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Baroness Sharp of Guildford: I hear what the Minister says. I am not totally satisfied with her answer, but I shall ponder on it further. At this late hour, I shall not take the matter any further. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Baroness Blatch moved Amendment No. 92:
- Before Clause 18, insert the following new clause—
The noble Baroness said: The amendment would require the Secretary of State and local education authorities to minimise the amount of regulation and bumf going to schools and nursery schools. Even as we speak, we are already endorsing the provision of more regulation. A great deal more guidance and bumf will end up going into schools. If the policy papers that I have received are any indication, schools will receive a large amount of paper.
Between 1997 and July 2000, schools received more than 1,000 publications and regulations from the department. In the first six months of 2000 alone, the DfES sent out 140 circulars to teachers—one directive for every working day. A recent report by the National Union of Teachers found that 57.8 per cent of teachers leaving the profession were doing so because of the workload. That is well documented and we have discussed it in other debates.
Local education authorities now have to produce 17 different plans for the department, including a plan of plans, bringing together all the other plans—in fact, the mother of all plans, the local government plan. In a very good pamphlet on the subject for the Centre for Policy Studies, Andrew Povey said that it would take more than 1,000 man hours for teachers and local authorities to consider and complete all the plans that the Government have imposed on teachers.
The crisis of teacher shortages is building nationwide. The Government's response so far has been complacent and inadequate. One action that they could take today is to stop the flow of unnecessary directives and paperwork that the department sends out, much of which merely ties teachers up in form-filling when they would prefer to be working in the classroom. That extra work is driving many teachers out of the profession and preventing them from doing the job that they know best—teaching.
No doubt the Minister will tell us that the burden has been considerably reduced. That does not show on my desk. Every day when I come in I find not just one, but often two, three or four releases from the department—and I receive only the press releases, not all the papers and reports that come out of the department. I certainly receive only a fraction of what schools receive.
I understand from an announcement in the past week that one answer proposed by the Government is to employ more people in the classroom to assist the teachers to cope with that level of bureaucracy. The fundamental question is this. Would it not be more effective to cut the level of bureaucracy in the first
Baroness Sharp of Guildford: I rise very briefly to support Amendment No. 92. We on these Benches have long argued for rather less regulation and rather fewer directives being issued by the Secretary of State. I entirely endorse the comments of the noble Baroness, Lady Blatch, on the amount of paperwork that arrives on the desks of noble Lords, let alone on those of head teachers and teachers. If there is a way of limiting the flow of paper, it would be an excellent matter to pursue.
Lord Alton of Liverpool: Clause 19 deals with the composition of governing bodies, and, as the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, has just said, Amendment No. 92 touches on the very important point of the build-up of bureaucracy and the build-up of requirements on teachers and governing bodies. When I was a young teacher, one of the joys of teaching was the fact that one was not encumbered with vast amounts of bureaucracy. My friends who have remained in the profession complain bitterly about the sheer volume of paperwork that is now inflicted on them. It seems to diminish their capacity to do their job properly as teachers.
Knowing that the Government are concerned to increase the number of people serving on governing bodies—and I entirely support them in that ambition—we should look at ways of trying to reduce the burdens placed on governors. In saying that, I should declare a non-pecuniary interest as a foundation governor of the Liverpool Bluecoat School. Moreover, like the Minister, I have also served on the governing bodies of maintained sector, voluntary aided and independent schools. In performing that role, I have found, just as I did as a local councillor, that the paperwork has exceeded anything that I was warned to expect. It could be a major disincentive in encouraging people to take part in school governance. People could be put off by the sheer scale of the paperwork that can arrive on their desks. I also think that much of that paperwork is repetitive and unnecessary.
Although it may not be necessary to include in the Bill a provision along the lines of the fairly dirigiste Amendment No. 92, we should all warmly support the spirit of the amendment. If the Government can give it a fair wind and say that they will look at ways of trying to reduce bureaucracy, everyone will be much happier.
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: I think that we all share the objective behind Amendment No. 92, to reduce the bureaucracy, paperwork and regulatory burdens placed upon our schools. I could not agree more with the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Alton, on that issue. Not today, but later we shall discuss governance issues and how to ensure we have a good system that enables us to recruit and retain our governors, who play such an important voluntary role
I understand from parliamentary counsel that the effect of the amendment would be to reduce the level of regulation to nothing. Although I know that that is not what the noble Baroness is proposing, it is worth putting that on the record. We all recognise that there needs to be some regulation and bureaucracy within the system. It is also very important to ensure that we give schools the right kind of information. As a Minister, I tackle that issue every day. We are seeking a balance in ensuring that schools receive good information. I am particularly concerned with special educational needs. We have to ensure that we give schools the right type of information about the different types of special educational needs, for example, while not overburdening them with paperwork, as noble Lords have said.
The department is guarding against requiring schools to jump through bureaucratic hoops when there is no need to do so. Last year, we said that key measures in the Bill would be implemented according to best practice, including looking at their implications for those working in schools. We are doing that with the aim of lightening the load on our schools as far as possible. We have set out in the Government's regulatory reform action plan our programme to reduce the burden of regulations on the schools sector. Moreover, as noble Lords have said, we have significantly increased the number of support staff to help tackle the type of work that teachers can genuinely hand over to other people, leaving them free to teach. I know that the Committee agrees with that. On the basis that I support the spirit of the amendment even if I cannot accept it, I should be grateful if the noble Baroness would withdraw the amendment.
Baroness Blatch: I am grateful for that reply. Certainly, I should not want an onerous burden to be placed on the Government given that I argue that there should not be an onerous burden placed on local authorities or schools. It is important that the Government should indicate that the Secretary of State is conscious of the workload that is being imposed upon local authorities, governing bodies, head teachers and schools. I see now what the noble Baroness meant when she said that parliamentary counsel envisaged a situation where no measures of the kind we are discussing would exist. If every year one had to report a reduction on the previous year, eventually they would disappear altogether. That would be a heavenly situation for schools but I believe that even they would argue that they required some information from those on high.
However, I believe I can find a suitable form of words here. The very fact of a report being made to Parliament each year on the volume of information that had been disseminated in the school system would constitute a control on the Government's appetite for sending out circulars, regulations, codes of practice etcetera. Given that there has been some welcome of the intention behind the amendment, I shall take it
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
"REDUCTION OF REGULATION
(1) In relation to the conduct of education in schools and nursery schools, the Secretary of State and local education authorities shall have an overriding duty to minimise regulation and to reduce the amount of material they send to governing bodies and head teachers.
(2) The Secretary of State must publish an annual report to Parliament setting out the progress he has made in the preceding year in reducing the number and volume of regulations, circulars and codes of practice that he or his predecessors have published.
(3) Each set of regulations, circular or code of practice issued by the Secretary of State shall include a statement by him of the time he expects it will take for governing bodies or head teachers of schools or nursery schools, as appropriate, to read, consider and implement the regulations, circular or code of practice concerned.
(4) In making his estimate under subsection (3), the Secretary of State shall impose no additional burden on schools or nursery schools to provide him or local authorities with information."
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