Schools: Special Measures

Baroness Massey of Darwen Excerpts

Wednesday 16th December 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

I would be delighted to meet to discuss that. We are committed to spreading education excellence everywhere. The Schools Causing Concern guidance makes it clear that local authorities should continue to act as champions of education excellence in the schools they maintain.

[Baroness Massey of Darwen (Lab)]

If it is the Government’s ambition, as David Cameron stated recently, to make,

“local authorities running schools a thing of the past”,

how will local knowledge about schools and their communities be gathered and how will other local authority services be harnessed to benefit schools?

[Lord Nash]

The noble Baroness quite rightly refers to this Government’s ambition to give every school the opportunity to become an academy. Local knowledge is prevalent on the regional schools commissioners’ head teacher boards. Four members are elected by their peers, and many other boards have a balance of head teachers spread across the region. Regional schools commissioners and local authorities are co-operating well in relation to the schools in their areas.