Objective A: To examine and comment
on the policy of the Department
Task 1: To examine policy proposals from the UK
Government and the European Commission in Green Papers, White
Papers, draft guidance etc, and to inquire further where the Committee
considers it appropriate.
29. The Committee's inquiry into 14-19 education
was prompted by the 2003 Government White Paper 21st Century
Skills—Realising
Our Potential, and the
paper 14-19: opportunity and excellence. The DfES Working
Group on 14-19
Reform, headed by Mike Tomlinson, published its Interim Report
in February and a final report in October 2004.
30. In July 2004, the Government issued its Five
Year Strategy for Children and Learners, which sets out its
proposals for education into the next Parliament. We took evidence
on this document as part of our review of secondary education,
focusing particularly on the Government's plans for schools and
LEAs and its proposed reforms of the schools funding mechanism.
Task 2: To identify and examine areas of emerging
policy, or where existing policy is deficient, and make proposals.
31. In 2004 we held a number of evidence Sessions
on the Government's reform of children's services, originally
introduced in the 2003 Green Paper Every Child Matters.
Last year saw the enactment of the Children Bill and we took evidence
from the Minister for Children as this legislation passed through
the House. We are currently engaged in an inquiry into the implementation
of this Act.
32. Our inquiry into Education Outside the Classroom
explored students' access to the outdoors. We examined the decline
of outdoor education and will make proposals for Government action
to halt this trend in a forthcoming report.
Task 3: To conduct scrutiny of any published draft
bill within the Committee's responsibilities.
33. The draft School Transport Bill was published
in March 2004. We conducted pre-legislative scrutiny of this Bill
and made proposals for improvements in a report published in July
2004. The draft Bill returned to the House in its final form in
November 2004, with amendments. Our report was widely referenced
during the Second Reading Debate and the Committee Stage of the
Bill's progress.
Task 4: To examine specific output from the Department
expressed in documents or other decisions.
34. The DfES provides the Committee with copies of
all statutory instruments laid before Parliament.
