Education and Inspections Bill — Regulate schools' admissions policies — rejected — 24 May 2006 at 17:30

The majority No voters rejected a new clause^[1] for the Education and Inspections Bill. This new clause would have added in a new section into the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 after section 89. The key point about the clause is that local education authorities would be required to regulate schools' admissions criteria so that they are fair and objective. However, the amendment was defeated.

The main aims of the Education and Inspections Bill were to^[2]:

• Allow schools to achieve 'foundation' or 'trust' status - this gives governing bodies greater freedom to manage the school.
• Reaffirm the existing ban on selection by ability and proposes a ban on interviewing.
• Give local authorities greater scope to intervene more quickly in failing schools.
• Ensure local authorities provide free school transport for the poorest families.
• Enable nutritional standards to be applied to all food and drink on school premises.
• Allow staff to discipline children for bad behaviour even outside of school.
• Ensure parents are held responsible for excluded pupils.

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• [1] Sarah Teather MP, House of Commons, 24 May 2006
• [2] BBC Summary of the Education and Inspections Bill, 8 March 2006

Debate in Parliament | Source |