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17 July 2006 : Column 1095
Finance Bill (EAC Report)
Lord Wakeham: My Lords, I beg to move the Motion standing in my name on the Order Paper.
Moved, That this House takes note of the report of the Economic Affairs Committee on the Finance Bill 2006 (6th Report, HL Paper 204).—(Lord Wakeham.)
On Question, Motion agreed to.
Constitutional Reform (Prerogative Powers and Civil Service etc.) Bill [HL]
8.27 pm
Clause 18 [Power to impose new nationality requirements]:
Lord Lester of Herne Hill moved Amendment No. 1:
The noble Lord said: My Lords, I shall also speak briefly to Amendments Nos. 2 to 4, as they all run together. These are technical and tidying-up amendments following criticisms made in Committee, especially by the Minister, of the Bill as it then stood.
Briefly, the amendments do three things. First, they replace the phrase “officer of the Crown” with “person or body”. That reflects the range of officials responsible for the day-to-day running of their organisations to whom Ministers may delegate power. Secondly, the amendments include a reference to the Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997, which corresponds to Section 75(5)(b) of the Race Relations Act 1976. This omission was kindly pointed out in Committee by the noble Lord, Lord Bassam of Brighton. Thirdly, they leave the power to create new rules imposing nationality requirements with the Minister or any other person or body to whom that power has been delegated—again, to meet the criticisms made on behalf of the Government by the Minister.
We acknowledge the request of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee for an explanation of why the Bill does not provide for new rules to be in the form of a statutory instrument. We are satisfied that the Government provided an explanation in Committee—namely, that that would not allow sufficient flexibility to impose or relax the reservation of posts in order to meet emergency situations. That approach is consistent with the Public Administration Select Committee’s draft Civil Service Bill in the other place in its first report of Session 2003-04. In short, we hope that these amendments meet the criticisms of a technical nature that have been made. I beg to move.
Lord Bassam of Brighton: My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Lester, knows well our approach and attitude to the Bill. I am most grateful to him for having listened to what we said at an earlier stage of the Bill’s passage. We are more than content to accept these four amendments because they tidy up
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On Question, amendment agreed to.
Lord Lester of Herne Hill moved Amendments Nos. 2 to 4:
(a) section 75(5)(b) of the Race Relations Act 1976 (c. 74) (rules relating to nationality etc. of persons employed in service of Crown), and (b) Article 71(5)(b) of the Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 (S.I. 1997/869 (N.I. 6)) (corresponding provision for Northern Ireland), to the implementation of rules include the grant of (or refusal to grant) exemptions under subsection (4)(b).”On Question, amendments agreed to.
Northern Ireland: Integrated Schools
8.31 pm
Baroness Blood rose to ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to develop more integrated schools in Northern Ireland and to encourage the transformation of existing schools to integrated schools.
The noble Baroness said: My Lords, I declare an interest. I am the campaign chair of the Integrated Education Fund in Northern Ireland.
“I do not see how any man can think that peace can ever be permanently established if the children are separated at the commencement of life on account of their religious opinion”.
When Dr Doyle, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Kildare, expressed that sentiment in the mid-19th century, he could have had no idea that 170 years later 95 per cent of children in Northern Ireland would still largely be educated in separate schools, divided by virtue of their religious affiliation.
I thought it would be appropriate to begin today by paying tribute to the late Lord Henry Dunleath, for it was he, through this House, who successfully secured an amendment to the Education and Library Board Order 1972 allowing existing schools in Northern Ireland to convert themselves into integrated schools—a process we commonly refer to today as transformation. It was with disappointment that no existing schools availed themselves of that process, which eventually lead to the creation of Lagan College, Northern Ireland's first planned integrated school, which this September will celebrate its 25th anniversary. It began with 28 children, at a time of enormous civil unrest and violence, and today educates over 1,000 children.
It may be surprising to many to learn that little has changed since the early beginnings of Lagan College.
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There is no doubt that integrated education has been one of the most significant social developments within Northern Ireland over the past 25 years. It is sometimes hard to believe that parents alone have been largely responsible for taking the number of integrated schools from one in 1981 to 58 today, spread right across Northern Ireland and educating more than 18,000 children. But does it work? The answer is yes, both in terms of academic attainment as well as creating friendships across the divide. Independent research has consistently demonstrated that children who have attended an integrated school have more positive attitudes toward children who come from a religious or community background different from their own. A recent 2004 Young Life and Times survey conducted by Queen’s University, Belfast, also highlighted that children from integrated schools have significantly more friends from different backgrounds outside school. Integrated education consistently outperforms the Northern Ireland average for the non-grammar sector in GCSE results.
That is not to say that integrated schools are a panacea for all Northern Ireland’s problems. Nor is it to say that the children who attend, or have attended, integrated schools are saints. That is simply not the case. There is, however, widespread support for having Catholic and Protestant children, and those of other faiths and none, together in the same school as a certain way of increasing the chances of building understanding and respect for each other’s cultures and traditions from an early age. Indeed, many mothers and fathers who meet at the school gates and on sports days also get the chance of interacting socially for the first time in their lives.
Let us remind ourselves that Northern Ireland is becoming more ethnically diverse. Our education system should reflect that. It is no longer just about Protestants and Catholics, but a wide range of people whose cultures and traditions also need respecting and understanding. Integrated schools serve children right across the social spectrum, with many located in areas of severe deprivation and segregation, with an average of 25 per cent of pupils eligible for free school meals.
Despite the positive results shown by integrated education, it is disappointing that the Government have remained largely neutral on the subject. There have been some positive moments, such as the Education Reform (Northern Ireland) Order1989, when the former Education Minister—now the noble Lord, Lord Mawhinney—included specific reference to integrated schools in legislation and established more effective ways of setting up and funding new integrated initiatives. However, despite a statutory duty to encourage and facilitate integrated education through the 1989 order, and the reference to integrated education in the Good
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I appreciate that a declining birth rate in Northern Ireland, across both the traditions, has placed great strain on the education system as a whole. That has led to an increase in the number of spare places, estimated to be around 55,000 and rising. Secondly, I appreciate that the financial pressures on the education system have created the need for increased rationalisation of the schools' estate. However, there is a clear lack of strategic planning from the government department responsible, the Department of Education. It would appear that rationalisation is currently being implemented by individual authorities such as the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools and the education and library boards. It is essential that the Government re-examine current proposals and future strategies against their shared future policy. The recently published triennial action plan on a shared future policy states,
- “on the basis of clear criteria to be developed, projects relating to new schools, re-organisation or rationalisation are more likely to justify receipt of financial support if they are shared or operate across the community”.
The key is implementation. Unless this is done immediately, the risk is that segregation will be further strengthened. To date, there has been no sign of widespread meaningful collaboration across and between the traditional segregated sectors. There must be a clear delivery mechanism for ensuring greater co-operation or sharing across sectors and the sectarian divide.
So what should the Government do? The recently announced independent review of education, to be led by Sir George Bain, provides an excellent opportunity for the Government finally to get to grips with the issue. First, it is important to stress that no one in the integrated movement wants or believes that the Government should impose integrated education against the wishes of any parents. Those campaigning for the development of more integrated schools in Northern Ireland do so on the basis of parental demand. More than 60 per cent of parents consistently state that they would prefer to send their children to integrated schools, yet only 5 per cent of school places are currently integrated. It is important that the Government begin to recognise that more integrated schools can offer potential solutions to their problems. They should not shirk from them because of vested interests.
Transformation is the process by which existing non-integrated schools can vote by parental ballot to transform to integrated status. Where a transformation is genuine and takes on board the necessary changes
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As the Government, through their shared future policy, start to encourage all schools to consider creative ways of sharing educational resources, transformation should be prioritised. I recognise that all transforming schools to date have come from the mainly Protestant controlled sector, with none from the Catholic maintained sector. However, transformation should threaten no one, and a transformed integrated school should respect and provide for the religious instruction of all children, and the proactive support of all Churches would be welcome. After all, Churches should be concerned that they are providing the best possible pastoral care for all their children, not just those who attend a particular type of school. Children should not be serving the needs of institutions; institutions should be serving the needs of children.
If a planned integrated school is a step too far for some, let us at least explore just how far other schools are prepared to go. I recently discovered that all over the world, including in the Irish Republic, there are examples of schools that are managed with the support of Catholic and Protestant clergy. If it can happen in other countries, what is the difficulty in taking forward such an initiative in Northern Ireland? As the need to rationalise the education estate develops, I urge the Government to explore such models with Church leaders and education authorities to find out if an innovative model can be developed. Surely there are small rural areas where Catholic maintained and controlled schools working together may become a necessity, especially if the alternative could be the closure of both. We must seriously address the need to provide schools serving all our community. We can call them integrated, community or shared or whatever we like, but let us make it happen.
With the forthcoming Bain review of education, the Government have already alluded to the possibility of developing shared campuses between schools, similar to recent initiatives in Scotland. While I welcome any steps that could be taken to bring schools closer together in any form, I hope that shared campuses do not become the easy thing for the Government to do—the soft option. The desire of parents and children to have integrated schools is clear, let us not waste it. There is greater potential here than sharing sports halls.
I call upon the Government effectively to engage with organisations such as the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education and the Integrated Education Fund, along with other educational
17 July 2006 : Column 1100
This makes the denial of conditional approval for the new integrated schools for 2006 and the existing independent Lir integrated primary school all the more infuriating, placing the integrated movement at arguably its most critical juncture in 25 years. The proposals were rejected on the basis that there were existing places in other schools in each area and that approving the new schools would have a negative impact on those non-integrated schools. However, that is surely the point: they would have a negative impact on other schools only if parents decided that the integrated school was their preferred choice. The leap of faith to enrol children in schools starting with no buildings and no teachers is remarkable. To force them back into segregated schools is outrageous.
It is wrong that existing schools should have the right to veto the development of integrated schools, and I applaud the Integrated Education Fund in offering independently to fund these schools until the Government see sense. A parent’s right to have an integrated choice should not be worth less than a parent's right to send their child to a non-integrated school. There is a solution—let the Department of Education conduct community audits and ask the local community what educational provision it wants. Ask the parents and the children about the type of school they want.
Today, as I speak to this House, a number of new parents’ groups are coming together to campaign for an integrated choice for their children, and a number of existing schools are exploring transformation. If the Minister’s decision to deny integrated schools earlier this year was an attempt to thwart the process, it could well have the opposite effect. Integration should be the “norm” in Northern Ireland, as it is in others parts of the United Kingdom, not something that needs to be continually fought for by parents, fundraised for and campaigned for.
Let me finish with two short final points. If I proposed today that the Government should consider segregating our two universities, one for mainly Catholic students and the other for mainly Protestant, you would think it crazy. Why therefore, in a bitterly divided society, continue to separate children during their most formative of years? Now that is really crazy! I asked a young student as he was about to finish his integrated school education what, apart from the great education he had received, was the biggest lesson he took away. He replied: “I learnt to celebrate other people’s cultures, not fear them”.
8.46 pm
Baroness David: My Lords, I am speaking in the debate today to support the excellent and hard work the noble Baroness, Lady Blood, does for integrated education in Northern Ireland. It seems so obvious to me that integrated education is the sensible way
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I feel a bit of a fraud speaking on Northern Ireland education when I have visited none of the schools that are already integrated. That is not entirely my fault; the all-party group was planning a visit in June and my name was down to go. Alas, the plan fell through and no suitable date could be found before the Summer Recess. However, I hope that the plan will be reinstated in the autumn in the quieter times after the Queen’s Speech.
The Commons tabled an Early Day Motion welcoming the decision of the Integrated Education Fund in Northern Ireland to give financial support of more than £750,000 to establish integrated education in a number of areas, and noted that support for IE was a key theme of St Patrick’s week celebrations in the United States.
We in this House have recently been discussing the miscellaneous provisions Bill, and I am glad to say we carried the vote to end selection in Northern Ireland.
It was a heavy blow that the Government refused to fund the expansion of IE in Northern Ireland. It seems strange that the Government, so enthusiastic to give parents greater choice over the schools their children go to, did not on this occasion give them what they wanted. The Government talk about a shared future yet, when faced with people so committed to sharing their future that they are prepared to stake their children’s future on it, the Government leave them stranded and force the children into segregated schools against their parents’ wishes.
The Minister, Angela Smith, gave as the main reason for the controversial decision that there were too many surplus places in the proposed areas, and the impact that a new school would have on local schools’ enrolment. That was hotly contested. Spare places in local segregated schools must not be allowed to veto parental choice where there is great demand and no local option.
In recent months, five more schools have undergone successful transformation ballots, and there will be two new schools, so that from September this year there will be 64 integrated schools. Deborah Girvan, communications and lobbying manager for the integrated movement, said that even though demand for IE was at an all-time high,
- “tough times are ahead. The Review of Public Administration along with the Shared Future policy, the demographic downturn, and cash strapped budgets, will test the mettle of us all”.
- “the will and spirit of parents, a legacy started by the pioneering parents of Lagan 25 years ago, will give us the resolve and inspiration to fight on and challenge the status quo”.
I very much hope that she is right. The best of luck to IE and I wish it very well.
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8.50 pm
Lord Parekh: My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Blood, for introducing the subject with considerable information and passion.
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