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Children, Schools and Families

My Lords, I join others in welcoming the Minister’s commitment to the expansion of the academies programme. In addition to the assurances that he gave my noble friend Lady Morris on preserving the existing freedoms of the academies, do the Government have any plans—based on the success of the initial academies—further to extend their freedom so that they have more freedom to develop in ways that will enable them to attract parents and pupils? Furthermore, is there any plan in the Government’s programme to enable new schools to be set up within the state funded sector, so that they can provide a further strand of choice, innovation and excellence alongside existing state schools? Lastly, while I welcome the Minister’s commitment to setting in individual subjects, if he embraces the idea that teaching by ability group is an important part of achieving academic excellence and opportunity for children, does he recognise that some schools may not have enough children to create an adequate set of high-ability children? Therefore, the Government may want to consider allowing sets to be created across schools to provide that high-ability teaching group.