The Schools Bill and Academisation
With Parliament entering summer recess on Thursday 21 July, where are we now and what can we expect in the next publication?
As we write (18 July 2022), the Schools Bill is undergoing its second reading in the report stage in the House of Lords. It was previously intended that its third reading would also be concluded this week in order that it could then be passed over to the House of Commons, but this has now been deferred and scheduled for mid-September.
The journey thus far has not been an easy one and the Bill as originally introduced, is not without its opponents. Particular concern has been expressed about the erosion of freedoms and autonomy of academies and the potential excessive use of power by the Government, with particular reference to the following provisions:
- Clauses 1 - 4 and Schedule 1 which provide for the setting of 'Academy Trust Standards'
- Clause 5-18 and Schedule 12 which provide the Secretary of State with additional powers of intervention and termination.
Faced with such strength of opposition, the Government has agreed to support the amendments to oppose these clauses and to remove them from the current draft Bill. They do however propose to bring forward revised proposals in the House of Commons.
In a letter from Baroness Barran to the Lords she stated: "…the Government is also clear that these measures are essential to secure the path to a system in which all schools can benefit from being part of a strong multi academy trust."
Their objective is therefore to introduce revised clauses into the Bill which will secure the move away from a predominantly contract based system and ensure a system where a minimum set of provisions apply. Tighter wording is expected to minimise the potential impact of the powers both in respect of the setting of standards and in respect of intervention and termination rights.
These revised clauses are expected to be heavily informed by the Academies Regulatory and Commissioning Review (the terms of reference of which are published here) which is considering academy trust standards, regulation and associated matters. A final report from that Review is expected in December this year and accordingly, it may be some time before the revised clauses are tabled.
In the meantime, the amendment to draft clause 29 which has been agreed to permit applications for academy orders from specified bodies (such as a diocese) connected with schools with religious character is particularly noteworthy. This power is in addition to the power of the local authority to apply for an academy order which was included in the Bill as introduced.
The White Paper Ambition
In the meantime, the Government has indicated its continued commitment to its ambition for 2030 and the following document, Implementing school system reform in 2022/23 Next steps following the Schools White Paper May 2022, remains in place.
In the short term, this sees a particular focus on the Education Investment Areas and those schools which are judged to be inadequate. In addition, the Coasting Schools (England) Regulations 2022 come into force from 1 September 2022 which give the Secretary of State additional powers to intervene if a school's:
- overall effectiveness at its most recent Ofsted inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005 was ‘Requires Improvement’ (RI) and
- its overall effectiveness was also below Good at the inspection under Section 5 of the Education Act 2005 immediately before the most recent inspection
In these cases, the Secretary of State might issue an academy order (in the case of a maintained school) or a termination warning notice to an academy, if they consider that the school would benefit from such an intervention.
