Secondary Education (GCSEs)

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Tuesday 26th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Twigg]

Let us learn from other countries’ systems. That is the point I was seeking to make. We recognised that there was an issue, which is why we addressed it and why, as the hon. Lady acknowledged, the number taking maths at A-level has started to increase, and not just since the change of Government in 2010; it predated that change of Government. When we debate these topics, it is important that we are balanced in our use of evidence. I am prepared to acknowledge the issue that she outlined as regards PISA, but I am sure she could acknowledge that we do a lot better in some of the other international research, including TIMSS.

The Financial Times has done an in-depth analysis of the proposed new CSE. It says that it

“will tend to be an exam for poorer children”.

It goes on to say:

“There will be a geographical effect, too, with some areas switching heavily to it. . . The CSE will be a northern qualification”.

This matters. The Secretary of State is in danger of putting a cap on aspiration for poorer children and for those living in the poorer regions of the country.

In last week’s urgent question the Secretary of State told the House that we already have a two-tier system, but he knows that at present pupils who sit the simpler foundation papers for GCSE can still get a C. Indeed, if their coursework is good enough, they can even get a B. With the CSE system, they will have a qualification on their CV which suggests to employers that teachers thought they had low ability. There is a real danger that they will simply stop striving for success.

The Labour Government started to narrow the gap in education between rich and poor. These proposals pose a real threat that the north-south divide will worsen and even fewer young people from the poorest families will stay on at school or go on to university. I am sure the Education Secretary has read the OECD’s research, which concluded that social mobility is lower in countries which

“group students into different curricula at early ages”.

Most scientific evidence now shows that teenagers’ brains can change late in life, even up to the age of 16. Professor Cathy Price of University college London found that teenagers’ IQs can jump by as much as 20 percentage points. She comments:

“We have to be careful not to write off poorer performers at an early stage when in fact their IQ may improve significantly given a few more years.”

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

I am grateful to the shadow Secretary of State for giving way and I apologise for dragging him back slightly, but before we go on to talk about what the solutions might be, it would helpful to have some clarity about where we start from. Does he believe that an A grade at GCSE when it was introduced was equivalent to an A grade at O-level, and that it is easier to get an A grade at GCSE today than it was back in 1988?

[Stephen Twigg]

I absolutely acknowledge that there is grade inflation in the system—[Hon. Members: “Ah!]— and I have said that previously. The “Ah!”s are very welcome, but it is not something that I have not said before, and I have said today that we will support measures that root out grade inflation. We will support sensible reform of the examination boards because there is a good argument that a kind of competition to the bottom has contributed to grade inflation.

--- Later in debate ---

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

This has been an historic debate, because for the first time the Front-Bench spokesmen on both sides of the House have acknowledged clearly and unequivocally a truth that has been obvious for a long time: our exam system, over a number of years, has been dumbed down. I give great credit to the hon. Member for Liverpool, West Derby (Stephen Twigg) for saying that clearly and unequivocally in response to my question.

I was in the first year group to sit GCSE exams. My class did one O-level in January and eight or nine GCSEs in June. In the O-level, three of the class of 27 got an A grade; in every GCSE subject, a majority got A grades; and in some, almost every member of the class did. It was clear when GCSEs were introduced that it was easier to get top grades in them than in O-levels, and research by the university of Durham and feedback from employers and parents shows that there has been a further deterioration since then.

The Secretary of State has already done a lot to try to address the problem in respect of the English baccalaureate, ending the modular system, re-sits, an emphasis on spelling, punctuation and grammar and by getting rid of some equivalents, but further measures are needed. It is good that there seems to be consensus on a single exam board and on ending the race to the bottom, so I shall focus on the main issue in the debate, the fear of a two-tier system, and say clearly and unequivocally that I do not want to go back to a CSE system.

[Mr Graham Stuart]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Gavin Barwell]

I will not take interventions, for reasons of time.

I do not want to go back to a CSE system, but we need the radical reform of our GCSEs in order to bring back a degree of academic rigour. The Education Committee Chairman made a very important point to the Secretary of the State about how raising the threshold will raise the number of people who succeed. I believe passionately, as a parent and from my experience of visiting schools, that paradoxically if we raise the threshold we will find that young people respond to it. That is the experience of schools that have switched to the IGCSE exam.

In the briefing pack for this debate, I saw some research from King’s college, London, showing the decline in maths over the past 30 years, with many 14-year-olds not understanding concepts such as algebra and ratios. I am not satisfied that my nine-year-old is stretched at his primary school, so I work with him on his maths at home, and he has already grasped those topics. I do not think that he is especially bright or clever, but I passionately believe that our young people are full of talent, and if they are pushed and stretched they will respond.

We also need to acknowledge that at 16 years old the right outcome for all our young people is not necessarily to sit a full suite of academic qualifications. For years and years this country has lacked a proper, respected vocational alternative, but if we secure such an alternative, we should not deride it as part of a two-tier system in which people doing vocational qualifications are somehow failures or second best.

[Tristram Hunt]

Like with CSEs.

[Gavin Barwell]

I am not talking about going back to CSEs, which were second-rate academic qualifications; I am talking about a system in which most children should be capable of getting robust academic qualifications and, through that, pushed to achieve their maximum. But we should recognise that it is not the right outcome for all young people, so there should be a proper vocational alternative, and we should not regard the young people who go down that route as failures or as second best in any way. I believe that absolutely passionately.

I shall end my speech—I know others want to speak—with one final point. Changing our exam system is not in and of itself a solution to the problems that the Education Committee Chairman has identified, but it is part of the mix, alongside the other things that the Government are doing: getting the basics right in primary school so that everybody learns to read and can access the curriculum that follows; emphasising discipline so that young people can actually learn in the classroom; giving teachers the freedom to innovate within their schools; giving parents a proper and effective choice through the free school model; and, finally, setting a floor and saying to schools that do not live up to the minimum standards that we have a right to expect, “That’s not good enough. We’re going to bring in an academy to replace you.”

That package of measures, together with a robust exam system, is what we need to give this country what it needs—the best equipped young people in the world. That is the only way to get the companies that will give us the jobs we want to locate themselves here, so we need to have the courage to bite the bullet and say openly, as both Front Benchers have for the first time today, that we have dumbed down our system over a number of years—not just under the previous Labour Government; it has been going on for a long time—and that that process needs to be reversed. We need to bring back rigour, to provide a proper vocational alternative and to stop the sterile argument about a two-tier system.

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Monday 21st November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Tim Loughton]

Of course the hon. Lady is completely wrong in her premise. The national citizen service, as I have just described, has been funded from a completely separate source from that of youth services—coming through local government and the Department for Education. She knows my concerns about how certain local authorities are treating youth services as a soft target for some of their cuts, and this Government will publish shortly our “Positive for Youth” policy, which will send out some very strong messages about the value of well-targeted, quality youth services run in partnership and under new models, because for too many years they were just not reformed under her Government.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Michael Gove)]

The Minister of State, Department for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Brent Central (Sarah Teather), recently announced that we will spend more money to ensure that all disadvantaged two-year-olds have access to 15 hours of pre-school learning. Consultation is now taking place to ensure that the most deserving children get the best possible start in life, and I encourage all Members to contribute.

[Gavin Barwell]

Over the past year there has been a 10% increase in the number of children in reception classes in the London borough of Croydon, with further increases predicted in September 2012 and September 2013. I warmly welcome the almost £8 million that my right hon. Friend announced last week, but at the risk of sounding like Oliver Twist I also hope that there will be further such tranches of money in future.

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend not only sounds like Oliver Twist, but displays a sense of “Great Expectations” about what I can get out of the Chancellor—[Hon. Members: “‘Hard Times’!”] Well, really it is a “Tale of Two Cities”: the City of London under Labour, under-regulated and, sadly, not paying the taxes that it should have; and the City of London under the Conservatives—at last getting the resources into the Exchequer which, I hope, on a serious point we can give to the children in Croydon, who do need more school places.

School Funding Reform

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Tuesday 19th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I hope that the finance will be flowing in this financial year. That is the intention. I appreciate that Harrow, like a number of local authorities in London, including Tower Hamlets, Barking and Dagenham, has specific problems. We need to look at them all in the round in order to ensure fair funding for all.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

There is huge pressure on school places in the borough of Croydon, partly as a result of the UK Border Agency’s presence there, and we did not get a single penny of funding from Building Schools for the Future, so I very much welcome what the Secretary of State has said. In the absence of the right hon. Member for Croydon North (Malcolm Wicks), may I give a particular plug for the Archbishop Lanfranc school in connection with rebuilding?

[Michael Gove]

That plug has been registered, and I hope that it will appear in the South London Press and other newspapers that circulate in Croydon.

School Closures (Thursday)

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Tuesday 28th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

The hon. Gentleman will be aware that it is already the case that there are parents who have been appropriately CRB checked and can support the work of schools. It is also the case that parents can support the work of schools without a CRB check. Of course parents have to be supervised by an appropriate member of staff, but it is perfectly possible, as we all know from the example of parents who have helped with school trips and journeys, for any parents to support them.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is perfectly possible to understand the anger that teachers and other public servants feel at being asked to pay the price for the economic mess we inherited from the previous Government, but also to believe that it cannot be fair to ask those in the private sector to work longer and pay more to pay for pensions that they themselves can never hope to receive?

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. Obviously, all of us who are parents want to ensure that teachers receive good pensions in the future and appropriate reward for the hard work that they do. However, we also have to recognise that the average level of pension enjoyed by people in the private sector is significantly lower, so we have to ensure fairness across sectors.

Vocational Education

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Thursday 12th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I take on board the hon. Lady’s point. I think the intention behind her request is admirable, and it is reflected in what Professor Wolf says. However, it would be wrong for me to prescribe what additional qualification or course might be appropriate to encourage people to acquire those practical skills. One of the points Professor Wolf makes is that there are many courses of study, or pursuits at school or beyond, that might not necessarily lead specifically to a qualification but can provide people with the skills required. It is crucial that we support qualifications that are robust and, where possible, invest in developing them to reflect what employers need, but we must also ensure flexibility and autonomy so that schools can do the right thing for their students.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

I particularly warmly welcome the announcement that 16 to 18-year-olds who do not achieve a C grade in English or maths will continue to study those subjects. Further to the question asked by the hon. Member for Luton South (Gavin Shuker), how quickly will the Government be able to take action, so that we can end the practice under the previous Government of hundreds of thousands of children leaving school without the requisite qualifications?

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend reminds us of the dreadful fact that only about 50% of students manage to leave state schools with five good GCSEs including English and maths. That means that hundreds of thousands of young people simply do not have the opportunity to move on to the jobs they deserve.

I see that the hon. Member for Scunthorpe (Nic Dakin) is present. One of the great things he did when he was an FE college principal was develop courses that ensured that students could very quickly resit GCSE English and maths, or follow courses that would lead them, in due course, to acquiring a broadly comparable level of literacy and numeracy. I want to work with great FE principals, as he once was, to ensure we get the right courses for the right students.

Education Maintenance Allowance

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Wednesday 19th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Andy Burnham]

Is the Secretary of State worried about anything else, or is that it? The figure is 40, which came down from 44. It did go down, but I have just told him that if he looks at all universities, he will see that the rate of increase in successful applications from children on free school meals was double the rate in the rest of the population. Is he not proud of that fact, and why does he talk only about Oxbridge? If his real passion in life is helping young people on free school meals to gain places at Oxford and Cambridge—as mine is, by the way, as somebody who took that route many years ago—can he tell the House how on earth scrapping EMA is more likely to make that happen? Precisely how does he imagine those kids on free school meals will get to Oxford and Cambridge when there is no EMA?

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

The right hon. Gentleman makes his case with his usual passion and makes some important points about empowering student choice. He says that the Government are going too far in reducing the scheme by 90%, but acknowledges that some savings can be made. In these difficult times, what would be a safe reduction in the budget?

[Andy Burnham]

I said that I am prepared to sit down and talk about making savings as long as we maintain the principle of a national scheme that supports the kids who most need support. I made the same offer on school sports. I will have that discussion, but I am saying to the Secretary of State do not just dismantle the whole scheme and lose all the benefits that come with it. If we had been asked to make a reduction in EMA commensurate with the rest of public spending, we would have struggled to argue against it, but that is not what the Government propose. The hon. Gentleman stood alongside the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State at the last election promising young people that they would keep EMA. They are the ones with the questions to answer.

The truth is that the Secretary of State cannot will the ends without the means. That will not happen. However talented those young people are, they cannot live off thin air. They cannot have a part-time job and walk miles to college and still get straight A’s. I wonder whether he has much idea of what their lives are like. In 2003, he wrote an article in The Times that acquires a new significance in the light of this debate. He wrote that

“anyone put off from attending a good university by fear of that debt doesn’t deserve to be at any university in the first place.”

Those are difficult sentiments for an Education Secretary to be associated with, as are these, which appear in the same article:

“Some people will, apparently, be put off applying to our elite institutions by the prospect of taking on a debt of this size. Which, as far as I’m concerned, is all to the good.”

How genuine is his commitment to those people who want to get in to Oxbridge?

I have worries about the Secretary of State’s elitist instincts, but I read in The Times last week another interesting piece—from Mrs Gove—which contains insights from home that raise further questions about whether he is living in the same world as the rest of us—[Interruption.] He should listen to this. She says:

“Like all angst-ridden working mothers, I live in terror of upsetting my cleaner.”

Angst-ridden mums in Leigh talk of little else. I sympathise with Mrs Gove’s predicament, but I wonder whether the Secretary of State could pass on a bit of advice to all the wives of his Cabinet colleagues who fret about the same curses of modern living. May I respectfully suggest that the best way to stay on the right side of the cleaner might be not to clean the oven oneself, but to press one’s other half not to remove the cleaner’s kids’ EMA?

[Andy Burnham]

I said that I would make a reduction commensurate with the overall reduction in spending. I would be prepared to sit down and say, “Can we make the EMA scheme work for young people at that level?”, but the Government are not proposing that. They are proposing a scheme that is a tenth of the size of the current one. If the Secretary of State is making offers and rethinking, and if he has been ordered into yet another U-turn by the Prime Minister, I am prepared to talk about it, but the onus is on Government Members to tell us the details of what they are offering.

[Gavin Barwell]

In answer to my previous question, the right hon. Gentleman spoke of preserving a national scheme, but he has made the powerful point that different students face different costs. Does he agree that if a sufficient pot of money is available, decisions are better made by individual schools that know their pupils’ circumstances, rather than through a national standard scheme?

--- Later in debate ---

[Michael Gove]

I give way first to my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon Central (Gavin Barwell).

[Gavin Barwell]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the suggestion made by the shadow Secretary of State—that the cuts to every budget should be proportional—would have been the wrong course to go down, because that would have prevented the Government from protecting the schools budget in real terms?

--- Later in debate ---

[John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead) (Lab)]

There have been times this afternoon when, apart from losing the will to live while listening to speeches from Government Members, I thought I must have slipped through a glitch in the space-time continuum and landed on another planet. We have been told that, because £30 is too small an amount, we need to abolish EMA; and someone from a sedentary position on the Liberal Benches told us that because the Labour Government refused to extend school dinners, we should abolish EMA. I have heard many Liberal MPs speak. They in particular have an important decision to make, because when they talk about the 90% dead-weight they should worry not about offending us but about offending those people outside who are included in that 90%.

Last week, I was at a meeting with about 120 students from throughout Britain and the right hon. Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes) indicated clearly that if the Opposition motion was moderately worded and—as I think he phrased it—sufficiently friendly, he would consider going into the Lobby to vote with us. It will be interesting to see whether he does, because if he does not he will have misled those students last week and others at other meetings over the past few weeks. He has a consistent record of doing so, and I shall be interested to hear what he says when he returns to the Chamber.

I was under the impression that today’s debate was about EMA, but according to the Secretary of State it is really about the economy, so let us get one or two facts straight. The real spark for the financial crisis was when BNP Paribas posted its figures on the north American market in autumn 2007. At that point, the British deficit was below 3% of GDP, which I mention because it is the figure in one of the convergence criteria written into the Maastricht treaty by Conservative Ministers, who at the time said that it was quite tight—but achievable. We achieved it year after year, as we did the 60% debt figure that is also in the criteria, but, after the events involving BNP Paribas, followed by Lehman Brothers and Northern Rock, the deficit had to mount because we had to intervene continually. That was the root of the financial crisis

[Gavin Barwell]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[John Cryer]

I am not going to give way, because I am short of time.

In my borough, I note that 63% of students at Leyton sixth-form college in my constituency receive EMA, and well over 1,000—1,100—receive the top rate of £30 a week. In the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Walthamstow (Dr Creasy), who was in the Chamber earlier, 47% of students at Waltham Forest college receive EMA, and more than 800 are on the top rate. Those students and their college principals have told us not to get rid of EMA.

Principals from other boroughs have said the same thing. Eddie Playfair, who has been on television and radio repeatedly over the past few weeks, lives in my constituency but is the head of Newham sixth-form college in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for West Ham (Lyn Brown). He has one of the highest numbers of students on EMA, and he has consistently said, “Don’t get rid of it.” My hon. Friend the Member for Westminster North (Ms Buck) said the same in her remarks, yet the Government say, “We know best; we’re going to get rid of it.”

--- Later in debate ---

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

The shadow Secretary of State was right to open the debate with his characteristic passion. I come from a borough that is diverse in every sense and in which there is a shocking gap between the educational qualifications and life chances of the haves and have-nots. I cannot think of an issue that is more worthy of being passionate about than widening access to education and closing that attainment gap.

The coalition Government have done good things in that regard already, such as introducing the pupil premium and school reform. The English baccalaureate will ensure that children from less well-off backgrounds will study academic qualifications that they will need in the workplaces of tomorrow, and the Government have also taken action on apprenticeships and investment in the early years. However, given the economic situation that we are in, not every budget can be protected, so the Government had to take a painful decision on education maintenance allowance. It was right in principle to examine that budget, but I have several concerns about the detail.

EMA is an archetypal Labour policy. Its aim, objective and principle were absolutely right. It is laudable to attempt to widen participation in education, so the previous Government should be congratulated on trying to do that. However, the execution of their policy was expensive and extremely centralist. People have talked about the impact on the poorest in our society, but EMA is paid to people in households earning up to £31,000, which is significantly above average national earnings.

There is some debate about the exact number of people who would not have gone on to further education if they had not received EMA. We have heard about the two reports that have been produced and there is a dispute about the figures. However, everyone to whom I have spoken accepts that some money is going to young people who would have stayed on in further education anyway.

[Nadhim Zahawi]

Does my hon. Friend agree that if the targeting were somehow linked to those who are closest to the students, the system would be much better?

[Gavin Barwell]

My hon. Friend neatly brings me to my next point, which is about centralism. I tried to make this point to the shadow Secretary of State. One of the points that has been effectively raised in speeches made by hon. Members on both sides of the House is the differences among students. Young people who have a caring responsibility, a special need or a long distance to travel to college, or who are young parents, have much greater needs than some other students, so a national scheme that makes a flat-rate payment to everyone who comes from a household that earns a certain amount is not necessarily the best way to address the problem.

[Nicky Morgan]

Does my hon. Friend agree with the principal of Loughborough college, who has put it to me that he is best placed to understand the needs of students and to administer the discretionary learner support fund, but that he needs some certainty about what the fund will be in the next academic year so that he can start planning?

[Gavin Barwell]

I agree with my hon. Friend, who helpfully takes me on to the next point that I wish to make to Ministers.

The principle behind an enhanced discretionary learner support fund is exactly right. Responsibility should be devolved to people at the front line who know which of their students need help and how much help is required. There are two important caveats, however. First, we need to ensure that sufficient funding is available nationally to deal with students’ needs, and it is clear that there is a debate about how much that quantum should be and whether an adequate amount has been allocated by the Government. Secondly, we need more detail—I hope that the Minister of State, Department for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton (Mr Gibb), will be able to give this in the limited time he has to wind up the debate—about the system for allocating the fund to schools and colleges throughout the country. That system will be critical, given that our debate has made clear the extent to which different parts of the country are dependent on EMA funding at present.

Despite the fact that I have some concerns about what the Government are doing, I will support the amendment. I have been a Member of Parliament for a relatively short time—about eight months—and during that period, I have had to vote for several measures that I would not support in an ideal world. I have sat through several debates in which Opposition Members have set out their objections to some of the things that the Government are doing. However, it seems to me and to most of my constituents, many of whom are also concerned about some of the coalition’s policies, that those objections hold weight and credibility only if there is a clearly set out alternative.

We know that the previous Labour Government were committed to reductions in spending of 25% in unprotected Departments. I have sat through debate after debate, in which we have met opposition to coalition proposals, but I have never heard one single alternative. I have never heard an Opposition Member saying, “Here is something that the Government are not cutting that we would cut.” Until we get an overall package that adds up from the Opposition, we cannot have a serious debate.

I am conscious of the time and of the fact that several Opposition Members still wish to speak, so I simply end by saying that the Government are right to look at the EMA budget. There is clear evidence that the current scheme is too centralist and that money is being spent on people who do not need the support. Like some Opposition Members, I do not like the term, “dead-weight” and I do not think that we should use it.

Clearly, we can get better value for money from the scheme and it does not need to be so centralist. The Government are right to consider it, but there are points of detail about which my constituents, many people throughout the country and I need reassurance.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

School Sports Funding

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Tuesday 30th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

There seems to be a consensus that the quality across the country is variable. My right hon. Friend made the point that an audit was needed to look at what works and what does not work so well. The previous Government spent £2.4 billion on that. Will my right hon. Friend tell us whether he inherited any audit of how that money has worked?

[Michael Gove]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for making that point. It is important that we look at the existing infrastructure and what it has delivered. Many of the people who are doing the job of partnership development manager are utterly committed to improving the sporting offer for young people, but I worry that the structure within which they work does not allow them to do what is best.

Much of the job description of a partnership development manager depends on full-time strategic management, developing an ongoing self-review document, advocating the priorities of the partnership within wider strategic frameworks, establishing robust data-tracking and monitoring systems, and promoting the benefits and successes of the partnership. There is inadequate space in the job description for doing what the right hon. Member for Leigh did so well—making the case for improved participation in sport with fervour and passion. [Interruption.] He says, “Let’s change it.” I agree. We are changing it. He had the opportunity when he was in power; he did not do so. Now he is happy to do so. I am happy to see this movement. The Opposition are happy to acknowledge that we can reduce the amount that is being spent, and happy to acknowledge that there has been too much bureaucracy for partnership development managers. I am delighted to acknowledge that.

The same applies to the role of competition managers. It is vital that we encourage more school competition, but one of the problems is that there is another layer of bureaucracy. What is the role of a competition manager? It is a full-time position responsible for modernising the competition landscape. One has to work strategically with the partnership development manager, manage and co-ordinate the monitoring and evaluation of projects and fulfil local and national data collection requirements. Again, all those take away from the central task of promoting sport with fervour and passion.

The data requirements—

Schools White Paper

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Wednesday 24th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

One of the many things the last Government did that was wise was to recognise that it is important that support is given to all schools in order to ensure children have access to high-quality school uniforms. In many cases a high-quality school uniform is not only a shrewd investment for the parent, but a wise choice for the school in building a sense of corporate identity. We want to make sure that the cost of uniforms is never a barrier to a child accessing a school, and the admissions code specifies that.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

I welcome the White Paper’s focus on the fundamental importance of the quality of teaching. My right hon. Friend spoke about what the Government will be doing to recruit the best and to improve teacher training. Will he say a bit more about what the White Paper has to offer existing teachers in my constituency and throughout the country in continuing professional development and flexibility in terms and conditions?

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend makes two very good points. It is crucial that we support our existing teachers to do even better. As a number of Members have said, we have a great current crop of teachers in our schools, but the best way they can improve is through making sure they have a chance to observe the best and to be observed, and that is one of the reasons we are scrapping the so-called three-hour rule, which serves to limit observation of great teaching.

Academies Bill [Lords]

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Monday 26th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Ed Balls]

The only similarity between our policy on academies and the new policy on academies is that the Secretary of State has pinched the word “academy” and attached it to the new schools he wishes to establish. Our academies were set up in the most disadvantaged areas, not the most affluent areas. They were set up with the agreement of local authorities rather than to avoid any role for local authorities. They taught the core parts of the national curriculum, including sex and relationship education, rather than opting out entirely from the curriculum. They had an obligation not just on looked-after children, but to co-operate to stop competitive exclusions in an area, and that has been entirely removed by this Bill. There was a requirement for our academies to have a sponsor, and that has been removed. We had a requirement for proper consultation with the community, also removed. Our academies programme was about tackling disadvantage. The new policy is about encouraging elitism and enabling the affluent to do better. That is why it is so deeply unfair.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

The right hon. Gentleman has just said that the academies that the previous Government set up were in disadvantaged areas. In the London borough of Croydon, he approved two academies in two of the most affluent wards in the borough.

[Ed Balls]

The fact is that our academies were disproportionately set up in disadvantaged communities. They disproportionately took in more children on free school meals than the catchment area required, and they achieved faster-rising results than the average. That was social justice in action; what we are seeing with this Bill is the opposite. The freedoms and the extra resources in the Bill are going to outstanding schools, not schools that need extra help. They are going to schools that have more children from more affluent areas, fewer children with free school meals, and fewer children with special needs and disabilities, even though they will get pro rata funding. That is not social justice being put into action; it is social injustice. That is why the Bill is deeply offensive to people on the Opposition Benches and, I think, probably to many on the Government Benches as well.

--- Later in debate ---

[Gavin Barwell]

I spoke in the Second Reading debate and sat through most of the Committee stage because one of the main issues in my constituency is standards in schools, particularly secondary schools. The former Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Morley and Outwood (Ed Balls), approved a number of academies in the London borough of Croydon, often in schools with a deprived pupil cohort that were in affluent areas. That catchment could change over time as the schools improve. He was right to do that, but the question that I want to ask Labour Members is why they want to limit to underperforming schools the improvements that the academy programme has delivered. Why should not good, satisfactory or outstanding schools also seek to improve? In my borough, one third of parents who choose to send their children to a state primary school do not go on to send them to a state secondary school in Croydon. They look to selective schools outside the borough and to schools in the independent sector. I would have thought that Opposition Members wanted improvements in schools right across the board in my borough, to give parents the confidence to send their children to local schools.

In Croydon, we had the Harris city technology college. It was one of the original CTCs, and it is now the Harris academy Crystal Palace. More than 500 parents wanted to send their children there this year—more than twice as many as to any other school in our borough. We also have schools such as the Coloma convent school, Archbishop Tenison’s high school and Wolsey infants school. These are outstanding schools that want to take up the opportunities that the Bill offers.

The shadow Secretary of State spoke of the importance of spreading opportunity in disadvantaged areas. Wolsey infants school is in the middle of the town of New Addington in my constituency—one of the most deprived parts of London. It is an outstanding school that is doing a fantastic job for pupils from a deprived background, and it wants to take on the additional freedoms that academy status will offer. Why do Opposition Members want to deny that school that opportunity?

Beyond those outstanding schools, we have Shirley high school and St Mary’s junior and high schools. They are good or satisfactory schools that have also expressed an interest in taking on the opportunities that academy status offers. Why should they be denied that opportunity? Why should it be reserved solely for a certain class of school?

We also have to accept that there are local authorities that are not as progressive as my own, and that do not take action to deal with underperforming schools. Indeed, the shadow Secretary of State took a great deal of action when he was Secretary of State to push councils into taking that kind of action. The Bill will give freedom to parents who have been told, year after year, that there is no place for their child in the schools that they want them to go to. It will give them the opportunity to find a place for their child in a satisfactory school. Local authorities should be doing that already, and those that are taking the right action and driving up standards have absolutely nothing to fear from this legislation, but it will give an option to parents who have not been given that opportunity, year after year.

I am conscious that other hon. Members want to speak in the debate, so I shall draw my remarks to a close. I welcome the debate that we had in Committee, and I paid tribute earlier to the hon. Member for Gedling (Vernon Coaker) for his contribution. I disagree with him about primary schools, and with his point about surplus places being a bar to academies being set up. He was right, however, to raise the issue of special educational needs. We have had a long and detailed debate, which has added something to the Bill. I shall be grateful to see the Bill pass into law because it will drive up opportunities for pupils right across my constituency.

Academies Bill [Lords]

Lord Barwell Excerpts

Thursday 22nd July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Vernon Coaker]

I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman has taken that tone, because that was not the policy intention of the last Government or the previous Conservative Government. I am sorry to bore people who have sat through Committee proceedings for the past day and a half, because I have said this twice, but the policy objective—he may disagree with this—was not to close special schools. It was to ensure that people had the choice of being included in mainstream schools, if that was appropriate for them. That was the policy of the previous Conservative Government in the ’90s, as was absolutely right, and of the Labour Government until 2010, as was also absolutely right. I hope that it will be the policy of this Government.

Of course, that will mean that the number of special school places will sometimes go up, and sometimes go down. As long as that is done on the basis of having determined what is in the interests of the child, it should not matter, because it is the policy objective that is important. I tell the hon. Gentleman this: if there are 10,000 places in special schools—I do not know how many there are—and it was properly, and with parental agreement, felt that 3,000 of those 10,000 places should be in mainstream schools, I would be happy to stand at this Dispatch Box and say, “I support the reduction of special school places from 10,000 to 7,000,” but that is on the basis of need and individual choice, not on the basis of ideological diktat.

[Gavin Barwell (Croydon Central) (Con)]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way; he was also generous yesterday. In answer to my hon. Friend the Member for South West Norfolk (Elizabeth Truss), he acknowledged and paid tribute to the fact that the Government have strengthened the law so that academies will have the same SEN obligations as maintained schools. Will he also pay tribute to how the new model funding agreement also strengthens provision? It provides the Secretary of State with the power to direct academies to comply with any SEN obligations that were not in the previous funding agreements.

[Vernon Coaker]

I tried to make that point at the beginning; otherwise, we would not make any progress. I said that there had been improvements to the Bill and that there would have been improvements in some of the documentation associated with academies. That does not change the fact that, when it comes down to it, the Government are not clear on what the funding arrangements will be, how they will work and the correct balance between centrally provided services and the academies.

As the Chair of the Education Committee asked, where do we draw the line and what is the balance between those issues? The Government have not given us any definition of what they mean by

“low incidence special educational needs or disabilities.”

In Committee, we have to tease out those sorts of issues from the Government, to ensure that the legislation that we pass in this Parliament is as robust and effective as it can be.

--- Later in debate ---

[Gavin Barwell]

I am enjoying the hon. Lady’s speech, but I wish to pick her up on one point related to exclusions. The latest figures from the Department suggest that in academies the exclusion rate for pupils with SEN is five times higher than for pupils without SEN, whereas in the general maintained sector it is nine times higher. So the evidence suggests that academies are less likely to exclude pupils with SEN than the maintained sector as a whole.

[Pat Glass]

I would argue that academies serve poorer neighbourhoods and it is more difficult to get into an academy in the first place. People may argue that academies take a higher proportion of children with SEN than maintained schools, but as I argued earlier it is up to academies to define who is SEN and who is not, and they may have a very different tolerance level from that of maintained schools—that has certainly been my experience.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Stuart]

I am grateful for the Minister’s compliment, which was not flattery—if I had said that it was, he would have corrected me.

One of the issues in this Bill, which the amendment seeks to draw out, is the system-wide implications of a growing number of schools—including free schools and existing schools—becoming independent and taking away money currently spent on their behalf by the local authority. Those of us of a supply-side revolution, 1980s, turning the sick man of Europe around disposition naturally think that things will regrow and they can be better directed by people closer to the front line. However, we need an explanation, because schools are not businesses and we need to understand how it will work.

I wish to chide the Minister gently, although he may not have been responsible, because the place that one would naturally look for that explanation—it may be a by-product of the last Government’s approach—is the equalities impact assessment. At the risk of upsetting my right hon. and hon. Friends, I would criticise the hon. Member for Gedling (Vernon Coaker)—I will pronounce his constituency correctly—because in many ways he has been too gentle about the equalities impact assessment in the last couple of days. I think it is less adequate than he has made it out to be.

The equalities impact assessment is rather thin. It provides fair information, but it tries to put the best gloss on that information. Given that this is an important document to accompany a flagship Bill, I would not expect paragraph 22 to be repeated, in its entirety, as paragraph 24. I would not expect paragraph 23, which is quite long, to be split and repeated in its entirety as paragraphs 25 and 26. It would suggest that someone has not even bothered to read this so-called important equalities impact assessment. At the end, I was waiting for an assessment of the system-wide impact and the long-term and profound implication of having lots of free schools. But when I got there I found paragraph 31, which states:

“We believe that the Academies programme is already working towards promoting inclusion and equality to the benefit of all pupils in the programme. An adverse impact is unlikely”.

Well, thank you very much. That is not an adequate explanation of the possible system-wide impacts of this Bill.

I know that we will have a master class and a tour de force explanation from the Minister on the system-wide impact and why the Bill will work, but the impact assessment is inadequate. I meant to be gentler about this than I have been—I have a tendency to overstatement —and I apologise to the Minister. But I wish that the impact assessment had been a better document and included more recognition of the potential system-wide impacts, especially on marginal areas—if I may call them that—such as SEN.

[Gavin Barwell]

I will keep my remarks brief as I am conscious of the time and that the Committee wishes to hear the Minister’s reply. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for North West Durham (Pat Glass), who made an exceptional speech. She brings real expertise in this area to the House and I am sure that we will benefit from that in the months and years ahead. I also pay tribute to the hon. Member for Gedling (Vernon Coaker). Both yesterday and today he has approached these proceedings in a much more conciliatory tone than the right hon. Member for Morley and Outwood (Ed Balls) did on Second Reading. That may reflect the difference between Second Reading and Committee stage, or it may reflect the difference in their personalities, but it is certainly appreciated on this side of the Committee.

I disagreed with the hon. Gentleman on whether primary schools should be allowed to be academies and whether surplus places would be a ban on academy status. However, he is right to bring the issue of special educational needs up today. I imagine that all hon. Members have received a briefing from the Special Educational Consortium, which tells us that 21% of children have some form of SEN and that 12% of children with SEN achieve five grade A* to C passes at GCSE, compared to 57% of their peers. That shows the importance of getting this issue right—not just for the children with SEN, but because if we do not get it right there will be an impact on other children in the mainstream setting. The likely impact of this policy on children with SEN is therefore a key test. I am not sure whether the amendment addresses some of the concerns that he raised in his speech, but he is right to ask for some more detailed clarification, particularly in the light of the important amendments that came through on Report and Third Reading in the House of Lords.

It is worth briefly putting on the record the improvements that the Government have already made by ensuring that for the first time academies will have the same SEN obligations as maintained schools. I also want to mention the improvement that I referred to in an intervention that the hon. Gentleman kindly took, which is that the new model funding arrangement now provides that the Secretary of State can direct academies to comply with any obligations relating to SEN. Although the new agreement will not apply to existing academies, hopefully many of them will choose to convert to it, given that in other ways it will provide more freedoms. Over time, therefore, the new agreement might spread.

The core of the objections and concerns raised relates to what will happen if many more schools become academies and the pressures that that will put on services provided by local authorities. Yesterday, the hon. Gentleman expressed concern about the scale of the changes—he used the phrase, “opening the flood gates”—although Ministers have provided reassurances on the pace at which they think things are likely to proceed. However, many of the same issues arise over the role of local authorities in school improvement. For example, my council provides a very good school improvement service, which I hope schools will still want to buy into when they become academies.

I want to make three more quick points. First, the requirement for academies to have the same obligations as maintained schools is not in the Bill, but will be in the funding agreements, which means that parents who think that academies are not fulfilling those obligations will need to go to the Secretary of State, I presume, if they have a problem, rather than resort to the law. Not to have to resort to the legal route, but to go to the Secretary of State, might actually be an advantage to parents. However, as the hon. Member for North West Durham said, we should think about this from a parent’s perspective, so it would be helpful if the Minister could provide more guidance on how that complaints procedure would work. What does a parent do if they have a child in an academy that they think is not meeting their child’s SEN needs? What is the process for making a complaint?

My second point is one that has already been made—it is about the Opposition amendment passed on Third Reading in the Lords on protecting low incidence SEN services. The point made by the hon. Member for Gedling about the need to define exactly what those services are was spot on. It is really important that we get a clear definition, either today or on Monday, as the Bill goes through this House.

My final point concerns children receiving central SEN services. Children with high levels of need will tend to have statements, so the idea that the money follows the pupil and goes to the schools is very important. In my constituency, we have a school called Addington high, which has an excellent unit for children with autism, and most of the children there will have a statement. It is right, therefore, that the money goes to the school, but clearly, as some of my hon. Friends have said, where local authorities are providing services, much will depend on the value that schools place on those services. If they are good services and the local authority is doing a good job, it seems likely that any academy that takes over will want to purchase those services.

The hon. Member for Gedling was right to raise the issues before us, because further clarity is required in certain areas. However, I do not support the amendment, because I am not sure that it directly addresses some of his points. I very much look forward to hearing the Minister’s winding-up speech.