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Education and Inspections Bill

I do not intend to detain the House on the programme motion. We support the broad principles of the Bill because it will make it easier for parent groups and other non-profit organisations to establish new schools and the new trust school concept will enable schools to have greater independence in their day-to-day running. We also support the Bill because it will make it easier to close bad schools and will put the disciplinary powers of teachers on a statutory basis. However, we want the Bill to be debated in full, not least because we are less than happy with several of its elements. We thought that the programme motion moved after Second Reading provided insufficient time in Committee. In the end, the Government had to add an extra eight hours of Committee time, with two extended evening sittings and an extra day’s sitting. Even with that, several clauses were not debated because they were lost to the knife. Given the amount of interest in the Bill, it is likely that some groups of amendments, such as those on false allegations against teachers and the new clauses on the teaching of reading and the welfare of vulnerable pupils, are unlikely to be reached. However, we are keen for the good elements of the Bill to pass swiftly on to the statute book, so we will not oppose the motion.