---

Education and Inspections Bill

The hon. Lady raises some important issues that have been considered as part of the review of Ofsted, which is of course responsible to Her Majesty’s inspectorate. I accept that important issues need to be addressed, but they fall outside this Bill and are not specifically related to the point that I am making about Ofsted being a new and added safeguard to meet the concerns that people have about trusts. We believe that such a record, combined with the safeguards I have outlined, is preferable to the formal register of approved trusts that would be required by new clause 25, which was tabled by the Liberal Democrats; by new clause 48, tabled by my hon. Friends; and by amendment No. 96. Allowing schools to choose a trust partner only from a register would fetter the freedom of governing bodies to decide what is best for their schools, in light of their individual circumstances. It would lead to additional bureaucracy and delay, especially when schools were considering local, community-based trusts that would not benefit from a centralised process for formal approval.