Education Bill — Schools Forums only set up if a majority of governing bodies voted for one — rejected — 14 May 2002 at 18:46
The majority Not-Content voters rejected an amendment[1] to the Education Bill. The amendment would have only allowed schools forums to be set up if a majority of governing bodies of state schools in an area voted for one. However, the amendment was defeated.
Schools forums are bodies set up by local education authorities (LEAs) to improve dialogue between schools and LEAs and decide on funding. The forum's representatives include members of governing bodies and headteachers within the LEA area.
The main aims of the Education Bill were to[2]:
- Allow schools to exempt themselves from laws which prevented them from innovating. However, this is dependent on the Secretary of State's approval.
- Give good schools the option of qualifying for greater flexibility in the National Curriculum and teachers' pay.
- Allow schools to join together in a federation under a single governing body.
- Further regulate school admissions, exclusions and attendance policies.
- Give the Secretary of State further powers to intervene in failing schools.
- Introduce a new regulatory regime for independent schools.
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- [1] Baroness Blatch, House of Lords, 14 May 2002
- [2] TeacherNet Summary, 17 September 2002
Party Summary
Votes by party, red entries are votes against the majority for that party.
What is Tell? '+1 tell' means that in addition one member of that party was a teller for that division lobby.
What is Turnout? This is measured against the total membership of the party at the time of the vote.| Party | Majority (Not-Content) | Minority (Content) | Turnout |
| Con | 0 | 53 (+2 tell) | 24.3% |
| Crossbench | 6 | 5 | 6.3% |
| Independent Labour | 1 | 0 | 100.0% |
| Lab | 111 (+2 tell) | 0 | 57.7% |
| LDem | 0 | 17 | 25.8% |
| Total: | 118 | 75 | 29.6% |
All lords Eligible to Vote - sorted by party
Includes lords who were absent (or abstained) from this vote.