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Education and Inspections Bill

People are more interested in how the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues will vote tomorrow than in how the Opposition will vote. We have adopted one of the principles from the Minister’s clarification. Where local authorities do not have a diverse range of schools, or where more than 15 per cent. of schools in a local authority area are of poor quality, our new clause 18 would provide that a local authority must publish a notice under clause 7 inviting proposals for a new school. Where the range of schools in a local authority area is of poor quality, it is unacceptable that those schools can languish year after year, providing a substandard education to our children. Children have only one chance of an education, and we cannot stand idly by while local authorities preside over such provision.