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Education and Inspections Bill

In our earlier debate on Ofsted inspections and community cohesion, the Secretary of State referred to the long-standing inspection of teaching to develop pupils’ spiritual well-being. That is something that we inspect, and I am confident that we manage to deliver it. Obviously, different schools emphasise different aspects of such teaching, but my own children, who have attended faith schools, have learned about different faiths. My family does not live in a multi-faith community but, nevertheless, those Anglican schools ensured that pupils are aware of the views of other faiths and, I think, non-religious faiths. Turning to the issue of competence, we must strike a balance between the competence of young people to make decisions for themselves on issues of conscience and the smooth running of the school. We believe that we have struck the right balance. In the school context, it is justified and proportionate to interfere with the child’s rights in the interests of maintaining order and the smooth running of the school. The Bill states that the Government"““has made the following statement under section 19(1)(a) of the Human Rights Act 1998…the provisions of the Education and Inspections Bill are compatible with the Convention rights.””" That statement informs our view. My noble Friend Lord Adonis said in the other place on 17 October:"““Although Gillick competence is a relevant consideration, this is a difficult and complex issue. As the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley,””—" who was cited by the hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon (Dr. Harris)—"““said, competence does not necessarily arise all at once, nor does each pupil become competent at the same time. Different people develop at different rates.””—[Official Report, House of Lords, 17 October 2006; Vol. 685, c. 736.]" It is a burden on schools to make a decision on competence. We base competence on age in many other settings—for example, the age of consent and the age at which someone can drive—so we believe that that it is simplest to provide that once someone enters the sixth form, they achieve competence.