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Education and Inspections Bill

My Lords, I listened with interest to the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley. She has raised some important issues. It is important that all teachers are given basic training on what is appropriate behaviour. However, we need to take note of the fact that only 4 per cent of allegations are actually proved. That does not mean to say that more than 4 per cent or less than 4 per cent is the right number, but it is worrying that, increasingly, teachers can be put out on a limb, cases can take a very long time to prove and so on. I have much sympathy with the amendment tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Buscombe. As others have said, she has gone to a great deal of trouble to take into account the circumstances under which further investigations could and should properly be made. I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, that it should not be the Secretary of State to whom one appeals in these circumstances; there should be someone much more independent than that. Perhaps the Minister can reassure us on that point. As the noble Baroness, Lady Buscombe, asked, ““Who would be a teacher?””. Teachers are an amazing group of people, giving absolutely of their best. Usually, people are grateful to them but also quite a lot of carping goes on. I hope that we might find a way of further protecting them from what can increasingly be seen as a way of purely getting one's own back on a teacher. There is an altogether too successful method of doing that at the moment, with the media not being as responsible as they should be.