---

Education and Inspections Bill

No. We have amended the Bill so that the best local authorities will automatically be able to put forward new community schools for consideration. Most other local authorities will have opportunities to do the same, with only the worst being barred from doing so. The Bill also includes a clear ban on interviews and new selection by academic ability. We have strengthened the code on admissions, enhanced its status and circulated a draft of it to the House. That makes it crystal clear that there will be no new selection by the more covert means used in some places. Although the spotlight has fallen on trust schools, the Bill contains many other crucial measures that have attracted less attention. Giving all 14 to 19-year-olds the right to study for specialised diplomas will help to tackle three major economic and social problems: the skills gap; youth unemployment; and classroom disengagement. Twenty years after Lord Elton’s ground-breaking report, the Bill enacts its central recommendation by giving teachers tough new powers to tackle unruly pupils inside and outside school. That will reduce classroom disruption and improve the attainment of all pupils. Other important powers relate to school meals, transport and an obligation on local authorities to ensure that young people have places to go and constructive things to do in their leisure time. I want to highlight one other less publicised aspect of the Bill. In respect of looked-after children, on whom we will focus attention over coming months, I remind the House that, for the first time, schools will be obliged to take in looked-after children who move into their area during the school year, as they often do, even if the school is full. That addresses the central problem of looked-after children consistently being dumped in the worst-performing schools to make up the numbers. That is one of the most important measures in the Bill, even if it has not attracted the most publicity. This Bill has received robust and thorough scrutiny in the House.