Prime Minister's question asked in the House of Commons, by David Leslie Taylor (Labour). It was answered on Wednesday, 18 April 2007 on behalf of the Prime Minister.

North-West Leicestershire

Question: Last Sunday, on the BBC politics programme, the Prime Minister gave an excellent summary of the myriad benefits delivered by our Government’s domestic policies since 1997, but I was alarmed by his assertion that all English secondary schools should soon become academies or trust schools. If he comes to North-West Leicestershire before late June, will he meet the governors of Ibstock community college to tell us why an excellent, accessible, genuinely comprehensive school should pursue this policy path and risk distancing ourselves from the local community or being taken over for a knock-down price by the richest local bidder?

Answer: I thank my hon. Friend for his kind words about our record on education. It is true, for example, that when we came to power there were only just over 80 secondary schools in the whole country with 70 per cent. of pupils getting five good GCSEs; the figure is now more than 600. The reason why I believe that in future most secondary schools, or all secondary schools, will become trust or academy schools—it is a choice, of course—is that they benefit from these partnerships. In doing so, academy and trust schools remain with a fully comprehensive intake. Indeed, academy schools have a higher percentage of pupils taking free school meals than the average secondary school. We have increased results dramatically since 1997 partly because of the ability to have partnerships with outside bodies. Specialist schools were the first step in that. At the time, people said that they would spell the end of the comprehensive system; they did not. Of course, my hon. Friend has four excellent specialist schools in his own constituency.

Secondary information