Schools: Children in Care

Debate between Lord Nash and Lord Campbell-Savours

Thursday 7th September 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

My noble friend makes a very good point, as local authorities do remain responsible. In holidays there are some facilities that may be able to keep children and we have initiatives to try to extend such arrangements, but it is certainly the case that local authorities continue to be responsible.

[Lord Campbell-Savours (Lab)]

My Lords, is it true that this whole programme is being driven by the need to save money, as against placing children in foster care? In so far as we know that only 100 children nationally are now in such placements, surely we should fully evaluate the effect on those children before we proceed further down this route.

[Lord Nash]

It is not driven by money at all; it is driven by a passionate belief by a number of people, including the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, and others who have been to boarding school that it can help and that we had lurched into a certain prejudice against boarding schools. We are just inviting local authorities to look more widely at the options and making much more information available to allow them to evaluate those options.

Academies: Sponsors

Debate between Lord Nash and Lord Campbell-Savours

Thursday 21st July 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

I am delighted that the noble Lord is so concerned to see value for money. It is a pity he was not around in the Labour Government; when we came into power, waste was seeping out of every pore. To get the matter into context, as I said to the noble Lord, Lord Storey, in 2013-14 the Audit Commission identified 206 cases of fraud in local authority maintained schools—given the much less rigorous accounting procedures that are required in relation to those schools, that was generally acknowledged to be an understatement—compared with 22 cases identified in academies. As I said, we need to set that in the context of such a small budget. It is a great pity that people from philanthropic backgrounds are not more appreciated. This is a move started by the Labour Party under the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, and it is something that we have continued with gusto. I find this constant sniping from the sidelines very depressing.

[Lord Campbell-Savours (Lab)]

My Lords, who is responsible for monitoring and verifying that these contracts are let at cost in the way that the Minister suggests?

[Lord Nash]

First, academies are required to have their accounts audited annually by independent auditors, which is not a requirement for local authority maintained schools. These accounts are studied rigorously by the Education Funding Agency. Each school must have an accounting policy, and we have various analytical tools for evaluating the accounts to ensure that those procedures are followed correctly.

Schools: Health and Well-being

Debate between Lord Nash and Lord Campbell-Savours

Monday 15th June 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Campbell-Savours (Lab)]

My Lords, cigarettes damage health, so we introduced taxes to put the price up and save lives. Why can we not target certain types of food and drink in exactly the same way?

[Lord Nash]

We certainly do target certain types of food in schools, such as crisps, as being unhealthy. That is what the school food standards are all about. As for taxing sugar et cetera, that, I am afraid, is rather out of my ken.

Schools: British Values

Debate between Lord Nash and Lord Campbell-Savours

Thursday 12th June 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

I think we will all reflect deeply on the events in Birmingham. I am also sure that all noble Lords will study Peter Clarke’s report when it comes out. We will then decide what other actions should be taken. As for flying the flag, I think it is a matter of individual choice and for individual schools to decide.

[Lord Campbell-Savours (Lab)]

The Minister referred in the first part of his Answer to the word “encourage”. Then he said that the new position will be “will have to promote”. What does he mean by “will have to promote”?

[Lord Nash]

It does not seem to us to be satisfactory to ask a school merely to teach about British values if it does not also teach the importance and primacy of them and promote them. It is not satisfactory to teach about British values and then have a separate lesson that teaches that other values are more important. This will be inspected by Ofsted, within some clear frameworks, by Ofsted inspectors trained to do so. The governors’ handbook will reflect this, as will our guidance on the equality Act.

Schools: Independent Schools

Debate between Lord Nash and Lord Campbell-Savours

Thursday 16th January 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

There are plenty of schemes, such as the Buttle UK springboard, which encourage pupils to go to independent schools. Even if we got a third of independent school places occupied by poorer pupils, we would still be dealing with only 2% of the population. We believe that our money is better spent trying to improve the educational chances of the majority of children.

[Lord Campbell-Savours (Lab)]

My Lords, where do the figures that the noble Lord referred to come from? On what basis was the valuation made, and what was it of?

[Lord Nash]

They come from the subsidy that independent schools give on fees that would otherwise be paid by parents, which they find from their own resources or from charitable raising activities.

Childcare Ratios

Debate between Lord Nash and Lord Campbell-Savours

Thursday 9th May 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

We have had more than 1,000 replies to the consultation and will examine them all closely.

[Lord Campbell-Savours]

My Lords, what evidence is there that the cost of childcare will drop? What assumptions are the Government making about the cost of childcare?

[Lord Nash]

As I said earlier, we are driven by a desire for better quality. A third of our children enter primary school without adequate communication and language skills despite a 96% take-up of early-years provision. We are driven by a desire to improve quality, not to save money.

[Lord Campbell-Savours]

Will prices drop?

[Lord Nash]

They will drop if nurseries are able to employ staff on ratios which enable them to operate more efficiently. There are providers in France who provide higher-quality childcare at more affordable rates because they are able to offer these flexible staffing ratios. More efficient providers may well be able to produce cheaper prices.