Children and Social Work Bill [HL]

Lord O'Shaughnessy Excerpts

Wednesday 29th June 2016 Grand Committee

Some authorities are responsible for far more child migrants than others and need extra help to cope with the numbers. I wonder what will happen to the cash situations of local authorities helping these children, particularly crowded authorities such as Kent. We should spell out the specific groups of children who are the most vulnerable and need the most help. I hope that the Minister will look seriously at the issues relating to the prevention of life chances. I beg to move.

[Lord O'Shaughnessy (Con)]

My Lords, I shall speak to Amendments 17 and 21. In doing so, I draw attention to my various educational interests as set out in the register. I thank the officials who were generous with their time between Second Reading and now in helping to answer a number of points for me.

I support the noble Baroness, Lady Massey, on her Amendments 10 and 16, which deal with mental health and social and emotional well-being. Those seem essential in the essence of what we are trying to do here. I support wholeheartedly the corporate parenting principles. Earlier today my noble friend the Minister described them during Oral Questions as bringing together what it means to be a corporate parent for the first time. Clearly, we want to make changes and improvements to them but it surely must be the right ambition to build on the Children Act 1989. I am conscious that the noble Baroness, Lady Evans, and I are the only two people speaking in the Committee who were affected as children by that Act. For me, it had the happy consequence that I went from a primary school that had corporal punishment to a secondary school that did not. I am deeply indebted to my noble and learned friend Lord Mackay for that.

The purpose of my first amendment takes up what the noble Baroness, Lady Massey, was saying about the driving forces behind this group: prevention and having ambition for children. Amendment 17 is really about ambition and would insert “educational” before “outcomes” into the fifth of the corporate parenting principles. I gave the reasons for doing so at Second Reading because it seems odd to me that while health is rightly mentioned in the first of the principles, education is not mentioned explicitly in any of them. Yet the life chances agenda which is commendably at the heart of the Government’s legislative programme shows that there is no better way to improve a child’s long-term life chances than to give them a great education.

We know that for many looked-after children, the education they receive is sadly not yet good enough. The noble Baroness, Lady Howe, has already referenced the gap in performance at key stage 2. At the end of primary school just 52% of such children reach level 4 in their English and maths SATs, which is the expected standard, as compared with 80% of other children, and indeed boys do even worse than that. Previously looked-after children do not do much better, so we really have a problem here. That is not to say that lots of bodies are not engaged in trying to solve it, but the reason for the amendment is to ensure that there is absolutely no doubt whatever that all the agencies and institutions involved in the lives and improving the life chances of these children should be focused on dramatically raising those unacceptably low standards. That is why I believe that “educational” should be included.

To complement the insertion of the word in the principle, I continue to urge the DfE to commission the two relevant What Works centres, the Education Endowment Foundation and the Early Intervention Foundation, as well as Ofsted to commission reviews of interventions that are particularly effective in raising the educational standards of these vulnerable pupils. If we are to achieve our ambitious goals for them, it is only right that we equip teachers and schools with the tools to do so.

The aim of Amendment 21 is to bring to the fore my own and indeed the department’s belief in the power of developing “character, grit and resilience”, to use the department’s words, in order to help young people to live happy, successful and independent lives. This clearly complements Amendments 10 and 16. One of the great benefits of character education—and I speak as someone who has set up two schools which have this philosophy at their heart—is that its effect is greatest on those who start from the lowest point. The Nobel Prize-winning academic James Heckman found that character strengths, which are sometimes called non-cognitive skills, are malleable. The leopard can change its spots, and this is especially true of younger children. Developing in these children from an early age character strengths such as self-control, gratitude, compassion and so on has a positive impact on life chances that continue to have effects as they grow up.

The benefits of having these strengths are clear. For example, a 2011 study from New Zealand found that children with strong character skills are less likely to be involved in crime, while equally children with weaker self-control have poorer outcomes. However, we know that this can be changed with judicious intervention. A working paper from Harvard University has shown that children affected by violence can be taught courage and self-control to help turn off toxic stress. What a powerful intervention that could be for some of the children under discussion today—not only children who are in care but also refugees, trafficked children and others. Many other studies show similar benefits. In his book How Children Succeed, Paul Tough talks about the KIPP charter schools in the US which have been incredibly effective at getting young people into college by developing their character strengths so that they can escape poverty. I visited one of those schools in the South Bronx area in New York, which had a graduation rate from high school into college of 8%. But that school had a rate of more than 80%, which is a really extraordinary improvement in life chances.

I think that all in this Room agree that the Government are serious about improving the life chances of vulnerable people and about putting character development at the heart of their educational approach. Amendment 21 seeks to connect the dots between these two ambitions, which in my view would undoubtedly have a positive effect on the future success and happiness of looked-after and previously looked-after children.

[Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Con)]

I shall speak to Amendments 23 and 25, and I support the amendments of the noble Baroness, Lady Massey.

The noble Earl has raised the issue of siblings. For children separated from their parents, siblings may form their next-closest relationships and therefore, wherever possible, we must also seek to avoid the separation of siblings. This can have devastating effects on those who have already undergone the suffering of being removed from their homes and filtered through the social care system. Many describe knowing they have a sibling that they are separated from as having a piece of themselves missing.

Your Family, Your Voice, which briefed me, states that currently 50% of sibling groups in care are split up. I find that an astonishing statistic. We sometimes read stories in the papers about siblings who were adopted and find their brother or sister later in life. Do we really think it is acceptable to be creating situations like that in this day and age? I accept that from time to time there may be a case for splitting up siblings, where one is very disruptive or has a detrimental effect on other siblings. However, the normal situation should be that priority is given to keeping siblings together—and, if it is considered desirable to split them up, the local authority needs to explain the reason why it is doing so.

It is important that we listen to what children want, and facilitate it. With regard to Amendment 25, where it is clearly unsuitable for a child to remain with their parents, relatives or close friends may be able to step in to prevent them having to be taken into care. For a child, being taken away from their home, whatever their circumstances, must be highly traumatic. However, where they are going to live with a friend or relative who is already known to them, this will lessen the strain and upset, and in many cases will mean that the child is raised within their family.

There are an estimated 200,000 children being raised by kinship carers, 95% of whom are not classified as looked after. The briefing that I received from the Kinship Care Alliance, which I understand is serviced by the charity Family Rights Group, stated that,

“children in kinship care are doing significantly better than children in unrelated care, despite having suffered similar early adverse experiences—in particular they feel more secure and have fewer emotional and behavioural problems and are doing better academically”.

So this approach also has the economic benefit of savings for the state if the child is not taken into care, although I understand that at present kinship carers are not being given any financial help. This aspect needs to be looked at. Having an extra child or children in the house may create financial hardship in terms of both needing bigger accommodation and having more mouths to feed. I understand that a large percentage of kinship carers have to give up work to take on the extra children. It would therefore be helpful to give them some support. I understand that local authorities often seek close relatives and friends to look after the child, but I would like to see in the Bill that this has to be done and considered, because it seems to be a much preferable outcome for the child.

Children and Social Work Bill [HL]

Lord O'Shaughnessy Excerpts

Tuesday 14th June 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord O'Shaughnessy (Con)]

My Lords, I am grateful for the opportunity to speak—eventually—in this debate, and I do so and engage with the Bill in a spirit of great humility. There is much I do not know about this subject. It is said that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but I hope that I am a little less dangerous having had the opportunity to benefit from your Lordships’ wisdom this afternoon—which is at least one upside of speaking last. Before I continue, I draw noble Lords’ attention to my register of interests: my involvement in a multi-academy trust as chair of two governing bodies of primary schools, and various other education interests. The education elements of the Bill are what interest and concern me and are the areas where I hope I will be able to contribute.

Like other noble Lords, I welcome the clear and unambiguous ambitions for educational achievement that have been set out by the Government—everyone from the Prime Minister downwards—for looked-after children and for this new category of previously looked-after children. This latter group has perhaps been too often overlooked, yet its outcomes are nearly as bad as those for looked-after children. It is extremely welcome that the focus has widened. Now that the Government have widened the net and raised the bar, if you will forgive the mixed metaphor, it is important that we understand the scale of the challenge, particularly as regards educational achievement. There are around 70,000 looked-after children in the school system at the moment, and perhaps 80,000 previously looked-after children—so 150,000 in total. For an average secondary school, that might mean around 20 pupils, or four pupils for an average primary school. It is not a huge proportion—perhaps 2% of the pupil population—but it is significant.

Helping such children to achieve what they should achieve is not a bolt-on; it needs a concerted effort by everyone at school level. The underperformance of these children is truly shocking. At key stage 2, just 52% of looked-after children achieve level 4 in reading, writing and maths, compared to 80% for other children. Girls who are looked after do significantly better than boys; the gap is closing at primary level, but it is still far too large.

The picture at key stage 4 is even less encouraging, something the noble Lord, Lord Bichard, raised. Outcomes for looked-after children have plateaued: only 14% get five good GCSEs including English and Maths. I think the figure is 53% for other children. There are fewer data for previously looked-after children, but DfE officials seem to suggest that the gap is about 30% at GCSE; that is better than looked-after children, but only just.

The reason for talking about these data is obviously to exemplify the problem, as other noble Lords have done in a variety of ways in terms of outcomes. I also want to show that schools—as I said, I am deeply involved—need much more information about how we can close the education gap, because, in truth, it is not happening fast enough. This Bill, and all the other bits of government policy around it, must address this problem. If we are aiming to close the gap, as of course we must, and if schools are to fulfil their moral, and, increasingly, legal, obligations, we need much better research to rely on about what works. We do not yet have that knowledge base, and this is one of the areas on which I would like the Government to focus.

I turn now to the key sections in the Bill. On Clause 1 on corporate parenting, I support the proposals in general. From listening to noble Lords, I get the sense that they are clear and well-intentioned proposals, even if, perhaps, not perfect. It strikes me that being a corporate parent is an awesome responsibility. I have huge admiration for those who do it, including the noble Baronesses, Lady Pinnock and Lady Howarth, and, of course, thousands of people around the country. It is clearly incumbent on us as lawmakers to make sure that there is total clarity for them, so that they can act in accordance with the spirit as well as the letter of those principles.

Given the Government’s focus on educational achievement, it seems odd to me that education is not explicitly mentioned in the fifth principle, which talks about outcomes. Health is mentioned in the first principle, but education is not mentioned, which is something that could be corrected simply. The final principle deals with preparing young people for adulthood and independence; the noble Baroness, Lady Massey, has talked about the importance to that aim of developing mental health and character strengths. This should also be reflected in the principles, or, if not in the principles, perhaps in the care leavers’ covenant, which has been discussed. We look forward to seeing the details.

Clause 4 deals with the educational achievement of this new category of previously looked-after children. That is, of course, welcome. There is at the moment, within the statutory framework in which schools operate, a group called children who have ceased to be looked after. They are mentioned, for example, in the pupil premium and in the admissions code. I would like clarification from the Minister that this new category of previously looked-after children is the same as the ceased to be looked-after category. We made important advances in the support they got in 2014, for which the Government should be congratulated. We want to make sure, in the transition from one category to another, one piece of jargon to another, that children are not falling through the gaps. I would be grateful for that clarification.

Clause 4 says that local authorities,

“may do anything else that they consider appropriate with a view to promoting the educational achievement of relevant children educated in their area”.

That comes in the new section to be inserted in the Children Act 1989 under the heading:

“Educational achievement of previously looked after children”.

On the surface, that sounds fantastic, although it seems to relate specifically to advice and information. I would be grateful for clarification of its purpose, because it seems to me that, without a qualifying statement that the needs and outcomes of other children will be taken into account, it could be counterproductive. For example, it might mean that a focus on previously looked-after children, as opposed to children with special educational needs or other vulnerable groups, is justified. I suspect that it is just an infelicity in the drafting that can be easily corrected.

I am most concerned with Clauses 5, 6 and 7, which relate to the new responsibilities for schools. It is essential that schools play their part in closing the performance gap and helping these children, and I welcome the intention of putting all schools on the same footing—that is incredibly important. It is an achievement of the most recent Education Act that maintained and academy schools have similar responsibilities. Of course, maintained schools and many academies already have a staff member designated to look out for looked-after children, and I believe it is the intention of these clauses to extend those responsibilities to the new category of previously looked-after children. As I said, there are similar numbers of looked-after and previously looked-after children, so the effect of this provision will be to double the responsibility or workload for the designated teacher.

That brings me to the impact assessment. It assumes a £50,000 cost per local authority to support virtual school heads, but in parallel there is this designated teacher responsibility. Apparently local authorities—I look to colleagues who are involved in local authorities—will be making various savings, which will mean that they do not need any more money from government to help to deal with their responsibilities, although I am sure that they will have their own view on that. However, it is not even mentioned that a teacher in every school will have their workload around looked-after children doubled. What support will they have to make sure that they fulfil their responsibilities and that these children really get the support they need? My fear is that, unless we have knowledge of what works, this could become a tick-box exercise—another thing that the governing body goes through, with people sitting through training and filling in a form—and the outcomes will not really change.

The Minister pointed out that the Bill is only part of a wider strategy. It strikes me as essential at this point to prepare schools for the responsibilities that are coming their way. It is also essential that we have a much better idea of what education interventions work in order to promote achievement among this group. If it has not already done so, will the Department for Education commission the Education Endowment Foundation and the Early Intervention Foundation—two of the What Works centres—to carry out a review of the evidence so that, alongside these new duties, schools are able to fulfil their responsibilities? That applies not only to schools. The noble Baroness, Lady Hughes, the noble Lord, Lord Bichard, and my noble friend Lady Shephard all pointed out that these responsibilities should properly be extended to FE and HE—something that I support.

My final point on the Bill concerns the power to innovate, which seems to have had a bit of a kicking in the last few hours. I encourage the Government to be bold here. My noble friend Lord Lucas proposed an amendment to the Housing and Planning Bill—which was accepted—to provide an unusual opportunity to do something more powerful to produce better outcomes. Of course, I recognise that building houses is one thing and that the outcomes for very vulnerable children is quite another, but surely it is right that as legislators we do not expect to fulfil all moral obligations towards these children and that we encourage innovation in the system. I am sure that that can be designed in such a way as to provide safeguards without dampening the desire to innovate.

Finally, I look forward to working with all noble Lords and Ministers to ensure that the Government’s laudable ambitions for these children are fulfilled. It is critical that schools, teachers and governors play a role in this. They need the training and knowledge that will enable them to close the gap and ensure that these children are able to truly flourish.

Education and Adoption Bill

Lord O'Shaughnessy Excerpts

Monday 8th February 2016 Lords Chamber

It is not appropriate at this stage to go into greater detail on the recommendations of the Select Committee, which I believe has carefully put together a report that requires careful scrutiny. I am sure the Minister will scrutinise that report, but I hope that in doing so he will bear in mind the importance of parents being able to have some say in the way their children receive their education and how it is framed and delivered by academies. For that reason, I beg to move.

[Lord O'Shaughnessy (Con)]

My Lords, as we are dealing with this issue of regional schools commissioners, I thought it might be useful to share with the House a personal story giving our experience at Floreat Education Academies Trust, which I founded, of dealing with the regional schools commissioners and of their role in regulating the system as it stands today. The noble Lord, Lord Watson, chose the example of E-ACT, which has had some problems in recent times, but it is important to note that the regional schools commissioner system has helped to generate the changes that have happened—schools have been taken away from E-ACT. To me, that is an example of a system that is working to crack down on low quality rather than one that is not working.

[Lord Watson of Invergowrie]

Does the noble Lord know whether E-ACT consulted the regional schools commissioner before it decided to scrap the governing bodies for the schools that it operates?

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I have no idea. I was referring to the fact that schools of low quality were taken away from E-ACT.

The Select Committee report, to which noble Lords have referred, talks about in a specific recommendation the importance that,

“the Government reflect on the need to improve understanding of the role of the RSCs”.

I think that is what lies behind the amendments, so I welcome the sentiment, if not the vehicle itself. Our own experience at Floreat is from dealing with two RSCs: Dominic Herrington in south London and the south-east and Martin Post in south-central and north-west London. As a new provider, we found them open and responsive in a way that dealing just with the department would not have been by dint of the capacity at the department. So far, there has been just the right amount of support and challenge, which is at the heart of the role.

An example of the support offered—in this case, by Dominic Herrington’s schools commissioner region—was for multi-academy trust leaders’ training sessions: getting together with others, learning what works, being exposed to the new Ofsted framework, and so on. An issue of challenge would be around understanding the capacity and capability of a multi-academy trust to take on new schools and open new schools, and whether we have the finance and the expertise for doing so. That is a conversation that I had with our commissioner, Martin Post, on Friday.

So far, the experience has been of a productive relationship based very clearly at all times on raising standards for pupils. That shared purpose comes through clearly at all times. While I agree that it is necessary, given the importance of RSCs, to continue to explain in more detail the importance of the role and what it can and cannot do, I do not see that it requires an amendment to the Bill to achieve this, and I hope to hear positive news from the Minister about how the Government will actively promote the regional schools commissioners from now on.

[Lord Nash]

My Lords, I shall speak to Amendment 2, moved by the noble Lord, Lord Addington, and Amendment 3, tabled by the noble Lords, Lord Watson and Lord Hunt. Both concern the responsibilities and powers of regional schools commissioners. The noble Lord, Lord Addington, has proposed that the Secretary of State should be required to publish a document that would describe the powers and responsibilities of RSCs arising from the provisions in the Bill and other Acts of Parliament. Amendment 3 would extend this requirement to specify that the document must include a guide for parents and any other information to do with the powers and responsibilities of RSCs as may be appropriate.

I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Addington, for raising this issue once again, following the exchanges that he had with my noble friend Lady Evans on this matter on Report in this House. Since the last debate, he has also met officials from the Department for Education and he and I have had a number of exchanges on the matter. I hope that he has found these discussions helpful and has been reassured that the Government are committed to meeting the objectives of his amendment.

As my noble friend Lady Evans explained in the previous debate, RSCs are not defined in legislation: they are civil servants, and exercise only the powers and duties of the Secretary of State that he chooses to delegate to them. Accountability for the decisions made by RSCs rests with the Secretary of State, who remains fully accountable to Parliament. It is important to emphasise that the role of RSCs is very different from the role of local authorities. RSCs operate within a clearly defined framework, with the focus on monitoring and tackling educational underperformance in academies and free schools, approving new academies, advising on free school applications and approving changes to open academies, such as expansions or age-range changes.

To support these functions, RSCs also work to develop the sponsor market in their regions. Subject to the passage of the Bill, RSCs will also take on responsibility for formal intervention in underperforming maintained schools. RSCs carry out their functions within a national framework and individual decisions are made in accordance with the relevant legislation, academy funding agreement and/or published criteria.

Information on the work of RSCs is already publicly available. We have already set out the remit of our RSCs and the membership of each head teacher board, published registers of interest and made available the criteria for RSC decision-making. Academy funding agreements are publicly available, as are the criteria for other individual RSC decisions. For example, the criteria that RSCs use to assess schools applying to become academies are set out online in the guidance document, Convert to an Academy: Guide for Schools. Notes of board meetings that detail each decision made are also published on a monthly basis.

In addition, we have recently consulted publicly on revising the statutory Schools Causing Concern guidance that describes the responsibilities and powers delegated to RSCs resulting from the provisions in the Bill, and how they will be used in practice by RSCs to intervene in failing and coasting maintained schools and academies. Alongside this document the Government are also required, under the Academies Act 2010, to provide an annual report to Parliament on the expansion of the academy programme and the performance of academies during the year. This year’s report will include commentary on RSCs.

We recognise, however, that we need to go further. We acknowledge that RSCs are a new concept and that, as more schools become academies and the RSC remit expands, we need to clearly articulate the role, improve understanding of its responsibilities and increase transparency. Noble Lords will be reassured to hear that the new national schools commissioner, Sir David Carter, considers raising awareness, particularly among parents, as one of his top priorities and he made this clear in a Radio 4 interview last month.

As with any new system, we expect the level of awareness to increase over time, but to expedite this I am today making a clear commitment to the House that the Government will publish a full description of the RSC role and a guide to all RSC powers and responsibilities. We will ensure that this more detailed information is in understandable form, includes a succinct summary of the role and has clear links for the public to find more detailed information should they require it. We will make clear that this information is for parents and the sector.

The information will be published on the education pages of the government website, GOV.UK. This is the website where all government policies, publications, statistics and consultations are published. It is already used by parents to find information on matters such as school admissions, school performance and childcare. It is used extensively. In January of this year alone, there were nearly 1.3 million visitors to the education pages of GOV.UK. The website is designed for the public and is intended to be simple, clear and quick to find information. We will make sure that the information is collated and published in good time for the Bill coming into force. Furthermore, I assure noble Lords that we will keep the information up to date and revise it as necessary, following any changes to legislation or to RSCs’ non-statutory responsibilities.

Alongside publishing more detailed information, we recognise that it is equally important to ensure the public know where to find it. Once the new information is published, we will alert parent and governor groups such as the National Governors’ Association and the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations and encourage them to direct their members towards it. We will also publicise the information through the email which the Department for Education issues direct to schools at the start of every term and which sets out important changes. RSCs will also be carrying out a range of activities within their regions to improve awareness, to raise their profile and to ensure the sector understands and is prepared for the new legislation.

As the noble Lord has described, since we last debated this matter the Education Select Committee has published its report on the establishment of RSCs. While the committee welcomed the introduction of RSCs as a pragmatic approach to the expanding workload of academies oversight, the report also made a number of recommendations, including that the Government should reflect on the need to improve understanding of the role of RSCs. I assure noble Lords that the Government take this issue very seriously and will increase and improve the information available to the public on RSCs, with a particular focus on simplifying and improving the information for parents.

The noble Lord, Lord Watson, referred to the situation in relation to E-ACT and parents. I can assure him that we regard the involvement of parents in education as crucial. The best way to do this is not necessarily through having two parents on a governing body. An equally good or better way may be to have parent forums. I understand that E-ACT has plans to do this and is meeting with Sir David Carter this week to discuss this further.

Education and Adoption Bill

Lord O'Shaughnessy Excerpts

Wednesday 16th December 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Mackay of Clashfern (Con)]

Having read over the amendments, I wonder about one small technical point in Amendment 24. Proposed new Section 2B says:

“An Academy agreement in respect of an Academy school … must include provision allowing the Secretary of State to terminate the agreement if … the Academy is coasting”.

Proposed new subsection (6) says the definition of coasting will be put forward in regulations, and I am just wondering about the date at which that applies. As I understand it, there is provision in the definition of coasting, and in the system to be used for setting it up, which allows the definition to be changed. If that is so, will it have an effect on the agreements retrospectively? How will it work? This is a very technical kind of point but quite an important one, because it is an essential of the agreement to have this definition of coasting in it.

[Lord O'Shaughnessy (Con)]

My Lords, I am grateful for the opportunity to speak to this group of amendments. I apologise that I was not present and did not speak at Second Reading, but I had not yet been introduced to the House.

I warmly welcome the amendments that have been put forward by the Government. The fact that they have come forward in response to amendments from all over the House demonstrates what I believe to be a great truth of education reform, which is its bipartisan nature. It has been put forward by many Governments over many years, and accelerated by this one. We see that in action today.

In 2012, I wrote a paper for Policy Exchange which called for a level playing field and a single regulatory regime, and for coasting schools to be intervened on, so I am especially delighted to see that the Government have put forward the extension of this regime to academies. It is incredibly important for the reputation of academies that this is the case. I declare my interest as the managing director of an academy trust which will now be within the clutches of this—so my noble friend is making my life more difficult for me, which I am very grateful for. The idea in Amendment 24 of this detailed process for intervening in academies is incredibly important. It is important for academies to know that they are within the single regime and that the expectations that apply to all other schools also apply to them. I know the retrospective nature is uncomfortable for many but it is incredibly important.

The noble Baroness, Lady Hughes of Stretford, asked in particular about what happens when an academy is intervened on. There have been plenty of examples already of academies that have had to be—in the horrible terminology—rebrokered, because they have not performed. Although they are a rare exception, there are instances already of this happening, so we are not entering into new territory here with coasting schools. It must be right that, as time goes on, we raise the bar of what we expect in terms of performance in all our schools—maintained, academy or other—so I welcome that. There are around 300 inadequate schools at the moment and there may be around 1,000 coasting schools, so we are continuing to raise the bar for all school providers, which must be the correct thing to do.

I will talk very briefly about Amendment 15, in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Addington, about whether to include non-academic measures into the definition of coasting. Some other noble Lords mentioned this as well. The schools that I run have a very big focus on character education, so I absolutely believe that there is more to education than passing exams, but you get into some very difficult territory if you want to exclude schools that perhaps have good extra-curricular activity but poor standards. There is a problem of measurement. Any definition which is going to be workable and not challengeable has to be based on objective data. It is very difficult to get objective measurements of the quality of schools other than their academic standards.

I also happen to think that, in the end, schools are responsible for providing a great education. If they can do the other bits, fantastic, but if they are not providing a good academic education, they should be intervened in. What is more, any sensible or wise sponsor would want, as they always do, to keep what is excellent and change what is not good. Although I understand the impulse behind the amendment, in practice it is not workable. In any case, first and foremost, the department and anyone else who is intervening in a school should be worried about standards. I very much welcome my noble friend’s amendments and commend him on his determination and on listening to opinion from across the House.

Schools: Faith Schools

Lord O'Shaughnessy Excerpts

Monday 14th December 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

I am grateful for the noble Lord’s shorter question. I am very much aware of the case to which he refers. Of course, Tauheedul has had three of its schools inspected and they are all outstanding. We shall ensure, as our amendment to the Bill makes clear, that in all these cases in future, as has generally happened in almost every case in the past, parents are communicated with about the details of the change in status.

[Lord O'Shaughnessy (Con)]

My Lords, a 2011 report by the London School of Economics found that by becoming a sponsored academy the school not only raises its attainment but raises the attainment of neighbouring schools. I declare my interest as managing director of a trust that operates two free schools. Does my noble friend agree with me that, while the ownership of church land is clearly very important, what really matters is the quality of the education that goes on in the schools that sit on it?

[Lord Nash]

I entirely agree with my noble friend. It is very good to see more evidence emerging of a rising tide lifting all boats. I agree with the point he makes, and it is true that church schools have consistently outperformed local authority maintained schools.