Duncan Hames
Main Page: Duncan Hames (Liberal Democrat - Chippenham)Department Debates - View all Duncan Hames's debates with the Department for Education
(13 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Michael Gove
The Priority School building programme exists specifically to help schools like Woodlands. At the moment, we are inviting bids from schools across the country and assessing those bids against each other. In due course, there will be an announcement about additional capital support for the schools in the worst condition.
Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)
Now that the Education Act 2011 has Royal Assent, the Minister will be looking at criteria for determining whether a school causing concern should be taken over by the governing body of another school. Can he assure me that these decisions will be made on the basis of the most up-to-date assessment of a school’s progress?
Michael Gove
That is a very fair point. We want to make sure that we target our attention on schools in the greatest need. If a school has had a historically poor record but, for example, a new head teacher or a new chair of governors has turned it round in the past 12 months, of course we will interpret the criteria flexibly.