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Baroness Blatch: My memory may not serve me terribly well—it is late, so that is possible—but my understanding is that annual reports comment on the progress or otherwise of all children in a school, so I am not sure that Amendment No. 124 is necessary. I agree that that should happen, but I await confirmation that it is already part of statute—or at least of the regulations that govern what annual reports should contain.
On Amendment No. 133, which would require governing bodies that propose joint discharge of functions to show how they would discharge their responsibilities towards disabled pupils and pupils with special educational needs, I return to my perennial suggestion. If there was some form of fundamental, portmanteau obligation at the beginning of the Bill stating that nothing in the Bill shall in any way affect the quality of provision for special educational needs, we could dispense with going through the Bill in penny packets asking for amendments to include special educational needs.
The school governing bodies are now expected to venture into some new territory with the joint venture. Although not entirely new, the concept is new in the formal sense in the Bill. The excitement of engaging with a third party may result in the needs of a group of children being neglected. The safeguard should be in the Bill. I should prefer in Clause 1 or 2 a statement with weight given to it whereby, whatever other activity was given statutory force, the requirements of children with special educational needs were protected.
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: First, we are looking at precisely that issue. As my noble friend said, if it were a straightforward exercise we would have brought it forward. There is a real commitment by the Government to ensure that we protect all our children, but especially those who are most vulnerable and, included within that, children with special educational needs. We shall come back to this Chamber and we shall be in discussion with noble Lords between stages to see how far we have got. I make that commitment openly.
I assure the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, that we agree about the importance of schools being accountable to parents on their policies towards pupils with disabilities and with special educational needs. Revised regulations on the content of the governors' annual report are being introduced in May. Schools will have to include within governors' annual reports a summary of the governing body's policy for the school in relation to children with special educational needs, any significant changes to that policy since the last governors' annual report and a statement on the success in implementing that policy in the last year.
We sent guidance to schools in April on these regulations which made clear that annual reports must contain these elements. The noble Baroness has put
forward the perfect case as to why we need an annual report to parents. I realise how difficult it is to move an amendment on behalf of someone else.In addition, the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 has amended the Education Act to require that from September 2002 governors' annual reports contain a description of the arrangements for the admission of pupils with disabilities, details of steps to prevent disabled pupils being treated less favourably than other pupils, details of facilities to assist access to the school by pupils with disabilities and, once it has been drawn up, details of the school's accessibility plan under Section 28D of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. Guidance on this planning duty, due out in June, will further recommend that schools reproduce the whole of the accessibility plan within the annual report where possible. I hope that, on behalf of the noble Lord, Lord Rix, that reassures the noble Baroness.
On Amendment No. 133, I believe that our provisions for allowing schools jointly to discharge their functions, including functions relating to providing for children with special educational needs, have a potential to lead to better standards for those pupils. However, I recognise the importance of accountability and fully agree that the ultimate responsibility for effective provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities should remain with the governing bodies of individual schools where they are not federated. If two or more schools wish to set up a joint committee to have a specific oversight of school arrangements and provision for meeting special educational needs and their DDA duties, Clause 29 of the Bill will enable them to do so.
Perhaps I may reassure the Committee that, although certain special educational needs and disability functions may be delegated to a joint committee, each governing body of each school involved will still be responsible for ensuring that its school is making special educational needs provision, making reasonable adjustments for disabled pupils and planning for disabled access in accordance with legislative requirements and the 2001 special educational needs code of practice.
There will be no watering down of accountability for this important and vulnerable group of pupils. We plan to consult widely on how the proposals will be implemented and will talk to key people within the special educational needs lobby and disability stakeholders as part of the process.
Baroness Sharp of Guildford: I am grateful to the Minister for her forthcoming reply on these two amendments. It is quite clear that she will consider the issue of special educational needs within the context of the Bill, for which I am grateful. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
[Amendments Nos. 125 to 132 not moved.]
[Amendment No. 132A not moved.]
Clause 29 [Arrangements for joint discharge of functions]:
[Amendments Nos. 133 and 134 not moved.]
Clause 30 [Control of school premises]:
Baroness Walmsley moved Amendment No. 135:
- Page 18, line 21, at end insert "subject to the principle that the local education authority may give such directions as to the occupation and use of the premises of a community or community special school as they think fit"
The noble Baroness said: The purpose of Amendment No. 135 is to re-introduce into primary legislation a principle that already exists in Schedule 13 to the School Standards and Framework Act: that the LEA may give such directions for the use of community school premises as it thinks fit.
It is important to have legislation on the use of school buildings because, on the whole, the buildings are not owned by schools but by local authorities on behalf of the community, or in the case of Church schools by foundations. The Bill aims to shift primary legislation to regulation. At present there are six pages of the School Standards and Framework Act on the topic.
While shifting the bulk of the legislation may be sensible, there should be a few principles about the use of school buildings on the face of the Bill. The amendment inserts the principle that the occupation and use of the premises of the school both inside and outside school hours shall be under the control of the governing body, subject to any directions given by the LEA. Perhaps the Minister will say why the Government are reluctant to put such principles on the face of the Bill. I beg to move.
The Lord Bishop of Blackburn: I want to speak to Amendment No. 136 which stands in my name and that of the noble Lord, Lord Alton of Liverpool. I am sorry to introduce a slightly technical, but important, amendment at this late hour. It deals with foundation, voluntary-aided and voluntary-controlled schools. In a voluntary-aided school where the foundation governors are in a majority, the Church-appointed governors are in a position to control the use of the premises outside school hours.
The main point of the amendment is that the foundation governors are, of course, in a minority in foundation and voluntary-controlled schools. Therefore, special safeguards are needed. I believe such safeguards have been enshrined in education law since the 1944 Act. I seem to remember that if one disposes of a voluntary-controlled school which has been closed, three-fourteenths of the proceeds go to the local parish because of the use that it makes of it for Sunday school and other purposes. The purpose of the amendment is to continue that practice so that the foundation governors may have the use of the school for the purpose of a Sunday school or, if it is next to the church, to prevent noisy alternative use during divine worship on a Sunday.
This amendment will require regulations to provide that the foundation governors of a controlled school can control the use of the school premises on Sundays and that in a school with a trust deed the use of the premises must not be inconsistent with the provisions of the trust deed. With those brief remarks I have put the thrust of the amendment. I hope that on this occasion the Minister will be sympathetic.
Baroness Blatch: In my rather amateur way, Amendment No. 137 tries to achieve the same ends as that of the right reverend Prelate. I am not territorial about the amendment, but it is important to safeguard the rights of trustees where school premises are held in trust for a voluntary-aided or a foundation school.
The two lines of Clause 30 state:
- "Regulations may make provision relating to the control by the governing body of a maintained school of the occupation and use of school premises".
There is no caveat there at all. If Clause 30 is to remain part of the Bill, it needs to be qualified in some way. Therefore, depending on what the Minister says in response, I would be prepared to give way to the amendment tabled by the right reverend Prelate, because I believe it would achieve the same end as Amendment No. 136.
However, I have given notice of my intention to oppose the Question that Clause 30 should stand part of the Bill. I am not absolutely certain that this provision is necessary. Again, now that we have so much self-government in schools, is it not possible to leave schools in charge of their own affairs? During the time that we had grant-maintained schools—and even now that we have foundation schools—schools proved themselves to be very responsible. They know all their duties under statute as regards providing education. Indeed, there are so many rules and regulations that guide what they do.
Let us take, for example, Clauses 20, 25 and 26. Clause 20 deals with the general responsibility for the conduct of the school; Clause 25 sets out the powers of the governing body to provide community facilities in the first place; and Clause 26 sets out the limits on the power to provide community facilities. I cannot believe that Clause 30 is necessary. Therefore, although I support the right reverend Prelate in his amendment—and/or my amendment—I must at least argue, albeit briefly, that Clause 30 should not stand part of the Bill.
11 p.m.
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: I shall begin by speaking to Amendment No. 135. I can confirm that we have no intention whatever of altering any existing local education authority rights regarding the occupation or control of school premises. I am pleased to be able to give a clear commitment that provision in both those areas will remain as currently defined in Schedule 13 to the School Standards and Framework Act l998. This means that there will be no reduction in the control of the occupation and use of premises by
either the education authority or individual governing bodies from that which they are currently permitted to exercise, as set out in Schedule 13.The reason for moving these provisions into regulations is that, as they currently exist, there are five pages of schedules containing many provisions, which, frankly, are too detailed. Building on what the noble Baroness, Lady Blatch, said, we are trying to simplify this and reproduce the important aspects within regulations. That is the motivation behind our move in this direction.
I turn to Amendment No. 136. I can reassure the right reverend Prelate that existing rights in relation to foundation and voluntary schools regarding the control and use of land will also be preserved in regulations. This means that the current provision in paragraph 7(2) of Schedule 13 to the 1998 Act, which allows for foundation governors of a voluntary controlled school to determine the use to which school premises are put on Sundays, will be maintained in the regulations that we intend to develop.
All rights of ownership, control and use of land will remain with exactly the same parties—be it the local education authority, governing body or trustees—where such rights currently rest. The rights of trustees under trust deeds currently provided for in paragraph 5(4) of Schedule 13 will be preserved.
I turn specifically to Amendment No. 137, tabled in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Blatch. This amendment raises similar concerns about the position of trustees. I hope that I can reassure the noble Baroness that in no way will Clause 30 alter the ownership of school premises. We shall ensure that provisions in regulations will reflect all rights of ownership, control and use of land, as they currently exist. I should like to place on the record that regulations will provide for the rights of trustees in the terms currently provided for in paragraph 5(4) of Schedule 13 to the 1998 Act.
Perhaps I may say a few words about the clause stand part element of this debate. We believe that the control, occupation and use of school premises by governing bodies are important issues, but we do not believe that it is essential to have the detailed provisions set out in primary legislation. By transferring to regulations from guidance those provisions mainly relating to the process and conduct of statutory responsibilities, we believe that we shall create a more flexible framework of governance legislation that will allow any future minor adjustments to be made. This clause is part of our commitment to achieve that aim.
The clause provides for regulations to define the control of occupation and use of school premises by governing bodies during and outside school hours. As I said, ownership will remain unaffected. I can confirm that we shall be making no material changes to the ownership and control of school bodies. Therefore, the existing rights of the respective parties will be preserved. However, we shall consider whether some of the administrative detail—for example, measures setting up transfer of control agreements, and so on—may be candidates for deregulation.
This is an important clause because it allows us to put such provisions into regulations. Given those assurances, I hope that noble Lords will agree not to press their amendments.
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