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Education and Inspections Bill

I have every intention of doing so, but I felt that many colleagues wanted to hear what I had to say about grammar schools. As we have heard, parents have organised a number of petitions about grammar schools, but only one has gathered sufficient support to prompt a ballot. I always listen to the opinions of my hon. Friend the Member for Bury, North (Mr. Chaytor) with great care, as he has great knowledge and wisdom and adopts an instinctively progressive point of view. However, the evidence suggests that it would be neither productive nor cost effective for the Government to organise ballots across the country, given that there has been so little call for them so far. My hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Martin Linton) admitted that his amendment No. 112 read like gobbledegook, but it would prevent schools with partially selective admissions arrangements from increasing the proportion of children selected. In addition, if the schools adjudicator has upheld an objection and reduced a school’s level of selection, the amendment would prevent that school from reinstating its original level of selection later. As I said, I appreciate that it is still possible for the admissions authority to restore the proportion of intake that is selected, even though we have moved to make sure that the decision of the schools adjudicator will stick for two years. However, the loophole uncovered by my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea goes against the Government’s commitment to no new selection—a commitment now shared by the Opposition—and I shall look at ways to bring forward an amendment in another place to close it. I turn now to the arrangements for admissions to academies, about which I know that my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton, North is especially concerned. I recognise that there are concerns that academies should be subject to the same admission rules that apply to maintained schools. New clause 47 highlights that concern by seeking to require academies to consult on their arrangements and take part in a co-ordinated admissions process, and it would also require objections about those arrangements to be made to the schools adjudicator. However, the Secretary of State already places those conditions on academies through their funding agreements. Moreover, he, rather than the adjudicator, determines objections to their admissions arrangements. That means that we already have the power that my hon. Friend is looking for, although it is expressed in a different way. The funding agreement goes further, requiring academies to comply with admissions legislation and to have regard to the school admissions code of practice. Once clause 37 is enacted, academies will also have to act in accordance with the new schools admissions code. I hope that that reassurance is sufficient for my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton, North. I want to allow the hon. Member for Brent, East to wind up the debate, and I apologise that there is not enough time for me to tackle all the amendments. However, I think that we dealt in Committee with the arguments in respect of the ones that remain, and I urge that they be withdrawn. In conclusion, this Bill addresses the needs of parents and children, while at the same time setting a sensible framework in which school admission authorities must operate. It allows a degree of flexibility to take account of local circumstances, but it also provides clear parameters. We want an admissions process that allows parents to choose schools, rather than schools choosing parents. Ruling out admissions interviews, strengthening the status of the admissions code and giving forums greater responsibilities and powers will all help to achieve that aim.