Plurilingual and Intercultural Education

Lord Geddes Excerpts

Tuesday 18th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I will need to confirm the exact details of that in writing to the noble Baroness.

[Lord Geddes (Con)]

Does my noble friend agree that the reciprocal to this Question is equally applicable regarding the teaching of English to speakers of other languages? I declare an interest as the non-remunerated life president of Trinity College London.

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I absolutely agree with my noble friend. That remains an area of important focus for the department.

Schools Bill [HL]

Lord Geddes Excerpts

Report stage & Lords Hansard - Part 1
Monday 18th July 2022 Lords Chamber

Motion agreed.

[The Deputy Speaker (Lord Geddes) (Con)]

My Lords, before calling the first group, I should say that the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, is taking part remotely. I remind the House that remote speakers speak first after the mover of the lead amendment in a group and may therefore speak to other amendments in the group ahead of Members who tabled them.

Clause 49: Registration

Amendment 64A had been withdrawn from the Marshalled List.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Wei (Con)]

Thank you, I will wrap up.

I have two final amendments in this group. Amendment 86A in my name relates to a refusal to provide info not being sufficient reason to impose a school attendance order on a family. In this instance, the fact that the teacher or home educator did not provide information was seen as evidence that they were not educating their children properly. If you do not provide education and choose on principle not to provide that information, that should not mean that you are not educating your children well or that a school attendance order is put on them. This amendment is to prevent such occurrences happening again.

Finally, I support Amendment 118C on a code of conduct, but others will speak to that. I will give way and let them do that now.

[The Deputy Speaker (Lord Geddes) (Con)]

I assume that the noble Lord would like to move his amendment?

[Lord Wei (Con)]

I beg to move.

[The Deputy Speaker (Lord Geddes) (Con)]

My Lords, as I previously advised, I now invite the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, to speak.

Oh, I have been advised that the noble Baroness does not wish to speak.

[Lord Soley (Lab)]

I was going to get a glass of water, but that is going to be difficult. I thought for a moment that maybe the noble Lord, Lord Wei, was not going to move the amendment. I would have advised him not to. I am sure that he is well intended—I do not doubt that—but he has missed many of the debates on this over the years. I ask him to understand that, when I put the Bill forward on home education, that was five years ago. I never heard from the noble Lord then or had any involvement with him. He did not seem to be interested in it, but I consulted very widely. I consulted by all sorts of measures: I had meetings in the House; I had Zoom meetings up and down the country; I had emails and all those things. I was dealing very much with a small group of people who objected to the register. Most of them came on board; a small minority have not, but the majority support the Bill and the register. They do so because they know it is beneficial.

I think one of the things the noble Lord, Lord Wei, has missed quite seriously is that the provision is designed to be supportive. It is not a punishment, but he does not seem to understand that. In other words, for the first time a home-educating parent will be able to say to the local authority, “I want help to do this bit of home education, which I cannot deliver myself.” It might be in advanced science, music or art; it might be any of those things, and the local authority has to do it. It is supportive, not punitive, and the noble Lord’s whole speech was on the idea that it is punitive.

I say to him, as I have said in previous debates, some home educators are very good at it, but that does not mean that they do not need help at times. Just because you are able to teach certain things does not make you a good teacher without that support and backup which might be, as I say, in advanced sciences or whatever. The noble Lord’s amendment would deny them that and actually make it worse for them.

My line on this—I give credit to the Government, who have adopted most of my Bill here—has been about doing it well, and they have. I had some doubts about the appeal system. I wrote to the Minister about this and she gave me certain assurances in her reply about how that system will work. I made other suggestions too, but I think the Minister is saying that the appeal mechanism is there for both the parents and the authority. We should remember that this is a two-way street. The noble Lord, Lord Wei, says that he has had complaints from people about the way that a local authority has behaved. I say to him: listen to those people, mainly children who are now grown up and had complaints about the way that home education was done to them or, importantly, where it was done partly as a cover for something else. You do not have to think just about abuse here: it is about a child working in a shop and then being told “Well, you’re learning mathematics”; it is about trafficking, too.

Listening to the noble Lord, I think he has no concept of this. His speech was all about the terrible state and the wonderful home-educating parent. Most parents who home-educate in the way that he described do it well. They really have nothing to fear from this because what they will get is support from the local authority, if they ask for it. At the same time, they will have to demonstrate that the child is being properly educated. Is that really wrong?

Schools Bill [HL]

Lord Geddes Excerpts

Committee stage
Wednesday 22nd June 2022 Lords Chamber

Amendments 113 and 114 not moved.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord Geddes) (Con)]

Before calling Amendment 114A, I inform the Committee that the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, will be taking part remotely and that if Amendment 114A is agreed, I cannot call Amendments 115 or 116 due to pre-emption.

Amendment 114A

Moved by

Education, Health and Care Plans

Lord Geddes Excerpts

Thursday 14th February 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

To reassure the noble Lord, I would never take my fists to him under any circumstances. He raises a very important point, because a number of local authorities have literally zero appeals and others have a much higher proportion. It is important that we get them to talk to each other. There are a couple of other points to make. First, under the old regime that ended in 2014, the number of appeals was rising every year, so this is not a new trend. Also, under the new scheme we have two extra areas of potential appeal because we have a much wider age group—we now take them up to the age of 25, instead of just 16. We are also piloting in some areas the ability to appeal on the health and social care element. The main point the noble Lord makes about better collaboration between local authorities is well taken.

[Lord Geddes (Con)]

My Lords, could my noble friend advise the House whether the costs are always reimbursed if appeals are successful?

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, I do not have that information to hand but I will write to my noble friend to deal with it specifically.

Transport: A1 Dual Carriageway

Lord Geddes Excerpts

Tuesday 7th February 2017 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

The noble Baroness is absolutely correct and I stress again that we are on time with this project. However, she will know that these major road schemes have to go through particular stages, including strong consultation. We have consulted on both stretches—the dualling and the improvements north of Ellingham. Along with the improvements from Morpeth up to Ellingham, a development consent order with statutory timescales is required, so there are some necessary steps to go through to be sure that we do this work effectively.

[Lord Geddes (Con)]

My Lords, while warmly supporting the Question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Beith, I will follow up the supplementary put by my noble friend Lord Vinson. Will my noble friend on the Front Bench refute a comment made to me some years ago by the then spokesman for my party in this House on transport, in response to a supplementary question, that it was quicker to go from Newcastle to Edinburgh via Carlisle?

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

I am not sure that I am in a position to comment on something that was said many years ago, but speed is of the essence here. When we complete this particular upgrade of the A1 on time, freight, tourists, locals and everyone else who wants to use the road will at last be able more speedily to reach the border—and I hope beyond, but that is up to the Scottish Government.

Sex and Relationships Education

Lord Geddes Excerpts

Thursday 24th November 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

As the noble Baroness will know, in the past few years we have tried to strengthen the role of school governors to make sure that they have the right skills. It is certainly true to say that many governors coming through now are fully aware of the role that schools should play in providing a much wider education and being aware of the issues facing young people being brought up in modern Britain.

[Lord Geddes (Con)]

My Lords, is there not a particular onus on parents in the context of this Question?

[Lord Nash]

That is certainly true. My noble friend makes a very good point about parents. We have done a lot of work with parents in relation to online security and access to things such as pornographic material. Of course, schools engage with parents increasingly well, but the sad fact is that too many of our young people are brought up in homes where, frankly, the only brick in life is their school—and it is schools that have to take an increasing responsibility.

Children and Social Work Bill [HL]

Lord Geddes Excerpts

Monday 4th July 2016 Grand Committee

Relevant document: 1st Report from the Delegated Powers Committee

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord Geddes) (Con)]

My Lords, as is my duty on these occasions, I must advise the Grand Committee that if there is a Division in the Chamber while we are sitting, the Committee will adjourn as soon as the Division Bells are rung and resume after 10 minutes.

Clause 1: Corporate parenting principles

Amendment 29

Moved by

Adoption

Lord Geddes Excerpts

Tuesday 8th December 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

I have just said that this was discussed in some detail last night.

[Lord Geddes (Con)]

My Lords, I may have misheard my noble friend, but I thought that in his Answer he referred to misinterpretation of court judgments. Misinterpreted by whom?

[Lord Nash]

We believe this may have been misinterpreted by some social workers with, I am sure, the best interests of children in mind. The president of the Family Division has clarified the meaning, particularly in Re B-S and in Re R, where he made it absolutely clear that the law on adoption had not changed. However, it seems that these decisions have sometimes been misinterpreted as raising the legal test for adoption so that adoption should not be pursued unless there is no other option. We are particularly concerned about this.

Education and Adoption Bill

Lord Geddes Excerpts

Tuesday 17th November 2015 Grand Committee

Relevant document: 10th Report from the Delegated Powers Committee

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord Geddes) (Con)]

My Lords, it is now 3.30 pm. I am obliged to begin by advising the Grand Committee that, if there is a Division in the Chamber—which I am brave enough to say is singly unlikely—while we are sitting, this Committee will adjourn as soon as the Division Bells are rung and resume after 10 minutes.

Clause 9: Consultation about identity of Academy sponsor in certain cases

Amendment 23

Tabled by

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Storey]

Yes, absolutely. But I shall sit down.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees]

In order that the discussion can continue, would the noble Lord be kind enough to move his amendment.

[Lord Storey]

I beg to move Amendment 23.

Education and Adoption Bill

Lord Geddes Excerpts

Thursday 5th November 2015 Grand Committee

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord Geddes) (Con)]

If there is a Division in the Chamber, which is exceedingly unlikely, the Committee will adjourn for 10 minutes.

Clause 1: Coasting schools

Amendment 1

Moved by