School Governance (Constitution and Federations) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2016

Nick Gibb Excerpts

Tuesday 14th June 2016 General Committees

[The Minister for Schools (Mr Nick Gibb)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Bailey. I have listened with great pleasure to the opening comments of the hon. Member for Scunthorpe, although it would surprise many who are listening to know that we are debating the School Governance (Constitution and Federations) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2016, not the excellent education White Paper, “Educational Excellence Everywhere”. We are debating S.I. 2016, No. 204.

The regulations, which were laid before both Houses on 25 February, amend the School Governance (Constitution) (England) Regulations 2012 so that all governors in maintained schools in England are required to have an enhanced criminal records certificate from the Disclosure and Barring Service, if they do not already have one. The hon. Gentleman should welcome that, as I hope will all Committee members. He asked specifically whether all educational institutions will be bound by the same rules, and I can confirm that they will be. The rules apply to academies and maintained schools, and proprietors of independent schools are governed by the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014, which contain the same requirement.

[Nic Dakin]

While the Minister is being comprehensive, can he mention sixth-form colleges and further education colleges?

[Mr Gibb]

Yes. I will write to the hon. Gentleman about sixth-form colleges after the Committee, if I may.

The regulations also amend the School Governance (Federations) (England) Regulations 2012 to provide that the governing body of every federation of two or more maintained schools includes two parent governors.

The regulations bring maintained schools into line with current practice in the academies sector, where DBS checks are already compulsory for every person involved in governance. Similarly, academy trusts, however many schools they contain, have never been required to have more than two parents on the board. That allows governing bodies to remain at a workable size, enabling them to make sound and strategic decisions for their group of schools. We have consulted the Department’s advisory group on governance, which includes all organisations with a key interest in governance, and I emphasise that the National Governors Association supports both the measures.

Governors hold an important public office, and it is essential that we know that they are not unsuitable for their role. We have taken a number of measures to increase transparency in that area, including expecting governing bodies to publish their arrangements on their websites. Individuals should be disqualified from governance roles in maintained schools on a number of grounds, including if they have a criminal conviction involving certain sentences and imprisonment. Until now, the arrangements have relied on governors voluntarily disclosing such information or the clerk to the governing body requesting it, in contrast with the position in academies, where all members and trustees, and those on local governing bodies in multi-academy trusts, must be DBS checked.

[Sir Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire) (Con)]

On the number of parent governors, if there are two village schools and one is a bit bigger than the other, I can see that there would be an advantage in having a parent governor from each of the villages. Is that something that should happen under this system, or is it entirely in the lap of the gods, in the sense that it depends on how many parents vote for a particular parent governor? If one school were quite a bit bigger than the other, the governing body might end up with two governors from one school.

[Mr Gibb]

We do not want to be too prescriptive. My hon. and learned Friend makes a good point and that would be an ideal way forward. We do not want to be over-prescriptive because, although he has set out one example, there is an infinite number of such examples out there. If we were to be prescriptive for every type of example, we would have a very long piece of regulation. Do not forget that those parents are not meant to be representative of the individual schools; they are meant to serve in the interests of the federation as a whole. We are trying to get away from the notion that they are there in a representative capacity and will only speak in the interests of the small school, and not be interested in what is happening in the larger school, such as in his example.

The current position contrasts with the position in academies, where all members have to be DBS checked if they are involved in a multi-academy trust. This more rigorous approach, we believe, should apply in the maintained sector, so that every governing body can be confident that none of its members is disqualified from holding office.

The amendment to the School Governance (Federations) (England) Regulations 2012, to which my hon. and learned Friend referred, was requested by the National Governors Association and the Churches. It was prompted by concerns that requiring the governing body of a federation of multiple maintained schools to have a parent governor from every school may result in a membership that is larger than they need or want. That can be a particular issue in larger federations or those that involve voluntary aided schools, where they need to maintain a majority of two foundation governors over all the other categories of governor.

The hon. Member for Scunthorpe cited an example of a federation of five schools. If those five schools were all voluntary aided, in addition to the five elected parent governors, they would have to have five headteachers, which would bring the governing body up to 10, a staff governor, which would bring it up to 11, and a local authority governor, making it 12. That means that the foundation itself would have to find another 14 foundation governors to maintain their majority of two, bringing the size of the governing body to 26. That would make it very unwieldy and could impact on its ability to operate effectively.

The amendment reinforces the principle that, as I said to my hon. and learned Friend, a parent governor’s role, like that of every other category of governor, is to govern in the interests of all the children in federated schools, not just in the interests of the pupils from their child’s school. In reducing the number of parent governors to two, federations have the freedom to retain or recruit any particularly skilled and effective individuals, for example, by appointing them under a different category of co-opted governor. There is nothing to stop a federation or a foundation asking parents to be a foundation governor of a foundation school, or indeed to fit in to any of the other categories of governor that make up the governing body, to a minimum of seven.

High-quality governance is vital to the success of all schools in an autonomous school-led system. Governing boards are responsible for some demanding strategic functions and their membership needs to be focused on the skills to do that well. Many parents do have skills that make them very effective governors. We expect that boards will continue to want to appoint parents for that reason. Parents should have a significant voice in schools.

As well as the provisions we are debating today, we have committed to empower parents further in the White Paper, “Educational Excellence Everywhere”. I will requote the line that the hon. Member for Scunthorpe helpfully quoted in his opening remarks from page 51 of the White Paper:

“We will also expect every academy to put in place arrangements for meaningful engagement with all parents, to listen to their views and feedback.”

That is the first time that that expectation will be imposed on academies. I do not believe it is patronising; it is the right thing to do to have that expectation on every multi-academy trust in the country.

The best schools demonstrate that parents can and should be involved in education in a wide variety of ways. We will always expect that one of those is governance. The provisions bring more rigour to ensure that those governing our schools are fit and proper people to hold office, and that federated governing bodies are not compelled to have more parent governors than they want.

Question put and agreed to.