Member

Finally, on Amendment 502YC in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Barran, I have to say that we covered quite a bit of this last week in our interesting and lengthy discussions. The amendment would mean that maintained schools could be exempted from or could modify statutory teacher pay and conditions and the national curriculum if they were considered to be performing well. As we discussed last week at length, of course we share the aims of this amendment: ensuring a national curriculum that can improve—and not just maintain—its current ability to innovate, and ensuring that our provisions around pay and conditions are a floor and not a ceiling. We want to ensure consistent and high standards across all schools. This amendment would propose a fragmented approach that is contrary to our commitment to create a core guarantee of quality for all children.