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Education and Skills Bill

moved Amendment No. 78: 78: Clause 82, page 51, line 6, leave out ““Chief Inspector”” and insert ““Secretary of State”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, we come to a large group of government amendments. I wrote to noble Lords on 23 October setting out the detail of the amendments that were laid in response to concerns and debates in Committee. The amendments put into effect the commitment made by my noble friend Lord Adonis that the Government would no longer seek to move the responsibility for registration, regulation and monitoring of independent educational institutions and non-maintained special schools from the Secretary of State to Ofsted. I will outline them rather than go into detail because I have written to noble Lords on the question. Noble Lords may ask why the Government have decided to implement this change to the Bill through a large number of separate amendments to Part 4 rather than deleting it in its entirety and relying on the regulatory regime as it exists for independent schools in Chapter 10 of the Education Act 2002 and for non-maintained special schools in Section 342 of the Education Act 1996. Chapter 1 of Part 4 of the Bill re-states the entire regulatory regime for independent schools and, as we have just discussed—or as we might have discussed—offers the opportunity to ensure that protection is in place for children in the growing independent and part-time sector. In doing so, Part 4 makes a number of drafting and policy improvements. As one example, the Bill introduces a new right of appeal for proprietors of independent educational institutions and non-maintained special schools against decisions by the regulator, such as the refusal of an application for initial registration from a new institution. There are other changes in Part 4, which, my noble friend Lord Adonis stated, the Government will continue to support. In particular, he drew attention to the two issues of concern to the Independent Schools Council and on which, having discussed further with the ISC, we have reached agreement. To avoid any doubt, it is worth reiterating these commitments here. First, we have agreed that regulations sitting under the new standard for leadership and management in Clause 81 will be modelled on the Independent Schools Inspectorate’s criteria for judging leadership and management set out in its current inspection framework. Secondly, in abolishing the category of schools ““approved”” under Section 347 of the Education Act 1996, we are clear that we do not want to introduce extra bureaucracy as a result of a deregulatory measure. We are therefore committed to publishing a central list of all independent schools that are registered as being specially organised to provide for children with special educational needs. In doing this we will look to the possibility of enhancing the information available to parents and local authorities that is contained on the list. To discourage local authorities from creating additional red tape for schools, we will be publishing strengthened, clear guidance, on which we will consult. Indeed, throughout the implementation of these changes, my department will continue to work closely with the sector and schools affected by the repeal of Section 347. It is with these commitments as a backdrop that the amendments in this group are tabled, and I refer noble Lords again to the letter I wrote containing the full detail on these amendments. I beg to move.