| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
“Freedom of information
Where an authorised deposit-taker is subject to an order made under section 3 or where the property, rights and liabilities of an authorised UK deposit-taker have been transferred to a body corporate under section 6, that deposit-taker or body corporate shall be deemed—
(a) to be a publicly owned company for the purposes of section 3(1)(b);
(b) to hold information on behalf of the Treasury for the purposes of section 3(2)(b); of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (c. 36).”
Motion made, and Question put, That this House disagrees with the Lords in the said amendment.— [Mr. Roy.]
The House divided: Ayes 268, Noes 171.
AYES
Abbott, Ms Diane
Ainsworth, rh Mr. Bob
Anderson, Mr. David
Anderson, Janet
Armstrong, rh Hilary
Atkins, Charlotte
Austin, John
Bailey, Mr. Adrian
Baird, Vera
Balls, rh Ed
Banks, Gordon
Barron, rh Mr. Kevin
Battle, rh John
Beckett, rh Margaret
Begg, Miss Anne
Bell, Sir Stuart
Benn, rh Hilary
Benton, Mr. Joe
Berry, Roger
Betts, Mr. Clive
Blackman-Woods, Dr. Roberta
Blizzard, Mr. Bob
Borrow, Mr. David S.
Bradshaw, Mr. Ben
Brennan, Kevin
Brown, Lyn
Brown, rh Mr. Nicholas
Brown, Mr. Russell
Bryant, Chris
Burden, Richard
Burnham, rh Andy
Byrne, Mr. Liam
Caborn, rh Mr. Richard
Cairns, David
Campbell, Mr. Alan
Campbell, Mr. Ronnie
Caton, Mr. Martin
Cawsey, Mr. Ian
Challen, Colin
Chapman, Ben
Chaytor, Mr. David
Clapham, Mr. Michael
Clark, Ms Katy
Clark, Paul
Clarke, rh Mr. Charles
Clelland, Mr. David
Clwyd, rh Ann
Coaker, Mr. Vernon
Coffey, Ann
Cohen, Harry
Connarty, Michael
Cook, Frank
Cooper, Rosie
Cooper, rh Yvette
Cousins, Jim
Crausby, Mr. David
Cruddas, Jon
Cryer, Mrs. Ann
Cummings, John
Cunningham, Mr. Jim
Cunningham, Tony
Darling, rh Mr. Alistair
David, Mr. Wayne
Davidson, Mr. Ian
Davies, Mr. Dai
Davies, Mr. Quentin
Dean, Mrs. Janet
Denham, rh Mr. John
Devine, Mr. Jim
Dhanda, Mr. Parmjit
Dismore, Mr. Andrew
Dobbin, Jim
Dobson, rh Frank
Donohoe, Mr. Brian H.
Dowd, Jim
Drew, Mr. David
Eagle, Angela
Eagle, Maria
Efford, Clive
Ellman, Mrs. Louise
Ennis, Jeff
Fitzpatrick, Jim
Flello, Mr. Robert
Flint, rh Caroline
Flynn, Paul
Follett, Barbara
Foster, Mr. Michael (Worcester)
Foster, Michael Jabez (Hastings and Rye)
Francis, Dr. Hywel
Gapes, Mike
Goggins, Paul
Goodman, Helen
Griffith, Nia
Gwynne, Andrew
Hain, rh Mr. Peter
Hall, Mr. Mike
Hall, Patrick
Hamilton, Mr. David
Hamilton, Mr. Fabian
Hanson, rh Mr. David
Harman, rh Ms Harriet
Harris, Mr. Tom
Havard, Mr. Dai
Healey, John
Henderson, Mr. Doug
Hepburn, Mr. Stephen
Heppell, Mr. John
Hesford, Stephen
Hewitt, rh Ms Patricia
Heyes, David
Hillier, Meg
Hodge, rh Margaret
Hodgson, Mrs. Sharon
Hood, Mr. Jim
Hoon, rh Mr. Geoffrey
Howarth, rh Mr. George
Hoyle, Mr. Lindsay
Humble, Mrs. Joan
Hutton, rh Mr. John
Iddon, Dr. Brian
Illsley, Mr. Eric
Irranca-Davies, Huw
James, Mrs. Siân C.
Jenkins, Mr. Brian
Johnson, rh Alan
Jones, Helen
Jones, Mr. Kevan
Jowell, rh Tessa
Keeble, Ms Sally
Keeley, Barbara
Keen, Alan
Keen, Ann
Kemp, Mr. Fraser
Kennedy, rh Jane
Khan, Mr. Sadiq
Kidney, Mr. David
Kilfoyle, Mr. Peter
Knight, Jim
Kumar, Dr. Ashok
Ladyman, Dr. Stephen
Lammy, Mr. David
Laxton, Mr. Bob
Lazarowicz, Mark
Lepper, David
Levitt, Tom
Lewis, Mr. Ivan
Linton, Martin
Love, Mr. Andrew
Lucas, Ian
MacShane, rh Mr. Denis
Mactaggart, Fiona
Mahmood, Mr. Khalid
Mallaber, Judy
Mann, John
Marris, Rob
Marsden, Mr. Gordon
Marshall, Mr. David
Martlew, Mr. Eric
McAvoy, rh Mr. Thomas
McCabe, Steve
McCafferty, Chris
McCarthy, Kerry
McCarthy-Fry, Sarah
McDonagh, Siobhain
McFadden, Mr. Pat
McFall, rh John
McGovern, Mr. Jim
McGuire, Mrs. Anne
McIsaac, Shona
McKechin, Ann
McKenna, Rosemary
McNulty, rh Mr. Tony
Meacher, rh Mr. Michael
Merron, Gillian
Michael, rh Alun
Miliband, rh Edward
Miller, Andrew
Mitchell, Mr. Austin
Moffat, Anne
Moffatt, Laura
Mole, Chris
Moran, Margaret
Morden, Jessica
Morgan, Julie
Mudie, Mr. George
Mullin, Mr. Chris
Munn, Meg
Murphy, Mr. Denis
Murphy, Mr. Jim
Murphy, rh Mr. Paul
Naysmith, Dr. Doug
Norris, Dan
O'Hara, Mr. Edward
Olner, Mr. Bill
Owen, Albert
Palmer, Dr. Nick
Pearson, Ian
Plaskitt, Mr. James
Pope, Mr. Greg
Pound, Stephen
Prentice, Bridget
Prentice, Mr. Gordon
Prescott, rh Mr. John
Primarolo, rh Dawn
Prosser, Gwyn
Purchase, Mr. Ken
Purnell, rh James
Rammell, Bill
Raynsford, rh Mr. Nick
Reed, Mr. Andy
Reed, Mr. Jamie
Reid, rh John
Riordan, Mrs. Linda
Robertson, John
Robinson, Mr. Geoffrey
Rooney, Mr. Terry
Roy, Mr. Frank
Ruane, Chris
Russell, Christine
Ryan, rh Joan
Salter, Martin
Seabeck, Alison
Sharma, Mr. Virendra
Shaw, Jonathan
Sheridan, Jim
Simon, Mr. Siôn
Singh, Mr. Marsha
Skinner, Mr. Dennis
Slaughter, Mr. Andy
Smith, rh Mr. Andrew
Smith, Angela E. (Basildon)
Smith, Geraldine
Smith, John
Snelgrove, Anne
Soulsby, Sir Peter
Southworth, Helen
Spellar, rh Mr. John
Starkey, Dr. Phyllis
Stewart, Ian
Strang, rh Dr. Gavin
Straw, rh Mr. Jack
Stringer, Graham
Stuart, Ms Gisela
Sutcliffe, Mr. Gerry
Taylor, Ms Dari
Thomas, Mr. Gareth
Timms, rh Mr. Stephen
Tipping, Paddy
Todd, Mr. Mark
Turner, Dr. Desmond
Twigg, Derek
Vaz, rh Keith
Walley, Joan
Waltho, Lynda
Watson, Mr. Tom
Watts, Mr. Dave
Whitehead, Dr. Alan
Wicks, Malcolm
Williams, rh Mr. Alan
Williams, Mrs. Betty
Wilson, Phil
Winnick, Mr. David
Winterton, rh Ms Rosie
Wood, Mike
Wright, Mr. Anthony
Wright, David
Wright, Mr. Iain
Wyatt, Derek
Tellers for the Ayes:
Ms Diana R. Johnson and
Liz Blackman
NOES
Afriyie, Adam
Ainsworth, Mr. Peter
Amess, Mr. David
Arbuthnot, rh Mr. James
Atkinson, Mr. Peter
Bacon, Mr. Richard
Baker, Norman
Baldry, Tony
Baron, Mr. John
Beith, rh Mr. Alan
Bellingham, Mr. Henry
Beresford, Sir Paul
Binley, Mr. Brian
Bone, Mr. Peter
Boswell, Mr. Tim
Brazier, Mr. Julian
Brokenshire, James
Brooke, Annette
Browne, Mr. Jeremy
Browning, Angela
Burns, Mr. Simon
Burrowes, Mr. David
Burt, Alistair
Burt, Lorely
Butterfill, Sir John
Campbell, rh Sir Menzies
Carmichael, Mr. Alistair
Carswell, Mr. Douglas
Cash, Mr. William
Chope, Mr. Christopher
Clappison, Mr. James
Clark, Greg
Clarke, rh Mr. Kenneth
Clifton-Brown, Mr. Geoffrey
Corbyn, Jeremy
Cormack, Sir Patrick
Cox, Mr. Geoffrey
Curry, rh Mr. David
Davey, Mr. Edward
Davies, David T.C. (Monmouth)
Davies, Philip
Djanogly, Mr. Jonathan
Duddridge, James
Duncan Smith, rh Mr. Iain
Dunne, Mr. Philip
Ellwood, Mr. Tobias
Evans, Mr. Nigel
Fabricant, Michael
Field, Mr. Mark
Fisher, Mark
Fox, Dr. Liam
Francois, Mr. Mark
Fraser, Mr. Christopher
Gale, Mr. Roger
Garnier, Mr. Edward
Gauke, Mr. David
Gibb, Mr. Nick
Gidley, Sandra
Gillan, Mrs. Cheryl
Goldsworthy, Julia
Goodman, Mr. Paul
Gray, Mr. James
Green, Damian
Greening, Justine
Greenway, Mr. John
Grieve, Mr. Dominic
Hammond, Mr. Philip
Hammond, Stephen
Hands, Mr. Greg
Harper, Mr. Mark
Hayes, Mr. John
Heald, Mr. Oliver
Hendry, Charles
Herbert, Nick
Hoban, Mr. Mark
Hollobone, Mr. Philip
Holloway, Mr. Adam
Holmes, Paul
Hopkins, Kelvin
Horam, Mr. John
Howard, rh Mr. Michael
Howarth, Mr. Gerald
Hughes, Simon
Huhne, Chris
Hunt, Mr. Jeremy
Kawczynski, Daniel
Key, Robert
Kirkbride, Miss Julie
Knight, rh Mr. Greg
Laing, Mrs. Eleanor
Lait, Mrs. Jacqui
Lancaster, Mr. Mark
Lansley, Mr. Andrew
Laws, Mr. David
Leigh, Mr. Edward
Letwin, rh Mr. Oliver
Lewis, Dr. Julian
Liddell-Grainger, Mr. Ian
Lidington, Mr. David
Lilley, rh Mr. Peter
Llwyd, Mr. Elfyn
Loughton, Tim
Mackay, rh Mr. Andrew
MacNeil, Mr. Angus
Main, Anne
Malins, Mr. Humfrey
Maples, Mr. John
Maude, rh Mr. Francis
May, rh Mrs. Theresa
McIntosh, Miss Anne
McLoughlin, rh Mr. Patrick
Mercer, Patrick
Miller, Mrs. Maria
Milton, Anne
Moss, Mr. Malcolm
Mundell, David
Murrison, Dr. Andrew
Neill, Robert
Öpik, Lembit
Osborne, Mr. George
Penning, Mike
Penrose, John
Pickles, Mr. Eric
Price, Adam
Prisk, Mr. Mark
Pritchard, Mark
Randall, Mr. John
Redwood, rh Mr. John
Robertson, Angus
Robertson, Hugh
Robertson, Mr. Laurence
Ruffley, Mr. David
Scott, Mr. Lee
Selous, Andrew
Shapps, Grant
Shepherd, Mr. Richard
Simmonds, Mark
Simpson, Mr. Keith
Soames, Mr. Nicholas
Spicer, Sir Michael
Spink, Bob
Spring, Mr. Richard
Stanley, rh Sir John
Steen, Mr. Anthony
Streeter, Mr. Gary
Swayne, Mr. Desmond
Swinson, Jo
Swire, Mr. Hugo
Syms, Mr. Robert
Taylor, Mr. Ian
Thurso, John
Turner, Mr. Andrew
Vaizey, Mr. Edward
Vara, Mr. Shailesh
Villiers, Mrs. Theresa
Walker, Mr. Charles
Wallace, Mr. Ben
Waterson, Mr. Nigel
Watkinson, Angela
Weir, Mr. Mike
Whittingdale, Mr. John
Widdecombe, rh Miss Ann
Wiggin, Bill
Willetts, Mr. David
Willis, Mr. Phil
Willott, Jenny
Wilson, Mr. Rob
Wright, Jeremy
Yeo, Mr. Tim
Young, rh Sir George
Younger-Ross, Richard
Tellers for the Noes:
Mr. Brooks Newmark and
Mr. David Evennett
Question accordingly agreed to.
Lords amendment disagreed to .
Lords amendment No. 3 disagreed to.
Lords amendments Nos. 4 to 8 agreed to.
Committee appointed to draw up Reasons to be assigned to the Lords for disagreeing to certain of their amendments to the Bill: That Mr. Bob Blizzard, Mr. Jeremy Browne, Yvette Cooper, Mr. Philip Hammond and David Wright be members of the Committee; Yvette Cooper to be the Chairman of the Committee; Three to be the quorum of the Committee.— [Mr. Roy.]
Reasons for disagreeing to certain Lords amendments reported, and agreed to; to be communicated to the Lords.
9.14 pm
11.6 pm
royal assent
Mr. Speaker: I have to notify the House, in accordance with the Royal Assent Act 1967, that the Queen has signified her Royal Assent to the following Act:
Banking (Special Provisions) Act 2008
Schools Reorganisation (Havering)
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn. —[Mr. Blizzard.]
11.7 pm
James Brokenshire (Hornchurch) (Con): I am grateful for the opportunity tonight to highlight a number of issues surrounding potential changes to primary school provision in Havering, with particular reference to my constituency, Hornchurch. The Minister is aware of the matters I wish to raise as we have been in direct correspondence. I understand that he met the head teacher of one of the schools concerned just before Christmas, and I am grateful to him for the time that he spent there and the answers that he gave to the various matters raised with him.
The background to the debate is the proposals by the London borough of Havering to invest in modern primary school facilities in the borough and to address surplus school places in some of the schools. In my constituency, two schools have been particularly affected by the local authority’s proposals—Ayloff primary school and Dunningford primary school. I pay tribute to the head teacher, the teaching staff and the governing bodies of both schools. Each of them has achieved high standards for their pupils and they are a key part of the community in Elm Park.
However, both schools have surplus places. Ayloff has a surplus of 25 per cent. and Dunningford has a surplus of 38.1 per cent. In line with Government and Audit Commission guidance, the local authority felt it necessary to address the issue. As I understand it, the reduction in both schools to, for example, single form entry was not viable, leading to the consideration of more significant changes in the arrangements necessary to deal with the surplus school places.
The council initially proposed the merger of the schools and the creation of a new purpose-built school facility at the current Ayloff site. The council argued that in the difficult situation that it faced in dealing with significant school places, that route would provide a new purpose-built school facility, while maintaining equality of treatment between the staff and governing bodies of both Dunningford and Ayloff, with a new unified school being created. However, it became apparent that the proposed arrangements had not taken account of new provisions introduced under the Education and Inspections Act 2006. Those regulations required proposals for all new primary schools being created, for whatever reason, to be subject to a competition process. It was an extension of arrangements that existed for new secondary schools. The new regulations require that all new primary schools be subject to a competition that invites other potential promoters of schools to express an interest in setting up and operating new schools. Under such arrangements, the local authority continues to have capital responsibility for providing the school’s facilities and maintaining the school as part of the ongoing dedicated schools budget revenue funding model, as applied to all other schools.
If expressions of interest are received, an ongoing competition process ensues. The competition is most likely to result in the provision of a foundation trust or voluntary-aided school if the local authority elects to
have no part in the process. However, the authority can choose to be involved with a promoter’s bid or itself submit a separate proposal for a new school. The local authority, having considered the situation, applied for an exemption in relation to this case, to retain—as it saw it—the concept of equality of treatment between the two schools, but through a merger.
However, that permission was refused by the Secretary of State. As a consequence, Havering council decided to adopt a revised proposal with the proposed closure of Dunningford, even though, as was noted in the briefing paper to the cabinet of Havering council on 14 November 2007,
“it would require a more unpopular decision to close one school and retain one school and thus place staff and governors of the closing school at a significant disadvantage to the school that would remain open.”
The Minister will be aware that I wrote to him about the situation and the impact of the operation of the regulations in the scenario of action to address surplus school places. In his reply to me, the Minister said:
“I can confirm that we considered very carefully the case made by Havering for consent to publish proposals for a new community primary school, but we were not satisfied that the proposed school would contribute to raising local school standards, increased diversity and greater parental choice.”
I understand and appreciate that that decision has been made and I am not seeking tonight to reopen specific consideration of that issue. I also recognise that it is a matter for each local authority to set out and determine its plans for school provision for the local community that it serves, and that Ministers should not intervene. However, I hope that the Minister will be able to provide some clarity on the practical operation of the competition regime under the Education and Inspections Act 2006 and to address some more general issues highlighted by this case.
In particular, how in circumstances of what were in essence school closures because of surplus school places could a local authority demonstrate greater parental choice, as referred to in the Minister’s letter, to meet the requirements of exemption when two schools were being reduced to one, albeit new, school? My driving principle in reviewing the situation has been to consider how best to ensure fairness and equality of treatment between two good schools in this extremely difficult situation. In that context, the Minister will be interested to know that I have made representations to the local authority to hold a competition for the replacement school. However, I have to say that I have done so to preserve balance and equality in the current situation, in which the risk is increasingly that one school might be pitted against the other; it is not because of any real enthusiasm for what appears to be a rigid and bureaucratic measure that the competition regime appears to provide.
In that context, it is worth mentioning certain points that Havering council has put back to me, as highlighted in particular in a letter from Andrew Ireland, the group director of children’s services at the London borough of Havering. He said:
“If it is the case that the only way that diversity and parental choice may be enhanced is through a competition to provide a school then the council’s proposal does not achieve this. However, competition itself does not deliver a greater diversity of providers if the successful bidder is the local authority. So far there has been only one secondary school provided through
competition, in Haringey, and the Local Authority won the competition. That school is not yet built. There has been no primary school built through the competition route to date. There is no evidence at all in the primary sector to justify a claim either way.”
“The competition route was open to it, but officers’ view was that the delay to achieving a new school would be a full year, disagreeing with the DCSF theoretical calculation that the delay would be only 4 months. The alternative route, to close one school, removed the delay but at a cost to the staff and governors of the school being closed. There is real evidence that extended delay can contribute to diminished outcomes for children. The council’s position has to be that the experience of children has to be put first with regret for the worsened position of some staff this entails.”
It should be noted that the council has sought to ameliorate the impact on the staff of Dunningford by declaring that there will be no compulsory redundancies.
As I understand it, the council’s point on the extended delay and its difference of view from that of DCSF officials is that, in order to minimise disruption to the education of pupils, change is best effected at the start of the academic year, and to ensure an appropriate operation of admissions policies in practical terms this requires a specific timetable and means that the delay caused would be about a year. That is a practical issue that has been pointed out to me, and I hope that the Minister might be able to reflect on it as regards the model that has been established.
Other concerns that have been raised include the following: neither the council, the schools or the communities involved would know what the outcome of the process would be until completed; a range of promoters could come forward, or not; the future position of all governors and staff involved would be uncertain, and if a promoter or proposals other than for a community school were approved, it is likely that the staff would be subject to a procedure under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981; that an early start could not be made on new building design as a third party would not have to accept any work completed by the council, further delaying implementation; and that the process for the council providing capital to the new school promoter is at best unclear at this stage.
Those practical and genuinely held concerns have been raised with me, the public in Havering, the schools concerned and the governing bodies. I hope that the Minister might be able to consider and respond to them and in so doing give some guidance on how they could be overcome in this specific example, or more generally for a council in a similar predicament to that in which Havering finds itself. The Minister may say that they are not well founded, in which case, in terms of the continuing process, the officers in the cabinet of Havering council can hear him give another viewpoint on the competition route, which, in practice, may not be as they see it.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |