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Education and Inspections Bill

I am grateful to have caught your eye, Madam Deputy Speaker. I want to add a question for the Minister to the comments that I made in my earlier intervention on the hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton (Mr. Gibb). I have here a copy of the fourth report of the Joint Committee on Human Rights for the 2005-06 session, which reported on the Equality Bill with specific reference to school transport. The Minister will be aware that a succession of reports from the Joint Committee has flagged up the problem with the existing guidance. I shall quote briefly from the report, as that will be the most succinct way of making my point. Paragraph 49 states:"““The revised prospectus was much improved and met our concerns in relation to being misleading. There remained a matter of concern to the previous Committee, however, in that it””—" that is, the guidance set out in the draft prospectus for local education authorities accompanying the School Transport Bill of the previous Parliament—"““stated that a difference of treatment on grounds of religious or philosophical belief could be objectively justified on grounds of reasonable cost.””" The previous Committee had recommended that"““guidance on school transport issued by the DfES in Circular Letter of 21 January 1994, be amended to include specific guidance on non-discrimination.””" The Joint Committee concluded:"““We are concerned that this current Bill does nothing to dispel, and may reinforce, the apparent misapprehension of some LEAs that it is permissible to discriminate against children of parents with non-religious convictions in the provision of school transport. We reiterate the concerns of the previous Committee, that guidance for LEAs on this matter is inadequate to ensure compliance with the Human Rights Act, and recommend that guidance should be produced under this Bill””—" that is, the Equality Bill—"““which should make clear that, as the Government has previously accepted, there is a duty under the Human Rights Act to make equal provision for school transport to support education in accordance with both religious beliefs and non-religious beliefs.””" I accept that that is clear in the Bill that we are discussing today, but the Minister with responsibility for equality said that guidance would be produced after the passage of this Bill. Will the Minister, in responding to this debate, reiterate that assurance and clarify that the language of the guidance will make it absolutely clear that it covers not only denominational schools but ““non-religious beliefs”” as well?