? Sir Albert Bore, Labour leader of Birmingham City Council, has apologised, even though his party was in power for only a short time over this period. Should the Secretary of State not also take responsibility and apologise for the failings of the Government’s education policy to monitor effectively what was happening on their watch? Does the Minister accept that what parents, teachers and communities want is an authoritative local body that can be trusted to take up their concerns and with the power to intervene to guarantee standards? This view is shared by the Local Government Association. Our policy of having local directors of school standards to support and challenge schools to improve, and to root out problems before they set in, is exactly what is needed now.

Both reports today identified systematic failure in the current structures so, while we welcome today’s announcement that there will be a new education commissioner in Birmingham, how can we be sure that these problems are confined to Birmingham? Is there not a case for rolling out this model of supervision across the country? I hope that the Minister will accept that the Government’s schools policy is no longer fit for purpose, and that he will work with us on developing a model for proper local oversight in which everyone can have faith for the future.

Education Institutions: Autonomy and Accountability

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch Excerpts

Tuesday 24th June 2014 Grand Committee

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Perry, for tabling this debate today and for giving us a chance to have what has been a well thought-through and—despite the shortage of numbers—very detailed and interesting debate. The debate was also very topical, sadly, for the wrong reasons. As we know, a number of examples have hit the headlines which are an illustration of the fact that the Government have not found the right balance between autonomy and accountability, and that a number of challenges remain. That is particularly sad because when that balance fails, it is the children’s education which suffers, and many of these young people will never get a second chance to recover those lost years from an education that has been damaged. Therefore we all have a responsibility to get this issue right.

We know, for example, the issues that have been in the headlines recently: the collapse of Discovery Free School, concerns over the mismanagement at E-ACT academies, the poor educational standards at the al-Madinha Free School and the financial concerns at Kings Science Academy. All those remind us of what can go wrong if we do not get these policies right and rush them through. As the National Audit Office said,

“the primary factor in decision-making has been opening schools at pace, rather than maximizing value for money”.

There is a concern about the pace at which these changes have occurred.

Now we have the turmoil at the Birmingham schools and the Trojan horse allegations. This was an issue that the Minister’s predecessor was worried about back in 2010, but was then unwilling or unable to intervene. We know now that the Permanent Secretary has been asked to investigate that issue. We await the outcome, but I would be grateful if the Minister would confirm that the Permanent Secretary’s report will be made public when it is concluded, so we can all share the lessons. I should tell the noble Baroness, Lady Shephard, that one of the rumours coming out from Birmingham was that people felt they did not have anywhere to go. The complaints existed and they were desperate to have their voice heard, but people felt that, for whatever reason, it was not being heard at a local level. We therefore all have something to learn from that.

Now, four years on, we have a situation where schools which were given a clean bill of health by Ofsted suddenly find themselves being downgraded on re-inspection, leading to questions about Ofsted’s role, independence and judgments. We cannot be sure that these concerns and problems are contained only in one city. Already, new allegations are coming to light elsewhere, each one again highlighting that there is a problem about the local oversight of what is happening in our schools.

Whatever the outcome of the inquiries now taking place, particularly in Birmingham, I hope that the Minister recognises that the impact on community relations has been particularly damaging. I could not have put better myself the issues raised by the right reverend Prelate about the challenges to the local community that have occurred in the way the allegations have come to light and been handled by all sides, particularly by the media. That is a particular challenge for us. We also perhaps expect too much from Ofsted, because it is now the only intermediary between individual academy and free schools and the Secretary of State. In a sense, it is put in an impossible position, because it is expected to oversee, in quite some detail, a growing band of autonomous schools, facing it with particular challenges.

I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Perry, that because of Ofsted’s style and the way it behaves when it goes into schools, there have been a number of occasions when it has lost the confidence of the teachers in the schools and the governors. That is a real concern to us when it is the only port of call for many people. Like the noble Baroness, I welcome the fact that the inspectors have been brought back in-house and that quality is being driven up, because it was long overdue.

Of course, not all the schools caught up in the turmoil in Birmingham were academies. While I am sure that Birmingham City Council has its own governance issues that it needs to address, the fact is that, of the 21 schools recently inspected, five out of the six found to be inadequate were academies. I hope that the Government are coming to realise what we told them all along: that 5,000 schools and rising cannot effectively be monitored from behind a desk in Whitehall. The Minister will know that this point was made to him in a private briefing by civil servants recently. They advised that, as ever more bad publicity came from failing schools, there would be a growing public realisation that the department did not really have the tools to enable it to intervene effectively.

I hope that the Government are now reflecting on what has gone wrong with this policy. Perhaps the Minister will share with us details of the steps that they are taking, rather belatedly, to put in place an intermediary tier of accountability.

On these Benches, we already have proposals that we believe will address this accountability deficit. David Blunkett’s recent report sets out an effective blueprint to devolve power down to local areas and ensure that all schools are supported and challenged to improve. This echoes the argument made by the right reverend Prelate and, indeed, by the noble Baroness, Lady Shephard, that we need more local oversight and involvement in the performance of schools. Under our proposals, a new director of school standards would be appointed in every area. The director would have powers to intervene in underperforming schools, to broker collaboration and to commission new schools.

The issue of collaboration between schools marks a clear distinction between our approach and that of the Government. My noble friend Lady Farrington commented on the London Challenge, which was introduced by the last Government. It was highly successful in transforming poorly performing schools in London and went on to achieve some of the fastest improving schools in the country. The key difference in that approach was that it was done through a policy of sharing best practice and collaboration between schools. It happened in London, and my noble friend went on to point out where it happened elsewhere in the country, such as in Lancashire. We need to learn more about what schools can do in terms of collaboration rather than have them acting as isolated, autonomous institutions.

A recent OECD report has confirmed the importance of this approach. It states that:

“Knowledge about strong educational practices tends to stick where it is and rarely spreads without effective strategies and powerful incentives for knowledge mobilisation and knowledge management”.

The report goes on to identify a number of high-performing PISA countries and regions, including some of Michael Gove’s favourites such as Finland, Japan and Shanghai, and shows that they have strong histories of co-operation networks and shared resources. Those are what have made them successful. But that does not happen by osmosis. The plan has to be laid down and determined, with a clear expectation that this is the way schools will behave, and rewards have to be linked to it.

The report goes on to address another clear dividing line between ourselves and the Government, which is on the importance of high-quality teachers. Again, this point was made eloquently by the noble Baroness, Lady Perry. It emphasises the need for continuous professional development. We on these Benches believe that all teachers should be qualified and expected to be involved in continuous professional development, and should indeed be periodically revalidated. The OECD data support this approach. Further, this research has been backed up by the Sutton Trust and shows that teacher quality can make as much as a year’s difference to the learning progress of disadvantaged children, so it is a very important tool when addressing the issue of social mobility.

To sum up, while we share some of the Government’s desire to give teachers autonomy over the curriculum and how subjects are taught, we believe that it has to go hand in hand with the professionalisation of teaching and evidence of continuous school improvement. The problem with the Government’s approach is that schools sink or swim, and sometimes they sink. When they do, they take with them a cohort of children and their aspirations and dreams. We do not think that that is the right approach. We believe that driving up teacher quality, allowing for early intervention in all schools, a new element of local oversight and, most important, building in an element of continuous improvement through learning and collaboration, are the right way forward. I hope that the Minister will be able to agree, and I look forward to hearing what he has to say.

Schools: British Values

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch Excerpts

Thursday 12th June 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

I agree entirely with the noble Baroness. All schools have to have an anti-bullying policy. Ofsted inspects on that. We have reduced the guidance on bullying behaviour from nearly 500 pages to a much more focused list.

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that if we are going to have a statement of values, it will be meaningful only if it is properly embedded in the curriculum, rather than just a statement standing alone? How does that square with the Government’s decision to give academies and free schools the freedom to determine their own curriculum? Will the Government now be prescribing what British values should be taught in subjects such as history, English, citizenship—you can see that this could flow through the whole curriculum—and what consultation will there be if those curriculum subjects are going to be changed to reflect these new issues?

[Lord Nash]

I must say that I struggle to keep up with the Labour Party’s flip-flopping on this point. Its last report said that it would allow all schools not to teach the curriculum. The fact is that all schools have to teach a broad and balanced curriculum and have to take account of spiritual, moral, social and cultural issues, and we will make sure that all schools have to teach British values.

Birmingham Schools

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch Excerpts

Monday 9th June 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating the Statement. Undoubtedly these are very serious issues. I am sure he will agree that it is a sad spectacle to see two members of the Cabinet publicly bickering when there are such important issues of governance and child safeguarding at stake.

It is good to hear that the Secretary of State has apologised to the Prime Minister but will he also be apologising to the parents and children in Birmingham who feel badly let down by the consequences of this Government’s education system? Arguably it should be the Minister’s own department that is put in special measures because at the heart of this problem is a complete lack of local oversight in our schools system, resulting from this Government’s attempts to run all schools from Whitehall.

The fact is that this Government were repeatedly warned of these dangers and chose to ignore them. They were warned in 2010 by head teacher Tim Boyes, who made a presentation to the department on the threat of radical infiltration in Birmingham. They were warned by my noble friend Lady Hughes and me during consideration of what became the Education Act 2011 that by centralising control they were leaving themselves dangerously exposed. They were warned by their own civil servants earlier this year that, as more academies and free schools failed,

“more people will be aware that our intervention powers are pretty weak”.

Can the Minister now clarify three things? First, were any Ministers present at Mr Boyes’s presentation in 2010 and what was the agreed follow-up? Secondly, what steps are being taken to inspect schools in other areas given the growing evidence that this is not an isolated problem? Thirdly, does he agree that a thorough review of the Government’s ability to oversee all schools, including academies and free schools, is now essential to reassure parents and pupils that proper scrutiny is being put in place and so that we no longer have to rely on whistleblowers but instead have robust local oversight systems in place for the future?

Schools: Free Schools

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch Excerpts

Wednesday 14th May 2014 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what early intervention measures they are putting in place to reduce the educational and financial implications of failing free schools.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools (Lord Nash) (Con)]

My Lords, as new institutions, free schools get support from educational advisers prior to opening to develop their education offer and to appoint key staff. They are also subject to rigorous checks on their financial viability. Once open, they are monitored by education and finance advisers. Where performance issues are identified, these advisers work with schools to bring about the necessary improvements. If a school fails to improve, we will take swift and decisive action.

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for that reply but this weekend we heard accusations that £400 million has been diverted away from the targeted basic need fund to prop up the free schools programme. Meanwhile, West Sussex County Council has already had to find £285,000 to fund alternative places for pupils from the failed Discovery free school. Can the Minister please reassure the House that no further money will have to be diverted towards the Secretary of State’s pet project when there continues to be such severe pressure on school places elsewhere?

[Lord Nash]

I think I can assure the House. As I said on Monday, far from taking money away from the basic need places, the free schools programme is enhancing the number of places available. We inherited a shortfall in places from the previous Government, who surprisingly failed to anticipate this

Education: Free School Funding

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch Excerpts

Monday 12th May 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for the Statement. However, the fact is that the free school project is becoming more and more a source of embarrassment for this Government. In short, the Secretary of State seems to be running out of friends. Last week, the Public Accounts Committee reported that at least £240 million had been spent on building 42 free schools where there is no shortage of school places, diverting money away from the areas of greatest need. Meanwhile, it seems that the Treasury has raised concerns about the runaway costs of free schools, at both official and ministerial level. Even the DfE’s own civil servants are scrabbling around to effect some political damage limitation from the fall-out of the failing free schools. Now their coalition partners, the Lib Dems, are alleging that the basic needs budget—intended for extra school places in the most overcrowded areas—has been raided to expand the free school programme.

I listened carefully to the Secretary of State’s response to this accusation in the other place. He seemed to deny that the basic needs budget had been—or would be—raided to fund free schools and, indeed, he claimed that the free schools budget would be reduced if necessary to fund the basic needs programme. Can the noble Lord clarify who is right on this matter—David Laws or Michael Gove? Will he also acknowledge that the shortage of primary school places continues to be an issue and that, at the next election, more infants will be taught in classrooms with more than 30 pupils than was the case in 2010? When will the Government finally introduce some proper controls on this runaway expenditure, as demanded by the Treasury and the Public Accounts Committee? Does he accept the latest Ofsted evidence that free schools have a failure rate of 11% compared to just 3% for maintained schools, so they are not the great success story that Michael Gove likes to claim? Finally, does he have some sympathy with the Conservative Association in Crawley—home of the disastrous Discovery New School—which, when asked if it would like a ministerial visit, replied, “Please send anyone but Michael Gove”?