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On Question, amendments agreed to.
Clause 111 [Provision of information by proprietors]:
Baroness Morgan of Drefelin moved Amendments Nos. 158 to 161:
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Clause 112 [Appeal by proprietor against decision of Chief Inspector to deregister]:
Baroness Morgan of Drefelin moved Amendments Nos. 162 to 165:
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165: Clause 112, page 64, line 24, leave out from second “the” to end of line 25 and insert “First-tier Tribunal.”
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Clause 113 [Appeal by proprietor against other decisions of Chief Inspector]:
Baroness Morgan of Drefelin moved Amendments Nos. 166 to 168:
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Clause 114 [Appeal by proprietor against order of justice of the peace]:
Baroness Morgan of Drefelin moved Amendments Nos. 169 to 171:
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Clause 115 [Relevant restriction imposed by Tribunal: supplementary]:
Baroness Morgan of Drefelin moved Amendments Nos. 172 and 173:
172: Clause 115, page 65, line 43, leave out from “with” to “or” in line 44 and insert “Tribunal Procedure Rules”
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Clause 116 [Prohibition on participation in management]:
Baroness Morgan of Drefelin moved Amendment No. 174:
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Clause 118 [Directions under section 116: information]:
Baroness Morgan of Drefelin moved Amendments Nos. 175 to 180:
175: Clause 118, page 67, line 10, leave out “Chief Inspector, the Chief Inspector” and insert “Secretary of State, the Secretary of State”
176: Clause 118, page 67, line 12, leave out from “which” to end of line 13 and insert “appears to the Secretary of State to be relevant to the exercise of the appropriate authority’s functions under section 116 or by virtue of section 117.”
178: Clause 118, page 67, line 18, leave out from “which” to second “to” in line 19 and insert “appears to the Chief Inspector”
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179: Clause 118, page 67, line 27, leave out “Secretary of State” and insert “Chief Inspector”
180: Clause 118, page 67, line 28, leave out “Chief Inspector, the Chief Inspector” and insert “Secretary of State, the Secretary of State”
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Clause 119 [Directions under section 116: notification]:
Baroness Morgan of Drefelin moved Amendments Nos. 181 and 182:
181: Clause 119, page 67, line 34, leave out first “Chief Inspector” and insert “Secretary of State”
182: Clause 119, page 67, line 34, leave out second “Chief Inspector” and insert “Secretary of State”
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Clause 122 [Proceedings for offences]:
Baroness Morgan of Drefelin moved Amendment No. 183:
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Baroness Morgan of Drefelin moved Amendments Nos. 184 to 186:
184: After Clause 126, insert the following new Clause—
“Transitional provision(1) This section applies where—
(a) by virtue of one or more amendments made by paragraphs 20 to 29 of Schedule 1, a provision of or made under Chapter 1 of Part 10 of the Education Act 2002 (c. 32) (“the old provision”) that applied in relation to independent schools in England has ceased so to apply, and
(b) a provision of or made under this Chapter (“the new provision”) re-enacts, with or without modification, the old provision as it so applied.
(2) The amendment or amendments mentioned in subsection (1)(a) and the re-enactment mentioned in subsection (1)(b) do not affect the continuity of the law.
(3) Anything done (including any subordinate legislation made), or having effect as if done, under or for the purposes of the old provision that—
(a) could have been done under or for the purposes of the new provision (had the new provision then been in force), and
(b) is in force or effective immediately before the coming into force of the new provision,
has effect from that time as if done under or for the purposes of the new provision.
(4) Any reference (express or implied) in this Chapter or any other enactment, instrument or document to the new provision is to be construed (so far as the context permits) as including, as respects times, circumstances or purposes in relation to which the old provision had effect, a reference to the old provision.
(5) Any reference (express or implied) in any enactment, instrument or document to the old provision is to be construed (so far as the context permits), as respects times, circumstances and purposes in relation to which the new provision has effect, as being or (according to the context) including a reference to the new provision.
(6) This section has effect subject to any specific transitional provision of or made under this Act.
(7) In this section “subordinate legislation” has the same meaning as in the Interpretation Act 1978 (c. 30).”
185: After Clause 126, insert the following new Clause—
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(1) On the coming into force of section 82, the register of independent schools in England becomes the register of independent educational institutions in England.
(2) The power in section 99(3)(d) to make provision prescribing circumstances in which the amount of a fee may be waived includes power to make such provision in relation to a fee (or any part of a fee) payable by virtue of section 162B(6) of the Education Act 2002 (fees payable to Chief Inspector).”
186: After Clause 126, insert the following new Clause—
“Prohibition on participation in management
(1) A person falls within this subsection if—
(a) immediately before the relevant day the person is subject to a direction under section 142 of the Education Act 2002 (c. 32) given on grounds prescribed for the purposes of this section, and
(b) prescribed conditions (which may include conditions relating to decisions taken on or after the relevant day by the Independent Barring Board under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (c. 47)) are satisfied in relation to the person.
(2) Regulations may provide that, as from a time specified in or determined in accordance with the regulations, persons who fall within subsection (1) are to be treated for prescribed purposes as if the direction given under section 142 of the Education Act 2002 (c. 32) were a direction given by the appropriate authority under section 116 of this Act.
(3) Regulations under this section may make provision in connection with the determination of any appeal under subsection (1) of section 144 of the Education Act 2002 (c. 32), or application for review under subsection (2) of that section, which is pending on the relevant day.
(4) Regulations made by virtue of subsection (3) may, in particular, provide for an appeal, or application for review, under section 144 of the Education Act 2002 (c. 32) to be treated as an appeal under section 117 of this Act.
“appropriate authority” has the same meaning as in sections 116 to 119 (see section 116(6));
“the relevant day” means the day on which section 116 comes into force.””
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Baroness Morgan of Drefelin moved Amendments Nos. 187 to 190:
190: Clause 127, page 71, line 22, at end insert—
“( ) Section 342 of that Act (approval of non-maintained special schools) is amended as follows.
(a) for “Secretary of State” substitute “appropriate national authority”;
(b) omit “his”.
( ) In subsection (5)(a) for “Secretary of State” substitute “appropriate national authority”.”
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Clause 128 [Functions of approving schools transferred to Chief Inspector]:
Baroness Morgan of Drefelin moved Amendment No. 191:
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On Question, amendment agreed to.
Clause 129 [Right of sixth-form pupils to opt out of religious worship]:
Baroness Walmsley moved Amendment No. 192:
192: Clause 129, page 71, line 37, leave out from “education” to end of line 38 and insert—
“(i) in the case of a pupil of sufficient maturity, intelligence and understanding, in accordance with the pupil’s own wishes; and
(ii) in any other case, in accordance with the wishes of the pupil’s parent, and”
The noble Baroness said: My Lords, we now return to the issue of young people of sufficient competence opting out of religious worship and religious education as it is now taught in many schools. Because this Bill forces young people to remain in some sort of education until they are 18, Clause 129 allows those over 16 to exempt themselves from religious worship. I do not believe that that goes far enough. Amendment Nos. 192 to 194 would allow a pupil of sufficient maturity, intelligence and understanding to opt out of religious worship in school, and Amendment No. 195 would allow such a pupil also to exempt themselves from religious education.
6.45 pm
I want to make it clear at the outset that by using the word “intelligence” it is not my intention to exclude from these measures young people with special educational needs or those whose IQ is below the average. Many of those young people know their own mind in matters of morals and ethics perfectly well, and they should not be excluded from the meaning of these amendments.
Since we discussed these matters in Committee, I have received briefings from a new multifaith organisation, Accord, which shares my concerns about the quality and content of religious education in the UK of today. It believes that in a pluralist society, it is important that students are taught about different values and beliefs. While this is done well in some schools, it is not in others. It reports that at the moment RE syllabuses fail to take sufficient account of the many children who are not religious, or who have a different religion from the one they are assumed to have.
Many children are not receiving the benefit of instruction about the wide range of faiths in our country and around the world. Religion is an important aspect of culture and, if well taught, can add enormously to a child’s understanding of the world around him. If I believed that it was being well and broadly taught everywhere, I may not have felt the need to propose these opt-outs. Surveys have found that a high proportion of young people are not religious, and the Human Rights Act now equally protects the right to hold and to manifest either religious or non-religious beliefs.
However, the views of Accord are not just those of people who profess no religion, but also those of many, of several different faiths, who are profoundly religious but are concerned about the quality of RE syllabuses. So I call their views in aid to support my case, though they have not overtly supported my amendments. I also call in aid the Joint Committee on Human Rights, which does support my amendments.
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Since our original discussion of this issue in debates on the Education and Inspections Act, the JCHR has produced a trenchant report with very strong recommendations to the Government. In our discussions on this Bill in July, the Minister ignored those recommendations, saying that the Government’s position had not changed since the previous Bill. Section 70 of the School Standards and Framework Act requires pupils to “take part in” a daily act of worship, not just to attend—a rule that is honoured more in the breach than in the observance by most schools. It is manifestly obnoxious to expect or require older children to worship a god or act in accordance with rites in which they do not believe. At the very least, that section needs to be amended to remove that requirement. Would it not be far better to require schools to have inspiring, inclusive assemblies that explore ethics to which all pupils can relate and which bring people together, rather than giving them something to mock?
The noble Lord, Lord Adonis, relied heavily in his response on the so-called administrative burden on schools, suggesting that a large number of young people would seek to opt out and the so-called Gillick test would have to be applied to each. Our children are some of the most tested in the world, and I cannot see that it would be beyond the capacity of schools to include a test of all children at some stage to gauge their understanding of the importance of moral issues and the strength of their personal beliefs.
As I said in July, the thing is done by school nurses every day, when young people under 16 ask for contraceptive services but do not want their parents to know. This situation does not bring schools to a halt. Giving young people their human rights under UN conventions to which we are signatories would not bring schools to a halt either, and it is not an adequate excuse.
Young people would not be likely to fulfil the Gillick competence criteria until they had already sat through about 10 years of compulsory religious education and worship. If that is not enough time to convince a child that he wants to hear more, I do not think there is any justification for forcing him to carry on any longer. Passing these amendments would put pressure on the local standing advisory councils on religious education and on the agreed syllabus conferences to improve and broaden the syllabuses and bring them more into line with what children need in the 21st century to prepare them to live in our multifaith society. If the content and quality were better, fewer students would wish to opt out. It would also put pressure on those schools that do not do it already to prepare the sort of inclusive, inspiring assemblies to which I referred earlier. A lot depends on the schools themselves, but they are currently fettered by the unreasonable and unfair requirements of legislation. By these amendments, I seek to free schools and students from those constraints. I beg to move.
Baroness Whitaker: My Lords, I declare an interest as a vice president of the British Humanist Association. I support the amendment moved so fully and eloquently by the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley. I do not think
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Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: My Lords, I do not think I shall add a great deal to what my noble friend said in Committee, but I shall take this opportunity to be clear. The amendments in this group extend the right set out in Clause 129 for sixth formers in non-maintained special schools to withdraw from collective worship to all competent pupils in every school. In addition, the amendments, if accepted, would allow competent pupils to opt out of RE as well as collective worship and, for the first time, extend the statutory rights to pupils of academies.
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