New Clause
8
Revenue
and Customs information
‘(1)
The Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs may
disclose information relating to income tax or tax credits to a person
for use in connection with the exercise of an assessment function of
the Secretary of State or a devolved
authority.
(2) The reference in
subsection (1) to the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue
and Customs includes a reference to a person authorised by the
Commissioners.’.—[Jim
Knight.]
Brought
up, and added to the Bill.
New Clause
9
Use
of information
‘(1)
Information disclosed to a person in reliance on section (Benefit and
training information)(1)(b) or (Revenue and Customs information) may be
used by that person only in connection with the exercise of an
assessment function of the Secretary of State or a devolved
authority.
(2) Subsection (3)
applies where information about an individual is used in connection
with the exercise of an assessment function of the Secretary of State
or a devolved
authority—
(a) in
reliance on section (Benefit and training information)(1)(a),
or
(b) under subsection (1)
above.
(3) So far as is
reasonably practicable, the information must not be used in such a way
that the identity of the individual is
disclosed to, or capable of being discovered by, a person carrying out
an evaluation or assessment of a kind mentioned in section (Benefit and
training information)(4)(a) to (c).’.— [Jim
Knight.]
Brought
up, and added to the
Bill.
New
Clause
10
Sixth
form admissions etc
‘After
section 86 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (c. 31)
(parental preferences)
insert—
“86A
Preferences relating to sixth-form education: local education authority
arrangements
(1) A local
education authority shall make arrangements for
enabling—
(a) a child in
the authority’s area to express a preference as to the school at
which he wishes sixth form education to be provided for him in the
exercise of the authority’s
functions,
(b) a parent of such
a child to express a preference as to the school at which he wishes
sixth form education to be so provided for his
child,
(c) a relevant child to
express a preference as to the school at which he wishes education
other than sixth form education to be provided for him in the exercise
of the authority’s functions,
and
(d) a parent of such a
child to express a preference as to the school at which he wishes such
education to be so provided for his
child,
and, in each case, for
enabling the person expressing the preference to give reasons for his
preference.
(2) In subsection
(1), “relevant child”, in relation to a local education
authority and any education, means a child in the authority’s
area who—
(a) has ceased
to be of compulsory school age,
or
(b) will have ceased to be
of compulsory school age before the education in question is provided
for him.
(3) Arrangements made
under subsection (1) shall
allow—
(a) a person who
is to be able to express a preference under any of paragraphs (a) to
(d) of that subsection to express preferences for more than one
school;
(b) preferences to be
expressed, in relation to a child, by both the child and a parent of
his.
(4)
Where—
(a) the
arrangements for the admission of pupils to a maintained school provide
for applications for admission to be made to (or to a person acting on
behalf of) the governing body of the school,
and
(b) a child (whether or not
in the area of the authority maintaining the school) or his parent
makes such an application,
that
person shall be regarded for the purposes of this Chapter as having
expressed a preference for that school in accordance with arrangements
made under subsection (1).
(5)
Regulations may provide, in cases where a school operates arrangements
for entry to the sixth form of children who have been admitted to the
school, for a child who has been admitted to the school, or his parent,
to be regarded, in prescribed circumstances, for the purposes of this
Chapter as having expressed a preference for sixth form education to be
provided for the child at the school in accordance with arrangements
made under subsection (1).
86B
Duty in relation to preferences expressed under section 86A: admission
authorities of maintained
schools
(1) Subject to
subsections (2) and (4) and section 87, the admission authority for a
maintained school shall comply with any preference expressed in
accordance with arrangements made under section
86A(1).
(2) The duty imposed by subsection (1) does not
apply if compliance with the preference would prejudice the provision
of efficient education or the efficient use of
resources.
(3)
Subsections (5) to (5B) of section 86 apply for the purpose of
determining whether any prejudice should be taken to arise for the
purposes of subsection (2), but with the substitution of references to
that subsection for references to subsection (3)(a) of section
86.
(4) The duty imposed by
subsection (1) does not apply in a case where a preference is expressed
in relation to sixth form education
if—
(a) the relevant
selection arrangements for the preferred school are wholly based on
selection by reference to ability or aptitude,
and
(b) compliance with the
preference would be incompatible with selection under those
arrangements.
(5) Where the
relevant selection arrangements for a school provide for all pupils
selected under the arrangements to be selected by reference to ability
or aptitude, those arrangements shall be taken for the purposes of
subsection (4)(a) to be wholly based on selection by reference to
ability or aptitude whether or not they also provide for the use of
additional criteria in circumstances where the number of children in a
relevant age group who are assessed to be of the requisite ability or
aptitude is greater than the number of pupils which it is intended to
admit to the school in that age
group.
(6) In this section
“the relevant selection arrangements”, in relation to a
school, means—
(a) the
arrangements for admission to the school for sixth form education,
or
(b) those arrangements and
the arrangements for entry to the sixth form of children who have been
admitted to the school.” ’.—[Jim
Knight.]
Brought
up, and added to the
Bill.
New
Clause
11
Sixth
form admissions etc:
appeals
‘(1) Section 94 of
the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (c. 31) (appeal
arrangements: general) is amended as
follows.
(2) In subsection
(1)—
(a) for “the
parent of a child” substitute “the appropriate
person”;
(b) before
paragraph (a)
insert—
“(za) in
a case where the local education authority are the admissions
authority, any decision made by or on behalf of the authority refusing
a child admission to a
school,”;
(c) in
paragraph (a)—
(i) for
“any decision” substitute “any other
decision”, and
(ii) for
“the child” substitute “a
child”;
(d) in paragraph
(b), for “the child” substitute “a
child”.
(3) In
subsection (1A), for “the parent of” substitute
“the appropriate person in relation
to”.
(4) In subsection
(2)—
(a) for “the
parent of a child” substitute “the appropriate
person”;
(b) for
“the child” substitute “a
child”.
(5) In
subsection (2A), for “the parent of” substitute
“the appropriate person in relation
to”.
(6) After that
subsection
insert—
“(2B) In
this section, “the appropriate person”, in relation to a
child, means—
(a)
in the case of a decision made in relation to a
preference expressed in accordance with arrangements made under section
86A(1) as to where education should be provided for the child any of
the following—
(i) the
child;
(ii) a parent of
his;
(iii) the child and a parent of his, acting
jointly;
(but subject to
regulations made under subsection
(5A));
(b) in any other case, a
parent of the
child.”
(7) In
subsection (5A), after paragraph (a)
insert—
“(aa) in
cases where separate appeals are made by a parent and a child against a
decision made in relation to a preference expressed in
accordance with arrangements made under section 86A(1), for the appeals
to be joined, or otherwise for securing that no more than one appeal
against the decision is proceeded
with;”.’.—[Jim
Knight.]
Brought
up, and added to the
Bill.
New
Clause
12
Meaning
of “sixth form education”
etc
‘After section 98 of the
School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (c. 31)
insert—
“98A
Meaning of “sixth form education”
etc
(1) In this Chapter,
“sixth form education” means secondary education suitable
to the requirements of pupils who are over compulsory school
age.
(2) References in this
Chapter, in relation to a child who has been admitted to a school, to
his entering the school’s sixth form are to his being
transferred to a class at the school in which sixth form education is
provided from a class in which such education is not so
provided.” ’.—[Jim
Knight.]
Brought
up, and added to the
Bill.
New
Clause
14
Exercise
of travel functions by local education authorities in England: duty to
have regard to religion or belief of persons of sixth form
age
‘In section 509AD of the
Education Act 1996 (c. 56) (LEAs in England: duty to have regard
to religion or belief in exercise of travel functions), in subsection
(1), for the words from “to any wish” to the end
substitute—
“(a)
to any wish of a parent of such a person for him to be provided with
education or training at a particular school, institution or other
place where that wish is based on the parent’s religion or
belief, and
(b) in a case where
the person in question (or any of the persons in question) is of sixth
form age (within the meaning given in section 509AC(1)), to any wish of
that person to be provided with education or training at a particular
school, institution or other place where that wish is based on the
person’s religion or belief.”’.—[Jim
Knight.]
Brought
up, and added to the
Bill.
Ordered,
That certain written evidence
already reported to the House be appended to the proceedings of the
Committee.—[Jim
Knight.]
Jim
Knight:
On a point of order, Mr. Bayley, I
would like to take the opportunity to thank you for the way in which
you have managed the Committee’s proceedings. At times they have
not been easy, particularly today when there has been so much business
to complete. Last week we thanked Mr. Bercow when we knew
that it was his last time in the Chair.
I thank the
Clerks, the Official Reporters, the doorkeepers and the police for
facilitating the Committee’s proceedings.
I could not have performed my duties without the support of my invisible
and unheard officials, and I am grateful to them. I extend my thanks to the hon.
Members for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton and for South Holland and
The Deepings—a remarkable double act that I have worked opposite
before. I have tried to think of the appropriate analogy—Little
and Large, Starsky and Hutch, Laurel and Hardy, or Marx and Engels.
Morecambe and Wise came to mind, as one of the hon. Gentlemen seems to
put the more into Morecambe and the other, on some occasions, puts the
wise into Wise. The Committee’s proceedings would not have been
the same without the meandering of the hon. Member for South Holland
and The Deepings, as opposed to the comments of the straight man that
he works with. His meanderings took us to Proust, William Morris,
liberalism, his son and his wife, and were all part of the rich
tapestry and entertainment of the Committee.
I also thank the hon. Members
for Yeovil and for Bristol, West who provided robust opposition. They
are not so much a double act as a tag wrestling team, as I think this
is the only occasion when we have seen them in the room
together.
The
Under-Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, my
hon. Friend the Member for Tottenham, also helped me with the eight
clauses that he took through. During the course of this Committee he
became a father, and the football team that his constituency is named
after and he supports won a domestic cup, even though it is a less
important one. I congratulate him.
We have also had significant
contributions from the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire with
his obsessions, and great expertise and wisdom from my hon. Friend the
Member for Llanelli.
I
have been ably supported by the Whip. My hon. Friend the Member for
Worcester has, as ever, been very helpful to me and there has been
great support behind me, principally from my hon. Friend the Member for
Bridgend but also from my hon. Friends the Members for Hove and for
Llanelli and even, on one occasion, my hon. Friend the Member for
Blackpool, South.
I
have not mentioned everybody because we all want to go home but I am
very grateful to them all. Again, thank you, Mr.
Bayley.
Mr.
Gibb:
Further to that point of order, Mr.
Bayley. This has been an interesting Bill Committee, as all Committees
on which my hon. Friend the Member for South Holland and The Deepings
serves tend to be.
I
thank you, Mr. Bayley, for your objective and cheerful
chairmanship. I thank my hon. Friend for sharing the burden of
representing the Opposition viewpoint on the Bill. He has a charismatic
style that is welcome and he can always be relied upon to fill space
and time when needed. He is as much a part of the arts and crafts
movement as William Morris—or at least a part of that era. He is
also a ferret when it comes to detailed scrutiny of Bills. His support
has been very welcome.
I thank my hon. Friend the
Member for Upminster for her assiduous whipping and her contributions
to
the debate. My hon. Friend the Member for North-East Hertfordshire
reflected my passion for phonics with his equally passionate concern
about reading standards. I am grateful to him for airing those concerns
so assiduously and so frequently. I am also grateful to my hon. Friend
the Member for Broxbourne for his friendly and always interesting
contributions to the debate. It has been pleasure dealing
with both Ministers, who have always been polite and as full as they
dare in explaining the clauses and opposing our amendments.
Finally, it has also been a
pleasure listening to the hon. Member for Yeovil, who shares so many of
our concerns about standards, and to the hon. Member for Bristol, West
in his later contributions to the
Bill.
Mr.
Laws:
Further to the point of order, Mr.
Bayley. I too thank you and Mr. Bercow for the way in which
you have chaired what I think has been a very good-natured Committee
over these past few weeks. I add my thanks to the Clerks, officials,
doorkeepers, policemen and Hansard reporters, and all those who
have helped us with our proceedings.
I also thank those on whom
Opposition Members tend to have to rely—those outside bodies who
provide and, as the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings
said, sometimes inspire to a great extent the amendments that we table.
I mention in particular the National Union of Teachers and
Barnardo’s, who did such a job of inspiring that they may even
have helped to tweak elements of the Bill.
I thank the Minister, my hon.
Friend, if I may say so, and near neighbour the Member for South
Dorset, who was always extremely patient and constructive and very well
briefed. We hope to see him in this place for many years to come, if I
am allowed to say that without causing offence to anyone in my part of
the world. I thank his colleagues for their patience and for their
assiduous attendance, which sadly did not permit us to spring any
surprises on the Whips. I also thank the hon. Member for Tottenham who
was delivering his child—or second child—at the same time
as he was delivering, as Under-Secretary of State for Innovation,
Universities and Skills, most of the Bill, covering most of the clauses
very effectively.
On
this side of the Committee, I obviously thank my hon. Friend the Member
for Bristol, West, particularly for covering during the debates on
attendance notices when I was inadvertently absent and unable to move
one of my own amendments. He did an excellent job. I read his speech
today and it is far better than I could have managed.
I thank the Conservative members
of the Committee. We hoped to hear more about synthetic phonics, but we
enjoyed the contributions of the hon. Members for Bognor Regis and
Littlehampton and for North-East Hertfordshire. The latter kept us on
our toes on the importance of reading, writing and, of course,
adding-up.
We were
grateful for the entertainment value and the acute observations
provided by the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings. Only
today I was looking at his biographical details. His chosen sport is
darts and we note the relevance of that to many of his contributions. I
was surprised to see that his main
hobby is listed as jam making, which I imagine is an activity that takes
some time and involves a great deal of lone activity—we saw
evidence of that in his later contributions in the final stages
today. We
had one moment of great optimism, Mr.
Bayley, when your fellow Chairman, Mr. Bercow, caught the
hon. Gentleman reading a book on liberalism during one of my speeches.
For a moment, until we discovered the nature of volume, I thought that
we could look forward with optimism to the hon. Gentleman’s
future political career. I hope that I can lend him a more constructive
book on liberalism to influence his future
contributions.
The
Chairman:
I thank colleagues for their kind words about me
and my co-Chairman, and I will pass their comments on to Mr.
Bercow. Like you all, I am indebted to the Clerks, the Hansard
reporters and all the staff who have made it possible for us to conduct
business in the Committee. I am indebted to you all for the wise words
and good humour with which you have conducted the debate on issues on
which sometimes there have been passionate disagreements. Most of all,
I am indebted to John Hayes for deciding that he did not need to raise
a brief point of order at this
point.
Bill, as
amended, to be reported, pursuant to the Order of the House [14
January].
Committee
rose at thirteen minutes past Four
o’clock
.
| 
