Independent Schools: VAT Exemption

Earl of Clancarty Excerpts

Thursday 5th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Clancarty (CB)]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Lexden, for the opportunity to speak in this debate. This is about schools, but I will start by talking briefly about higher education, as it has a bearing on the debate. Ideally, all education should be free, and that ought to include higher education. I strongly believe that it was a grave error of the Blair Government to introduce tuition fees and effectively commercialise universities. Despite the problems we now face, if Germany can successfully operate a free higher education system, for example, why can we not do so if we believe in the principle of free education? I raise higher education in this debate because of the respective choices that face parents and students in every area of education, which may have little to do with principle but everything to do with necessity.

We have already heard from my noble friend Baroness Bull about the particular performing arts schools where, unless the state decides it is going to start operating its own tuition-free ballet school, for example, there is no option for the parents and students concerned—just as there has been no option since 1998 in higher education except to get a loan.

I agree entirely with the noble Baronesses, Lady Fraser and Lady Bull, about the need for certain exemptions. The Labour Government’s own dance and drama awards have potentially been caught up in this too. I hope the Minister can say that the 15 providers for performing arts training through these awards will not attract VAT.

To make the wider point, not every parent has sent their child to an independent school because it is what their parents did, but because what was required for the particular child has not been readily available in the state sector. They will scrimp and save to do so and make use of bursaries which will likely now be less available. This is true for the arts, which have been significantly diminished in the state sector, as the noble Baroness, Lady Garden, said, but have flourished in many independent schools. Nevertheless, let me remind the House what Keir Starmer said in his speech at the Guildhall on 14 March:

“Every young person must have access to music, art, design and drama. That is our mission”.


He went on:

“we are launching a sector plan to support the entire ecosystem of the creative industries”.

Schools are of course a major part of the ecosystem. The goal should be that the state sector arts education be at least as good as independent schools are now, and make that offer unnecessary. However, when you realise that, for example, independent schools spend on average five times as much on music as state schools currently do, this is a hefty challenge. Will the Government rise to this challenge and keep their promises on art education in view of their intentions for the private sector?

I make one further point, in the interests of co-operation—there is considerable adversity in this debate. I believe in good education for everyone whatever their background. However, I also believe in advances in education—Education, if you like. What independent schools have been able to do, unencumbered by the accountability measures and the narrow tunnel into which state education has been pushed, is experiment, and that should be valued. As my noble friend Lord Aberdare pointed out in the 11 to 16 year-old school education debate on 26 July, some independent schools have developed their own curriculum offers and assessment methodologies. The Government, the state sector and, indeed, Becky Francis could be learning from these developments in the independent sector so that education as a whole may benefit.