Education Bill — Allow appeals against decisions made by a school adjudicator — rejected — 23 May 2002 at 16:40
Lord Lamont of Lerwick was absent
The majority Not-Contents rejected an amendment[1] to the Education Bill. The amendment would have inserted a new subsection (5) into section 25 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. This would have allowed a body to appeal against a decision made by a school adjudicator. However, the amendment was defeated.
As Baroness Ashton of Upholland explains in the debate adjudicators determine "school organisation plans and proposals where there is no unanimity on the school organisation committee."[2]
Baroness Blatch of the Conservatives explains her reasoning for tabling the amendment as follows: "parents, school communities and schools themselves are in no position to counter the adjudicators' absolute power."[3]
The main aims of the Education Bill were to[4]:
- 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, 23 May 2002
- [2] Baroness Ashton of Upholland, House of Lords, 23 May 2002
- [3] Baroness Blatch, House of Lords, 23 May 2002
- [4] 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 | 56 (+2 tell) | 25.8% |
Crossbench | 6 | 5 | 6.3% |
Lab | 84 (+2 tell) | 0 | 43.9% |
LDem | 0 | 0 | 0.0% |
Total: | 90 | 61 | 23.4% |
Rebel Voters - sorted by party
Lords for which their vote in this division differed from the majority vote of their party. You can see all votes in this division, or every eligible lord who could have voted in this division
Name | Party | Vote |
Lord Alton of Liverpool | Crossbench | aye |
Baroness Howarth of Breckland | Crossbench | aye |
Lord Northbourne | Crossbench | aye |
Lord Quirk | Crossbench (front bench) | aye |
Lord Weatherill | Crossbench (front bench) | aye |