Mr. Ian Mearns (Gateshead): My right hon. Friend puts his finger on the nub of the issue - the Minister promised in Committee on 29 March that the admissions code was imminent. We must reiterate the concerns of the schools adjudicator, because he saw the idea of simplifying the admissions code as a way of giving wriggle room to schools to use covert selection. That is a real concern for my constituents and parents in my area.
Andy Burnham: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The Bill weakens the schools adjudicator and could dilute the admissions code - although we cannot assert the latter as a fact, because we have only media reports to go on. It is a disgrace that the Minister has been unable to give that information to hon. Members, who are voting on life-and-death issues for their constituents: the question for parents is whether they can get the schools that they want. I put it to hon. Members that they will be doing a huge disservice to their constituents if they vote for a weakening of the admissions system without knowing what is in the code, and the full extent of the Government's intentions.
+++
Mr. Ian Mearns (Gateshead): The schools Minister has reiterated that the English baccalaureate will not be an accountability measure. He trumpeted that in the Select Committee on a number of occasions last week. I am terribly sorry but the response is one of complete and utter incredulity. I know what the press will say about the English baccalaureate within the context of the league tables. The headline writers will say, "Of course it will be an accountability measure. How can it be seen as anything else?"
Andy Burnham: We know that the measure was applied retrospectively to schools, so the Government were encouraging the media to see it as a performance-management measure. It is so unfair to schools being sent out into this highly competitive environment to have their reputations so damaged, and to have not one but two hands tied behind their backs. The Government have knocked the stuffing out of some schools that have worked so hard to improve in recent years, and it is totally unacceptable.
+++
Mr. Ian Mearns (Gateshead): Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr Stuart: I am aware that I have been speaking for too long already, but I will give way to the hon. Gentleman.
Mr. Ian Mearns (Gateshead): I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman. For a short time I thought that I was in the back of a bus in Helsinki.
There is a problem with what the hon. Gentleman is saying. If a child becomes unwell or is injured at the hands of parents or other relatives, the focus of attention is often not on the family but on the director of children's services in the local borough. Will the hon. Gentleman reflect on that? Will he also reflect on the rights of the child who, despite the wishes of their own parents, may or may not receive a good level of education at the hands of those parents? I know that the hon. Gentleman inhabits a middle-class, or possibly upper-middle-class, ideal in which his own children will be extremely well catered for, but that is not always the case. As policy makers, we must provide for the rights of every child in the country, no matter what their circumstances.
Mr Stuart: I have a great deal of respect for the hon. Gentleman, who is a distinguished member of the Select Committee and who brings years of experience of education to it, so I hesitate to say what I am about to say. However, he is suggesting, as a Labour Member of Parliament, that working-class families involved in home education should be treated with more suspicion than those in better-off areas, that they are not to be trusted with the education of their children, and that inspectors and assessors and all those other people with acronyms should be wandering into their homes, because of - my God - what they might do to their children.
+++
Mr. Ian Mearns (Gateshead): I am very taken with what my hon. Friend is saying and wonder how the Minister will give the reassurances she is seeking given that the Bill eradicates the duty on schools to co-operate on a local basis and look after their youngsters with behavioural problems. The current duty to co-operate means that there is at least a safety net for youngsters, but that will vanish under these proposals.
Stella Creasy: My hon. Friend raises an important point. One of the key issues for me is that in Committee the Minister talked about schools triggering an assessment of behaviour, but there is no clarity about how that process might take place. I hope that he will address that point when he responds.
+++
Mr. Ian Mearns (Gateshead): It is also a concern that the decision to abolish the EMA in the first place was based on flawed evidence from a survey that was conducted in school sixth forms but not in further education colleges. That fact in itself shows that Ministers got the whole message wrong. In 2009-10, 567,000 youngsters received the EMA at the higher level - £30 a week - yet Ministers have decided to do away with it, based on evidence from youngsters in sixth forms but not in FE colleges. In my area of Gateshead, 67% of youngsters attending the local college were entitled to the EMA at the higher level.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo): Order. May I just point out that we are running close to time and interventions should therefore be brief, so as to give as many Members as possible the chance to speak?
Lisa Nandy: I agree with my hon. Friend. Despite everything that has happened and the anger that many of us have expressed on behalf of young people in our constituencies, it is important that we proceed on the basis of evidence. Another concern that has been expressed to me is that if there is no clear guidance, eligibility criteria or national standard in respect of who will receive the EMA, it could leave colleges open to legal challenge under equalities legislation, if students are left disadvantaged as a result of not receiving it. I would be grateful if Ministers were to take that into account in their deliberations and as part of the current consultation.
Return to Homepage | House of Commons Contents
| Promoted by Ken Childs on behalf of Ian Mearns, 12 Regent Terrace Gateshead NE8 1LU |