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Education and Inspections Bill

Of course that is right, and it is why I want head teachers to be subject to governing bodies. I should be happy for those bodies to be elected by the parents of children attending the school, but I should also like the head teacher who reports to that governing body to have maximum freedom. I do not see why that statement should be regarded as too radical, or simply wrong. The hon. Member for Warrington, North (Helen Jones) is right: head teachers are human and they will make mistakes, but we should let them. However, if a school does not deliver what parents want, those parents have some power. If a school’s success depends on students wanting to attend it—and I hope that we still believe in allowing money to follow the pupil—people will vote with their feet and the school will have to reform its ways. That is what real consumer choice is all about. It does not lie in this Chamber but in the millions of decisions that ordinary citizens make.