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Education and Inspections Bill

I shall speak to Amendment No. 252B tabled in my name in this group, but perhaps I may say first how strongly we on these Benches agree with the objective of the noble Lord, Lord Lucas: ensuring that good quality educational research receives a wider audience and is implemented as broadly as possible. We believe that fact- and evidence-based policies are always the best ones to pursue. Amendment No. 252B seeks to ensure that academies are also required by regulations to, for example, act in accordance with the admissions code, serve school meals that meet the nutritional standards and be subject to similar school improvement measures as other schools. In other words, the amendment seeks to relate academy funding agreements to the relevant provisions of the Bill. Of particular concern to us are admissions, school improvement measures and nutritional standards. Perhaps I may speak briefly about each of them. It is not possible to reach any conclusion about how the admissions, exclusions or the SEN regime will apply in a particular academy in terms of reference to general principles of educational law and the statutory framework. The first recourse will always need to be to the funding agreement, but levers for pupils and parents over that funding agreement are not as strong as the equivalent levers they would have over a maintained school. The DfES website on academies says that, "““in all cases the admission arrangements for each academy are agreed with the Secretary of State as a condition of the funding agreement and are consistent with the code of practice on admissions and with admissions law””." However, as it seems that funding agreements may vary and access to them may be quite difficult for parents, this amendment would give them some reassurance that academies have to abide by the same restrictions on admissions as maintained schools. On nutritional standards, academies are intended to replace schools in many deprived areas. The majority will have a high number of pupils entitled to free school meals. For many children, lunch is the main meal of the day, so it is important that meals served on academy school premises are nutritionally balanced. Under-nutrition, as we have heard this afternoon, can have detrimental effects on cognitive development, behaviour and concentration. Including all schools in the requirements would ensure that the food and drink provided on school premises was not subject to undue influence from a particular party such as a school sponsor who might award provision for school food to a particular company or see it as an area where costs could be cut. I understand thatthere have been examples in academies where school contracts have been awarded to companies connected to the sponsor. Finally, on school improvement measures andlocal authority powers of intervention, in its briefing sent for an earlier day of Committee, the Local Government Association argued that: "““Children may well attend schools not maintained by the local authority, but the council is still responsible for their well-being and educational fulfilment…The Bill fails to bring Academies into the scope of a local authority’s challenge, intervention and support functions…This would mean a significant number of children in the most deprived communities will be beyond the assistance of councils””." While many academies are improving, they are not immune to failure, as we have heard on other days in Committee. Local authorities should therefore have the power to intervene to ensure that academies are provided the necessary support if they are failing or coasting so that children's well-being and educational potential are protected.