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Children, Schools and Families Bill

My Lords, one would normally expect all elements of the national curriculum to be fully inspected by Ofsted. As part of the national curriculum, that would be the case for PSHE as well. I am getting a very slow nod coming from the source of my inspiration over there, but that is what I would expect. I reassure my noble friend Lady Blackstone and the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, that the effect of the government amendment which was accepted in the other place is slight in practice. It simply puts beyond doubt something that we believe was already clear. All schools will still be under a duty to comply with the principles regarding accuracy, balance and diversity, as I have just described. Faith schools will still—as now—be able to teach pupils about the stance of their church, so Catholic schools, for example, will be free to communicate the Catholic Church’s views about the use of contraception, but they will be required to teach that contraception exists, is available, and to say that the church’s point of view is not the only one. I also welcome the recognition by the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, that the age of withdrawal is a step in the right direction. I am still focusing on curriculum. The noble Lord, Lord Lucas, talked about the Rose review. I will write to the noble Lord on that. The noble Earl, Lord Listowel, talked about the challenge posed by teenage pregnancy rates and how they are influenced by a wide range of factors. He was very clear about his concerns, but there is growing evidence in this regard. We know that sex and relationship education programmes have a positive impact on the behaviours that lead to teenage pregnancies. There is a great deal of evidence available that I would be happy to share with noble Lords. I agree also with the noble Earl about teacher training in PSHE. We are taking a number of steps beyond this Bill. We are delivering £2 million of funding each year to train teachers and professionals delivering PSHE in schools. As noble Lords would expect, we are working with the Training and Development Agency for Schools. I appreciate that home education is a very controversial issue. I was very interested in—and have thought very carefully about—the comments made in the debate. My noble friend Lord Soley spoke very eloquently about the dilemmas involved, as did the noble Baroness, Lady Deech. The noble Baroness talked about balancing the rights of the parents and the right of the child to education. I listened very carefully indeed to the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, as I always do. As we know, the Bill ensures standards of education—that is the key driver here. The noble Baroness, Lady Bottomley, was particularly concerned about what was driving standards of education. Access to a standard of education is important. The registration and monitoring of home educated children will not be onerous. Many noble Lords wanted that to be clear. Local authorities must have the tools they need to tackle the small number of cases where the education provided is not satisfactory. I want to reassure the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, that the ContactPoint directory will be very helpful in promoting registration, along with a whole range of other issues. It is key that we promote access to a suitable education for all children, as the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, stressed so clearly. With regard to the concerns expressed by the noble Baronesses, Lady Verma and Lady Bottomley, and the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, the Bill does nothing to change the rights of parents to educate their children. Parents will continue to decide whether their children should go to school or whether they wish to educate them at home. There is nothing in the Bill that requires parents to teach the national curriculum, take certain qualifications, or follow certain hours, but it is right that local authorities have the tools they need to fulfil the duties that we place on them. The noble Lord, Lord Laming, as ever, spoke extremely eloquently about Clauses 28 and 29 and I welcome his support. I agree that the purpose of a serious case review is not to act as an inquiry or to apportion blame but to help agencies learn the lessons and improve practice. I agree that success depends on the voluntary contributions of all involved, relying on families and neighbours to share aspects of their lives which they might otherwise hope to keep confidential. I agree, too, that it is best to gather all the available information if we are to have confidence in the serious case review recommendations which are so key to moving forward. Serious case reviews are different from inquiries. I stress the important role of the executive summary as a published document and the key role that Ofsted plays in ensuring that it is an accurate summary of the main report so that the public can have confidence in the recommendations. I agree that undertakings of confidentiality made in the production of these important documents must be honoured and that we must have consistent policies in the handling of all serious case reviews. I thank the noble Lord for advising us and giving us the benefit of his experience once again. I will have to wait until I have had Sir Roger Singleton’s review before I can answer the question from the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, but I will make sure that she is properly and promptly informed about the Government’s plans on that. There was much concern about the family courts. In response to the challenge from noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, the Government are committed to the paramountcy principle, to the Every Child Matters outcomes, and to promoting the best interests of the child. We are committed to ensuring the privacy of children and families involved in court proceedings but there is widespread recognition that the family justice system needs to become more accountable to the public that it serves. There were some very detailed questions on this and I will respond to each and every one in full. There were 23 amendments in the other place looking at strengthening the review process for the transparency measures. We hear the concerns that have been raised and we will work hard with partners and stakeholders to ensure that we are offering the reassurances required. The noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, as ever, made some very important points about the needs of vulnerable children. I can commit, on the record, that, as I said in my letter to him earlier today, the legislation requires local authorities to ensure that there is enough suitable education and training to meet the reasonable needs of young people detained in the youth custody system. That is very much the responsibility of local authorities, and I would be happy to meet further with him to discuss that and any other matters of concern that he may have. I should conclude, because I have overrun by three minutes. I reiterate my commitment to follow up on the concerns that have been raised to make sure that we do the work and that we do it properly. I thank noble Lords for this debate. Building on our record of improving standards, this Bill will help to deliver a world-class 21st century schooling system that will allow every child and every young person, whatever their interests and abilities, to reach their full potential. I commend the Bill to the House. Bill read a second time and committed to a Committee of the Whole House.