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Schools (Sutton)

I strongly endorse that last request to the Minister. Indeed, I echo much of what was said by my hon. Friend the Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Tom Brake), and I congratulate him on securing this debate. I first referred to the question of school admissions policy in my maiden speech in 1997. The matter has been raised many times in one way or another, and I am sure that that will continue. At its heart, the debate is about what is fair. It is about how to ensure a fair system for allocating school places and for allocating resources in order to ensure that everyone who wants a place gets one. Arrangements for secondary school places in Sutton are complex. Competition for places is incredibly fierce, because the schools are popular, not least because we have a mixed economy of comprehensive and selective schools in Sutton, all of which are successful. Changes to admission rules, particularly by selective schools, are altering the character of the schools' intakes. They are changing from local schools into regional or sub-regional schools. As a result, even bright children in Sutton struggle to secure places, and coaching is seen as an essential investment. Coaching, which is paid for privately, is a great way of excluding many of those who cannot afford to pay for it. That is now happening in Sutton. Those who can afford it can buy the coaching and bump up the chances of their child getting a place. A straight count of high school places in the borough suggests, on paper, that there is no problem. However, that is not the reality experienced by those of my constituents that live in Worcester Park. They live on the edge of the borough, and it seems that they do not benefit from the Greenwich judgment, because there are no schools in the vicinity on the other side of the border. It is for that reason that I strongly support my hon. Friend. We need legislation that will bring some flexibility, allowing admission authorities to prioritise places for children resident in the borough—if necessary, by clarifying or, in my view, by overturning the Greenwich judgment. We also need to see a strengthening of the role of the school admissions forums. In my experience, they are tied down too much by vested interests. They need to be genuinely of and for the interests of parents and the borough, and they should speak first and foremost for those interests. Last week, my hon. Friend and I met the Minister for Schools and Learners, the hon. Member for Gedling (Mr. Coaker). I suspect that the Minister knows about it, as we were making a case for additional funding to support the schools' and Sutton council's efforts to deal with the rapid and rather unexpected rise in demand for school places, which has risen as a result of a 29 per cent. increase in the birth rate between 2001 and 2008. That increase is not spread evenly across the borough, but is concentrated in Worcester Park and certain parts of central Sutton. For various reasons, a higher proportion of parents are electing to send their children to local state primary schools. The combination of a higher birth rate and a higher number electing to go to local state primary schools is causing pressure. We welcome the fact that the Government have set up the basic need safety-valve fund to help deal with that pressure, but we are sad that Sutton was not successful. However, £30 million is still left in the fund, and between £2 million and £3 million would enable Sutton to plan to provide not only additional classroom accommodation but the essential space for staff and children to meet the Government's standards and avoid the risk of schools being cramped and overcrowded. I hope, Miss Begg, that you and other hon. Members will understand that I shall have to depart shortly, because St. Dunstan's Church of England primary school is visiting the House today with its head teacher, Mrs. Christine Smyth. Earlier, I took the school on a rather inadequate tour, but I hope that everyone found it useful. It is one of those Church of England schools that operates a generous and fair admissions policy. I have not been told to say that: it is true. I shall soon be given a rough grilling by the pupils. I look forward to reading and discussing with my hon. Friend the Minister's response to the debate.