---

Education and Inspections Bill

At least a third of governors will have to be parents, and in the circumstances that my hon. Friend envisages, where there is a majority trust, there would be the parent council. Teachers and the local community would also be represented on the trust. The local authority, moreover, must be represented on the governing body, so I believe that enough safeguards are in place. We believe that there needs to be a clear distinction between provider and commissioner in relation to trust schools. Therefore, while it is appropriate that local authorities play a part in trusts, the extent of their role should be limited to 20 per cent. of the membership or voting rights. That is consistent with provisions in local government legislation on local authority involvement in companies. We are therefore resisting amendments Nos. 9 to 11, which would grant local authorities 50 per cent. membership of trusts. Of course, the key role of local authorities will be their ability to take strategic decisions about the provision of school places across their area. They will decide, taking on board the views of local people, when new schools are required and how best to use the record capital investment that we are making available through the building schools for the future programme. New clause 18, tabled by the Conservatives, would fetter local authorities’ discretion by requiring them to establish new schools if certain conditions relating to the number of failing schools or a lack of diversity were met. I am sympathetic to the aim of the new clause—to create more choice for parents—but I do not believe that such a mechanistic approach is appropriate. On new clause 56, also tabled by the Conservatives, I can confirm that there is no surplus places rule that would prevent a local authority from running a competition, or from agreeing proposals to expand a good school, simply because there are more than enough places available. Capital support for authorities is now formula-based and there is no bar to its use, whatever the state of surplus in a given area.