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Schools: Statutory Instruments (Merits Committee Report)

My Lords, I join other noble Lords in congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Filkin, and the Merits Committee on this very informative report. It highlights the great pressures that overburden can place on a sector that has already had so many changes, initiatives, targets and demands laid at its door that the professionals within it barely have time to bed-in one government demand before another comes along. Much of what I was planning to say in my speech today has already been said by several noble Lords. However, a number of points are worth repeating. It is crucial that schools are not continually burdened with the weight of increased bureaucracy while trying to carry out the functions that they are employed to do. I have met many great head teachers who are inspirational, visionary and full of innovation and commitment to ensuring that their students reach their full potential. These enthusiastic engines in schools must be allowed to make progress without hindrance. Research undertaken by the implementation review unit found that, during 2006-07, more than 760 communications were sent to schools from the Department for Children, Schools and Families and its national agencies. Surely the Minister must accept that this is excessive, adds to the burdens of implementation and distracts providers of learning from the job in hand. The report clearly highlights the concerns felt by those in the schools sector about overload and micromanagement by central government. As the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, said, the National Governors’ Association—it is worth repeating—said that, ""endless piecemeal change has become one of the main reasons given for leaving the job. It is not unruly and undisciplined children that are forcing good teachers and governors out of our schools; it is unruly and undisciplined legislation"." In responding to the report’s recommendations, will the Minister say whether she agrees with her colleague in another place, Jim Knight, that ongoing regulation is needed if the Government are to deliver their manifesto policy in an environment that has a very high degree of delegation? The teaching sector would probably think that that is an unhelpful view. What action will the Government take to ensure that, as Recommendation 1 in the report suggests, the Department for Children, Schools and Families should strengthen its gate-keeping activities, particularly by minimising the burdens placed on schools by regulations issued by other government departments? It should also look at how statutory instruments are worded and ensure that they provide clarity to those who are expected to deliver them, as the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, said. The National Association of Head Teachers drew attention to school leadership and to those who were expected to implement the communications. It argued that there were too many SIs and associated initiatives, which had a direct bearing on the ability of less experienced school leaders to consider SI regulations, unlike experienced school leaders, who would consider and prioritise the regulations and their implementation. These SIs and initiatives impose unnecessary pressures on school leaders at an unacceptably early stage of their careers. Can the Minister say what measures will be taken to ensure that new school leaders are given sufficient support to understand and deliver the relevant communications? Furthermore, does she agree with the report’s Recommendation 3, that: ""Schools should be given at least one full term’s lead-in time between the notification of a new requirement in a statutory instrument and the commencement of that requirement"?" In May this year, the Prime Minister said in a speech to the National College for School Leadership that regulating burdens on schools needed to be addressed. He said that, ""government also needs to know where to step back. Academies and Trusts have additional freedoms, but we must look harder at how we can rationalise the statutory duties, correspondence and guidance that schools receive ... And so, in doing so, we will free up schools to push forward the frontiers of innovation ... So, as government steps back and offers greater freedoms, we must support the leadership of our schools to step forward"." In supporting what the Prime Minister said in May, will the Minister assure us that the recommendations made by the Prime Minister and Jim Knight, who said that the Government would want to take a view about whether it would be possible to replicate certain aspects of the academies model more widely in the system, will be implemented? Will she also assure us that the new schools Minister will continue to lessen the burdens on schools, given that he is a member of the Socialist Education Association, which has been very vocal about ending the academy programme? Will she also say whether Recommendation 6 in the report will be implemented, especially if the Government think that the light-touch regulatory framework for academies is appropriate and successful and that lighter touch should be extended to all maintained schools? The IRU has expressed concerns about the number of SIs that the Government have introduced and the impact that they have had. It reported: ""We doubt that the excessive use of secondary legislation (and statutory guidance) concerned almost entirely with mandatory processes that schools must adopt rather than outcomes they should achieve is the most effective way of equipping schools to make the maximum contribution towards those outcomes"." The then schools Minister, Jim Knight, said in May this year that SIs would be assessed through impact assessments. Can the Minister say what progress has been made and whether any information is available to show that the Government are serious in their considerations? I ask this in view of the Apprenticeship, Skills, Children and Learning Bill currently being debated in your Lordships’ House. I know that the Bill has raised a great number of concerns among many organisations about the increased burdens that they face, and I suspect that those fears will be compounded by the prospect of a whole new raft of SIs that will follow. It would be useful if the Minister could provide assurances that these matters will be addressed, particularly the point raised by the right reverend Prelate about the number of consultations to which schools are expected to respond. The teaching profession must have flexibility, particularly in its recruitment processes, if it is to attract talented people. Sadly, the number of teacher vacancies is a symptom of a sector weighed down by too many initiatives, too much bureaucracy and too much form-filling, added to the increasing incidence of teachers having to deal with disruptive pupil behaviour in the classroom. The report suggests a common commencement date for SIs and a lead time of at least a term so as to assist teachers in preparing for an SI’s implementation, particularly as schools also bear the pressures of SIs brought through by other departments. Will the Minister ensure that this gets immediate attention to alleviate some of the pressures currently felt by schools? Will she say whether post-implementation evaluation will take place and stakeholders then consulted? Will there be feedback before subsequent implementations are applied? The report has raised a number of recommendations. Witnesses who have contributed in their evidence all raise the concerns felt by many noble Lords here today. My noble friend Lord Lucas raised the very important point on the capacity of schools, particularly small schools, to respond to the burdens of implementation. My noble friend, the noble Lord, Lord Filkin, and others in the committee have worked with great expertise to produce a balanced report, to which I hope the Government will respond with enthusiasm. I will listen with great interest to the Minister’s response, as I suspect that we shall visit this matter again.