Contributions
1,336 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Second sitting)Q What do you think of the curtailment of academy freedoms in the Bill? It has now been published, so you have seen it, albeit that you were not talked to before. What do you…21 Jan 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (First sitting)Q Is a number of weeks a potentially dangerous thing? Jacky Tiotto: For very young children when you are concerned, if they are still with the parents, which is sometimes the…21 Jan 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (First sitting)Q What do you think the problem is that that measure is trying to solve? Julie McCulloch: In our view, it is right that there should be a core national entitlement curriculum for…21 Jan 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (First sitting)Q What is the average length of time? Jacky Tiotto: I do not know, but I would think it is a number of weeks.21 Jan 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (First sitting)Q Do you have a sense that a large number of schools are not providing a broad and balanced education at the moment? Do you have a sense of how many schools are not following the…21 Jan 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Second sitting)Q Do you have a timescale for when the Government are going on reply to that consultation? Paul Barber: I do not—that is not in my hands.21 Jan 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Second sitting)Having looked at that document, it does have a whole bunch of different maximums in it. It has quite specific maximums as well as minimums. Sir Jon Coles: The thing about the…21 Jan 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Second sitting)Q Thank you for being here. I want to direct my first question to Jon and Dan. You have both been quite critical of the loss of academy freedoms in this Bill. Could I persuade you…21 Jan 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Second sitting)Q No, but what if it is a teacher in your little schools? Nigel Genders: They will have to be resourced to do it in other ways to make it possible.21 Jan 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Second sitting)Q Would you say that the Bill, broadly speaking, erodes that kind of freedom and diversity in the system? That is at the moment, as drafted—it can change. Luke Sparkes: Certainly,…21 Jan 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Second sitting)Q Thank you all for being here, and welcome. My first question is to Leora. We heard in the last session some concerns about taking away academy freedoms on pay, the curriculum…21 Jan 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Second sitting)Q Luke, you wrote a very interesting piece in the TES the other day about the importance of variety and difference between schools. You work in some exceptionally disadvantaged…21 Jan 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Second sitting)Q Thank you for coming. I have some short questions that do not need particularly long answers. Have you found evidence that academy schools are not teaching a broad and balanced…21 Jan 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (First sitting)Q Good morning, and thank you for coming. Julie, on your logistical questions, ASCL said in its statement that “work will be needed to get these measures right…Further changes…21 Jan 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Second sitting)Q Do you recognise that sometimes a school can bring someone in who might be at a later point in their career and be highly specialised—perhaps a great sportsman, an IT person or…21 Jan 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Second sitting)Q Would an amendment to that effect be helpful to preserve those freedoms? Leora Cruddas: It would be very helpful to have clarity on that position. Obviously, we have not had the…21 Jan 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Second sitting)Q That was a superbly diplomatic answer—particularly the end of it. I will come on to Dan. You talked about QTS freedoms and the importance of being able to employ mature people…21 Jan 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Second sitting)Q I just wondered whether we might get an answer during the passage of the Bill. I have a question for both of you. There was a thought-provoking leader in the TES the other…21 Jan 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Second sitting)Q Mark, getting straight to the point, are there any amendments that you would like to see? Mark Russell: I associate myself entirely with everything that my colleague has said,…21 Jan 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Second sitting)Q On that front we are in agreement. My question is whether the Minister would be prepared to limit that to schools’ actual duties, rather than just anything that the Secretary of…21 Jan 2025