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Education and Inspections Bill

I am going to make some progress, if I may. Our amendments Nos. 105, 106 and 107 would make it easier for a foundation school to become a trust school and easier for a trust school to enable the foundation to appoint the majority of governors of a foundation school. The amendments would prevent the local authority from stopping or delaying the proposals by referring them to the adjudicator. It would simply be a matter for the governing body of the school. We want to make it as easy as possible for governing bodies of schools to create trust schools. The amendments would prevent local authorities hostile to the whole concept of trust schools from being able to scupper the proposals. The amendments contrast sharply with new clauses 25 and 26, tabled by the Liberals. New clause 26 would prevent a trust school from having a majority of its governors from the trust. Being able to appoint a majority of governors is a key component of the reforms in the Bill. Without that possibility, it is unlikely that any charitable trust or group of parents would want to establish such schools, as the Liberals well understand; that is why they tabled the new clause. They are fundamentally opposed to reform on the model established by the Bill. For them, localism extends only as far as the local council, not down to the level of the local school, which they want to remain under the direct day-to-day control of local councillors. Similarly, new clause 25 is a reflection of the Liberals’ hostility to the reforms. It would require the school commissioner to establish a list of potential trustees—a bureaucratic and unnecessary impediment.