Draft Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (Establishment of Schools) (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2026 Debate
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Caroline Voaden
Main Page: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)Department Debates - View all Caroline Voaden's debates with the Department for Education
Draft Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (Establishment of Schools) (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2026
Caroline Voaden Excerpts(1 month ago)
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Caroline Voaden (South Devon) (LD)
I welcome the explanation of the draft regulations, but I wonder if the Minister could provide clarification, because there seems to be a contradiction. The draft regulations remove the legal presumption that new schools should be academies, yet through the Children’s Wellbeing and School Act, the Government intend for all schools to be academies. Why are they encouraging local authorities to open maintained schools if they will then have to go through a governance change in the next couple of years to become an academy? Surely, that is disruptive, time-consuming and potentially unnecessary for the school.