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The noble Baroness said: My Lords, the one issue on the lips of governors, head teachers, teachers and parents is that the volume of regulations, guidance, guidelines and extraneous material that is sent to schools by the DfES is a serious concern. The most frequent reason given by most teachers leaving the profession is the same—too much bureaucracy, too much interference and too many government initiatives.
I have been struck by the incredible efforts made by Ministers at the department over recent days to duck out of accepting a duty to limit regulation and the volume of paper sent daily to our schools. The government amendment does not go far enough. It is pathetic to invite teachers to accept that the Secretary of State will have regard to the desirability of providing information about good educational practice. I refer to the desirability—not the duty—to limit regulation.
The National Union of Teachers has produced a good paper with some interesting comments. It speaks for teachers in our schools. At Third Reading the Minister said that my amendment was,
I agree with the Minister's comments about the quality of communications. However, we all agree that too much information is sent to schools, whether it is well intentioned and has good substance or does not have such good substance.
Many teachers do not feel in control of their work. They regard not being in control as a real cause of distress. That is brought about by the pace and manner of change that occurs. Much of that change is ill thought through, such as the companies measures that we have discussed today. Teachers are given insufficient support to meet those changes. They resent having to engage in tasks which do not support learning.
The NUT study of teachers' workloads quoted a teacher as saying that despite the plethora of new announcements, initiatives and requirements launched annually, in her entire career she had never seen a notice or an announcement requesting her to stop doing something rather than do something.
I am aware that the Government are full of good intentions to remove burdens on teachers. However, a full-blooded commitment—as my amendment provides—would impress teachers rather more than having regard to the desirability of reducing burdens on them. The greatest thing that the House could do today would be to accept the amendments and to tell teachers, as the Bill completes its passage through both Houses, that the Secretary of State accepts with grace a duty to limit regulations and to control the amount of material that is sent to schools.
I believe that the Liberal Democrats will support the Government, while requiring them to have regard to the desirability of reducing the burdens on schools. As Conservatives, we support head teachers, teachers and governors in wanting a positive duty on the Secretary of State to reduce paperwork—not simply to have regard to the desirability of doing so. Fine words and good intentions are not good enough. I beg to move.
Moved, as an amendment to the Motion that the House do not insist on their Amendment No. 14 and do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 14A in lieu thereof, leave out from "No. 14" to end and insert ", do disagree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 14A in lieu thereof but do propose Amendment No. 14B in lieu of the Commons amendment.[Baroness Blatch.]
Baroness Ashton of Upholland moved, as an amendment to Amendment No. 14B, Amendment No. 14BA:
The noble Baroness said: My Lords, in moving Amendment No. 14BA as an amendment to Amendment No. 14B, I wish to speak also to Amendments Nos. 14BB to 14BF—which are in the spirit of that which the noble Baroness, Lady Blatch, seeks to achieve.
Earlier, I outlined some of the difficulties with an approach that seeks to place limits on the Government's ability to regulate. I pointed out that the Government's approach has been to repeal detailed provisions in primary legislation by making less detailed provisions in secondary legislation. I am advised by parliamentary counsel that it is
I am sure that all noble Lords agree that we must not be placed in a position in which documents of the sort that I described cannot be sent to schools—and I am certain that is not the noble Baroness's intention: material such as the special needs toolkit; schemes of work for national curriculum subjects; numeracy and key stage 3 strategies; and major policy documents—many of which seek the views of teachers. It must remain possible for the Department to send to schools material that helps them to discharge their duties to pupils. It should remain possible for the department to continue to provide advice in relation to important national priorities. If anyone should be consulted on the Government's policies for schools, teachers must be consulted.
Government Amendment No. 14BA achieves that objective while placing on the face of the Bill the importance of avoiding making excessive demands. It places a duty on the Secretary of State in this area for the first time and recognises that the Secretary of State is well placed to share information and to provide advice and good practice. It ensures that the Secretary of State must take account not only of the benefits of issuing guidance and other documents but also of the desirability of avoiding excessive burdens.
Amendment No. 14BA accepts that it is helpful to state clearly for whom the advice and guidance is intended and which other documents are superseded—which has been the department's practice for some time. The new subsection (1) replaces the existing subsection (1) and Amendment No. 14BF deletes subsection (8)—which, as drafted, does not work legally but does point to two important issues, which are the professionalism of teachers and the importance of avoiding unreasonable burdens. Those two points are picked up in new subsection (1), so subsection (7) can be deleted.
Government Amendments Nos. 14BB to 14BE ensure that Amendment No. 14BA catches only material sent by the Secretary of State for Education; that the scope of subsections (5) and (6) are clearly the same as that of the remainder of the clause; and that the drafting is legally watertight. The advantages of making the changes in Government Amendments 14BA to 14BF are clear. They ensure that due account is taken of the costs and benefits of producing documents; that the amendment is not counter-productive; and that the Secretary of State seeks to avoid excessive burdens. The amendments ensure that useful material that we all agree should be sent to schools can be sent. I beg to move.
Moved, as a manuscript amendment to Amendment No. 14B, Amendment No. 14BA.—(Baroness Ashton of Upholland.)
Baroness Walmsley: My Lords, it may help your Lordships to be aware that my noble friend Lady Sharp will not be moving Amendments Nos. 14C to 14E.
At an earlier stage, we agreed vehemently with the spirit of an amendment moved by the noble Baroness, Lady Blatch, because it is important to have an effective clause to reduce the burden of regulation on teachers. However, we did not support that amendment because we felt that it would have created more paperwork than it saved. Although the amendment's spirit was absolutely right, it was flawed.
The Government's response in another place, in the form of Amendment No. 14A, is not adequate because it makes no real commitment to reducing the burdens of regulation and paperwork on teachers. There is great merit in Amendment No. 14B and we are most grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Blatch, for considering our concerns about her first draft, inserting proposed subsections (5) and (6), and removing a reference to the number of pages that we felt was superficial.
We want the Bill to incorporate wording that places the Secretary of State under an obligation to reduce the volume of paperwork that goes to schools. Government Amendments Nos. 14BA to 14BF place the Secretary of State under an obligation to pay regard to providing the information that teachers need without overburdening them with paperwork. Your Lordships know how long it takes even to open our post in the mornings.
Teacher workload is one of the most important factors in discouraging people from entering the teaching profession, failing to attract high-quality recruits from universities and failing to retain high-quality teachers in the system. We want teachers to teach—to spend their time doing the work in the classroom for which their professional training has prepared them.
We welcome the wording in the government amendment that recognises the expertise of teachers. It is important not to send material to teachers that patronises them by presenting information that they ought to know anyway. We thank the Government for responding to our concerns over the past 24 hours by devising a set of satisfactory amendments. We are most grateful also to the NUT for providing us with a great deal of help and guidance. We shall support the Government amendments to Amendment No. 14B but will watch and listen. If we find that those measures are not effective in reducing the burden of paperwork on schools and teachers, we will continue to press the Government. We want to make sure that teachers can teach. At this stage, we feel that the government amendments are satisfactory and will achieve that end.
14BPage 23, line 44, at end insert the following new Clause—
"Control of regulation (No. 2)
(1) In relation to the conduct of education in schools and nursery schools, the Secretary of State, the National Assembly for Wales and local authorities shall have a duty to limit new regulation and to control the amount of material they send to governing bodies and head teachers.
(2) In pursuance of the duty in subsection (1) the Secretary of State shall in respect of each academic year—
(a) prepare a report listing—
(i) documents sent by him during the year to all governing bodies of maintained schools in England or to all head teachers of such schools,
(ii) documents (not falling within sub-paragraph (i)) sent by him during the year to all governing bodies of maintained schools in England of a particular kind or to all head teachers of such schools of a particular kind, and
(b) lay a copy of the report before each House of Parliament, and include within it comparative statistics in respect of each of the two preceding academic years on documents falling within this subsection sent out by him.
(3) In pursuit of the duty in subsection (1) the National Assembly for Wales shall in respect of each academic year prepare and publish a report listing—
(a) documents sent by the Assembly during the year to all governing bodies of maintained schools in Wales or to all head teachers of such schools,
(b) documents (not falling within paragraph (a)) sent by the Assembly during the year to all governing bodies of maintained schools in Wales of a particular kind or to all head teachers of such schools of a particular kind.
(4) The documents referred to in subsections (2) and (3) do not include any document sent by the Secretary of State or the National Assembly for Wales at the request of the person to whom it is sent.
(5) Each document issued by the Secretary of State or the National Assembly for Wales shall list within it previous relevant documents issued by the Secretary of State or the National Assembly for Wales and shall state clearly those documents which are superseded by the current document.
(6) Each document issued by the Secretary of. State or the National Assembly for Wales shall state clearly the persons for whom the advice and guidance is intended.
(7) The purpose of this section is to ensure that the volume of direction and guidance given by the Secretary of State and the National Assembly for Wales shall not interfere unduly with the professional judgement of teachers, nor impose on head teachers and governing bodies unreasonable burdens of compliance, and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to have regard to this purpose in the preparation of documents to which this section applies.
(8) In this section "academic year" means a period beginning with 1st August and ending with the next 31st July.""
"lacking in that it does not address the issue of the quality of information issued. I know from my own experience of being both responsible for issuing information and being on the receiving end as a chair of governors until last year that it is the quality equally as much as the quantity—indeed, more so—of the communication or regulation that is of paramount importance".—[Official Report, 3/07/02; col. 261.]
I should say that I prefer the phrase "chairman of governors" to "chair of governors".
14BALeave out subsection (1) and insert—
"(1) In considering whether to issue any guidance or other circular to the governing bodies or head teachers of maintained schools in the exercise of functions relating to education, the Secretary of State and the National Assembly for Wales shall have regard to—
(a) the desirability of providing information about good educational practice, while recognising the professional expertise of teachers,
(b) the benefits that are expected to result from the issue of the guidance or other circular, and
(c) the desirability of avoiding—
(i) the sending of excessive material to governing bodies or head teachers, and
(ii) the imposition of excessive administrative burdens on governing bodies or head teachers."
6.15 p.m.
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