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Education Bill
3.57 p.m.
The Minister of State, Department for Education and Employment (Lord Henley): My Lords, I beg to move that the Bill be now further considered on Report.
Moved, That the Bill be further considered on Report.--(Lord Henley.)
On Question, Motion agreed to.
[Amendments Nos. 42 and 43 had been withdrawn from the Marshalled List.]
Clause 32 [Home-school partnership documents]:
[Amendment No. 45 had been withdrawn from the Marshalled List.]
Lord Northbourne moved Amendment No. 46:
The noble Lord said: My Lords, in the context in which this Bill is now being dealt with, I hope that it is reasonable for me to ask the Minister to give the
Lord Henley: My Lords, I understand the concerns expressed by the noble Lord. I can certainly give an assurance that we shall reflect on those concerns when drawing up the guidance on home-school partnership documents and their use in school admission arrangements.
Lord Northbourne: My Lords, I am grateful for that assurance from the Minister. Accordingly, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
[Amendments Nos. 47 to 51 had been withdrawn from the Marshalled List.]
[Amendments Nos. 53 to 61 had been withdrawn from the Marshalled List.]
Lord Henley moved Amendment No. 62:
Page 28, line 29, at end insert ("the need for the terms of the partnership document and parental declaration to be so worded that they cannot be used by schools to exclude pupils solely because of the economic or social circumstances of their parents, and to").
After Clause 38, insert the following new clause--
(" . After section 537 of the Education Act 1996 there shall be inserted--
"Provision of information about individual pupils' performance.
537A.--(1) The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision requiring--
(a) the governing body of every school which is--
(i) maintained by a local education authority, or
(ii) a grant-maintained school, or
(iii) a special school which is not maintained by a local education authority, and
(b) the proprietor of each independent school,
to provide to the Secretary of State such individual performance information relating to pupils or former pupils at the school as may be prescribed.
(2) In this section "individual performance information" means information about the performance of individual pupils (identified in the prescribed manner)--
(a) in any assessment made for the purposes of the National Curriculum or in accordance with a baseline assessment scheme (within the meaning of Chapter I of Part VI of the Education Act 1997);
(b) in any prescribed public examination;
(c) in connection with the attainment of any vocational qualification; or
(d) in any such other assessment or examination, or in connection with the attainment of any such other qualification, as may be prescribed.
(3) The Secretary of State may provide any information received by him by virtue of subsection (1)--
(a) to any prescribed body or person, or
(b) to any body or person falling within a prescribed category.
(4) Any body or person holding any individual performance information may provide that information to any body to which this subsection applies; and any body to which this subsection applies--
(a) may provide any information received by it under this subsection--
(i) to the Secretary of State, or
(ii) to the governing body or proprietor of the school attended by the pupil or pupils to whom the information relates; and
(b) may, at such times as the Secretary of State may determine, provide to any prescribed body such information received by it under this subsection as may be prescribed.
(5) Subsection (4) applies to any body which, for the purposes of or in connection with the functions of the Secretary of State relating to education, is responsible for collating or checking information relating to the performance of pupils--
(a) in any assessment or examination falling within subsection (2)(a), (b) or (d), or
(b) in connection with the attainment of any qualification falling within subsection (2)(c) or (d).
(6) No individual performance information received under or by virtue of this section shall be published in any form which includes the name of the pupil or pupils to whom it relates.
(7) References in this section to the attainment of a qualification of any description include references to the completion of any module or part of a course leading to any such qualification."").
The noble Lord said: My Lords, in moving the above amendment, I shall speak also to Amendment No. 115. These amendments meet the purpose of those tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Morris, and the noble Baroness, Lady Thomas, in Committee. They enable the Secretary of State to collect the performance data of individual pupils and to provide it to LEAs and others. The data will help schools, LEAs and the Government to analyse performance and will underpin school improvement policies--including target-setting and benchmarking. The exact requirements will be set out in regulations on which there will be full consultation. I can offer assurance that the amendments provide appropriate safeguards to protect the confidentiality of individual pupil data, and that they will not force independent schools to participate in national curriculum assessment. I beg to move.
Lord Morris of Castle Morris: My Lords, the issue was debated thoroughly in Committee. In our view, the Government's amendments meet the objectives that were set out in the speech made by the noble Baroness, Lady Thomas; namely, that the Secretary of State should be able to give pupil level information electronically to LEAs to assist with local work on value added and the setting of performance targets. The operation of this new power by the Secretary of State will, we hope, be subject to much discussion after the Bill has been enacted. However, the clause will enable all those with a legitimate interest to obtain the data that they need.
Lord Tope: My Lords, unfortunately my noble friend Lady Thomas cannot be with us this afternoon. However, I know that she would wish me to express our support for the amendments on her behalf. I should also like to thank the Minister for the helpful way in which he approached the matter; and I do so with pleasure.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
[Amendments Nos. 63 to 65 had been withdrawn from the Marshalled List.]
Schedule 6 [The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority]:
Lord Henley moved Amendments Nos. 66 to 70:
The noble Lord said: My Lords, I should like to move Amendments Nos. 66 to 70 en bloc and to speak also to Amendments Nos. 80 to 84 and 117.
These are technical amendments tabled on the advice of the Treasury. Their purpose is: to remove the requirement for the Treasury's consent to decisions by the Secretary of State about payments to members of the QCA and ACCAC; to transfer decisions concerning the terms on which people who are both members and officers of QCA and ACCAC should qualify for pensions from the Treasury to the Secretary of State; and to take account of the transfer of responsibility for the Vote from which Civil Service pensions are paid from the Treasury to the Cabinet Office. I understand that the Treasury is looking to introduce legislation to change the many previous pieces of legislation where these procedures apply to ensure that all non-departmental public bodies work to the same practices. I beg to move.
Lord Morris of Castle Morris: My Lords, we welcome the amendments.
On Question, amendments agreed to.
[Amendments Nos. 71 to 75 had been withdrawn from the Marshalled List.]
Clause 44 [Supplementary provisions relating to discharge by Authority of their functions]:
Lord Henley moved Amendment No. 76:
The noble Lord said: My Lords, in moving this amendment, I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 77, 79 and 86 to 88. I promised during the debate in Committee that I would consider further the amendment moved by the noble Baroness, Lady David, and return at Report stage with appropriate amendments to take account of all learners with special needs, learning difficulties and disabilities in schools, colleges and publicly-funded education.
The amendments place a duty on the new authority and ACCAC to take into account the requirements of persons with special learning needs when carrying out their functions. In amending Clauses 44 and 50, rather than Clauses 41 and 47, as proposed by the noble Baroness in Committee, the duty will apply to all the functions of the authority rather than just those relating to pupils of compulsory school age. I beg to move.
Page 70, leave out lines 27 and 28.
Page 70, line 38, leave out first ("Treasury") and insert ("Minister for the Civil Service").
Page 70, line 38, leave out second ("the Treasury") and insert ("he").
Page 70, line 39, leave out ("the Treasury") and insert ("he").
Page 70, line 44, leave out ("Treasury") and insert ("Secretary of State").
Page 37, line 3, leave out ("and").
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