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Education and Inspections Bill

The Johnson I answer to is also a great fan of music and might support that quote. There are sound educational grounds for the change proposed in the Lords amendment. Restrictions on group sizes for instrumental tuition work against best practice. The intention is to remove barriers to promoting the best contemporary group teaching practices and conditions for learning. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Brent, East (Sarah Teather) for proposing her amendment. I understand and agree with her concern that children from disadvantaged families should not be adversely affected by the change. However, we consider her amendment unnecessary, because section 457 (1) of the Education Act 1996 requires that remissions policies have to be in place for any ““optional extra”” for which a charge is permitted. Setting out in regulations the circumstances in which vocal and instrumental tuition can be charged for will mean, by virtue of section 455 of the Act, that such tuition is an ““optional extra””, over and above the music tuition already provided as part of the national curriculum. In guidance to support the new regulations, we will reiterate the requirement to have in place remissions policies, including complete remission for pupils whose parents are in receipt of a range of benefits, such as income support and tax credits. I hope that on that basis that the hon. Lady will not press her amendment.