Education (Guidance about Costs of School Uniforms) Bill

Baroness Altmann Excerpts

Friday 16th April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bull (CB)]

My Lords, I am minded to support the spirit of this amendment for the straightforward reason put forward by your Lordships’ Delegated Powers Committee. It says that if an entire Bill can be dedicated to the cost aspects of school uniforms, the resulting guidance should be subject to parliamentary procedure. However, like the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, I do not want to see this amendment pressed, as it would prevent the passing of this important Bill.

I am grateful to the Minister for ensuring that the House had the chance to review the draft statutory guidance in advance of today, but I would welcome clarification of a number of points in it. First, we know that branded items add cost and reduce choice of suppliers, and I welcome the reference in the draft guidance to branded items being “kept to a minimum”. But can she clarify what constitutes “minimum”? Is it a number or a proportion of the total number of items required, or does it mean something else?

The draft guidance is vague on financial support, the provision of support being apparently optional. Does she not agree that all parents in need should have access to school uniform grants and that schools have a duty to promote these funds? Will the Government commit to central provision of the funding required for school uniform grants?

At Second Reading, I asked whether the guidance would include the requirement for parents to be consulted on any changes to uniform specifications. The draft we have seen is relatively soft on this. At 25d, it says that schools

“should consult with parents and pupils on cost issues”,

and that the Government

“encourage schools to consult with parents and pupils on other aspects of their uniform when making significant changes to their policy”.

What is the rationale for the wording difference here? Why does it not use the stronger “should” or even “must” for policy changes, as well as cost issues?

On that occasion, I also asked the Minister to

“use her powers to ensure that schools are prevented from sending home or excluding children who fail to comply with uniform policies”.—[Official Report, 19/3/21; col. 553.]

The draft statutory guidance has nothing to say on this. It refers back to the non-statutory guidance, which permits teachers to discipline pupils for breaching rules on uniform in line with their published behaviour policy, and it allows a head teacher or their delegate to ask a pupil to return home to remedy this breach. This entire section of the guidance is drafted according to the starting presumption that the breach is the fault of the pupil; it is seemingly blind to the idea that the pupil may not be wearing the right clothing because the family cannot afford it.

I believe that the most important priority is to have the child in the classroom, where they can be taught. It is what matters most to teachers and it is clearly best for the child, so I ask the Minister again to do everything in her power to ensure that children will not be excluded from school for failing to comply with uniform policy.

Finally, can the Minister confirm what, if any, engagement is still planned with parents on this draft guidance? Has a diverse range of schools been consulted, and will the Government commit to consulting on future iterations of the guidance? There are many theories about the purpose of school uniform, but we can all agree that the intention is to make life more affordable for parents and the learning environment a more equitable place for children. Those twin aims have always been important but, as we head out of the pandemic, they are more important than ever.

This Bill is needed now, and I imagine that achieving that aim rules out the amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra. Whether it is amended or not, I hope that the Minister does her level best in support of young people, as she always does, to ensure that the necessary time is committed by this House, so that the Bill has the best possible chance of reaching the statute book before the end of this Session.

[Baroness Altmann (Con) [V]]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Bull. I thank my noble friend the Minister for issuing the guidance for us to look over before this debate.

This is a rather narrow and—in almost all cases—uncontroversial issue. It needs to be dealt with quickly, as the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, and the noble Baroness, Lady Bull, said; the sooner we can get this moving, the better. The sooner the guidance is issued, the better the position parents will be in to ensure that their children can comply with any requirements from this narrow Bill.

I sympathise in principle with the aims of my noble friend Lord Blencathra’s amendment. Having sat so often in recent months through legislation and statutory instruments that have gone through this House with so little scrutiny—and measures that have been introduced with no scrutiny—in principle I think it is important that the role of Parliament in scrutinising legislation be reasserted. We should make sure in coming years that the experience of the past months is not regularly repeated, but I cannot help but agree, I am afraid, with the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, and the noble Baroness, Lady Bull, that this Bill is not the right place to impose such a principle at this time.

It is urgent that we make sure that we do everything possible to get the Bill through before the end of this Session. The Government have issued a delegated powers memorandum, and I think my noble friend the Minister has been doing her utmost to make sure that we are moving this forward. Even if we were to accept this amendment and the negative procedure were applied, it is hardly likely that on its passage through Parliament—whether in debate or in the scrutiny committee—any meaningful change would be achieved.

I am delighted to see that the guidance emphasises the importance of keeping costs down for parents and keeping branded items to a minimum, which will also assist with costs. I have a few questions for my noble friend. The guidance mentions that schools should take a “mindful and considerate approach” to resolving problems where children are unable to comply with uniform requirements due to financial hardship rather than wilful non-compliance. Could my noble friend give some indication of what would constitute such a mindful and considerate approach?

I echo the words of the noble Baroness, Lady Bull, on the dangers of excluding children or disciplining them with procedures when it will be very difficult for schools in many cases to differentiate between wilful non-compliance on behalf of the schoolchildren and non-compliance due to unaffordability for parents. Children who keep falling over or who have grown quickly and need new uniforms, rather than having just one set for the year, can often be a problem for parents.

Finally, in terms of a planned timetable, I encourage my noble friend to introduce this as speedily as possible, hopefully in time for the coming school year this September, and at least a clear implementation timing plan so that parents and schools can plan ahead and get the correct amounts of clothing for their children during the summer holidays and suppliers can bring in stock in preparation.

[The Earl of Clancarty (CB)]

My Lords, I was a little taken aback by the reaction to my comments at Second Reading, both from this House and from outside. I seem to have unwittingly struck a nerve. The question that I simply leave your Lordships with is why every country on the continent, with the sole exception of Malta, can get along perfectly well without school uniforms —including, importantly, state schools—while we apparently cannot.

Having said that, school uniforms are currently the norm in this country, and I want to make it clear that what I said at Second Reading was in no way an attack on the Bill. I support it and congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Lister of Burtersett, on bringing it to this House. School uniforms have become expensive and it is important that costs are kept down in the fight against poverty. I would therefore be very glad if the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, did not press his albeit justifiable amendment to a vote. I am also glad that we have sight of the draft statutory guidance, as the Minister promised, and which the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, asked for.

I have two questions for the Minister, of which I have given her advance notice. First, from my own vantage point, can she reassure me that the Bill, or any steps that the Government thereby take, will not affect the right of all schools to which the draft statutory guidance refers to decide whether they will have a school uniform? I appreciate that the Government have a stated preference. Nevertheless, there is a reference in the draft guidance to schools that

“may not have a uniform policy or dress code”

in paragraph 11. Still, I would like to hear that reassurance directly from the Minister.

My second question revolves around the curious fact that there does not seem to be a definition of what a school uniform is. It is perhaps assumed that we know what one is, but the truth is that the composition of uniforms may vary from school to school, and that in itself will affect costs. The draft guidance is fairly detailed, so a definition is implied, but a related concern is the cost of additional sportswear. Here I very much understand the importance of uniform in the practical sense, for team identification and aesthetically, so when paragraph 25(e) asks that additional items should not be used for interschool competitions, that feels disingenuous to me. Here again the cost to parents needs to be kept down. Could the Minister say a few words about that?

I wish the Bill a speedy passage. It is important that it gets on to the statute book.