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Education and Inspections Bill

moved Amendment No. 135: Page 107, line 14, leave out from beginning to ““is”” in line 15 and insert ““Regulations may enable the Chief Inspector to determine that a condition prescribed for the purposes of subsection (2)(c) by virtue of subsection (3)”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, in speaking to Amendment No. 135, I shall speak also to the other government amendments in this group. Amendment No. 135 makes a technical correction to the drafting of subsection (4) of the new Section 11A to the Education Act 2005 which is to be inserted by virtue of Clause 155. By virtue of subsection (4), regulations will enable the chief inspector to disapply a condition specified in regulations which requires parents to have exhausted other complaints mechanisms before their complaint may be investigated. It is right that in normal circumstances, under this clause, parents should seek to resolve their concerns locally before approaching Ofsted. However, I am sure that the House will agree that it is important that the chief inspector has the ability to act immediately on receipt of a complaint where the matter raised justifies urgent investigation—for example, where the chief inspector has serious concerns about pupil well-being. Government Amendment No. 137 inserts new Clauses 167A to167D into Part 10 of the Education Act 2002 to allow the appropriate authority for independent schools to make a direction which would prohibit or place restrictions on a person participating in the management of independent schools on one or more prescribed grounds to be set out in regulations. The new provisions also provide for a right of appeal against such a direction. The current arrangements are contained in Section 142 of the Education Act 2002, which will be repealed once the vetting and barring scheme is introduced by the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Bill. A full consultation will be undertaken before regulations are made. The consultation will propose prescribing grounds, such as criminal convictions for fraud, theft or money laundering and glorification of terrorism and membership of a proscribed organisation. In addition, Amendment No. 138 deals with the removal of independent schools from the register of such schools where unsuitable persons are employed. Amendment No. 139 puts in place a power to make transitional provisions to cover those persons currently subject to a Section 142 direction. Parents and the general public will expect the Secretary of State to protect children in independent schools and the public by continuing to have arrangements which prevent unsuitable people from running independent schools. These amendments, together with existing powers to prescribe the standards relevant to the suitability of proprietors and staff in independent schools, seek to continue the current arrangements for preventing people who are unsuitable from taking part in the management of independent schools. Government Amendment No. 145 meets a commitment that I made to the noble Baroness, Lady Buscombe, in Committee. I stated then that we accepted the recommendation of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee that orders under Clause 157 that amend primary legislation should be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. This amendment provides that orders made by the Secretary of State that amend any public general Act will be subject to affirmative resolution. Finally, Amendment No. 143 is a minor technical amendment to correct the cross-reference to the framework power at Clause 168 within Clause 169, which places restrictions on the framework power conferred by Clause 168. I beg to move.