Member

Amendment 443, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Carter of Haslemere, seeks to exempt academies from some curriculum changes. I recognise that his intention was to accuse the Government, but I will take this as an opportunity to give a bit of explanation of this clause. This measure extends existing delegated powers from the Education Act 2002 which apply to maintained schools to academies and does not take any new ones. Using delegated powers in this way ensures that some areas of the curriculum can change at pace in response to changing educational, social, technological and economic needs, while providing appropriate parliamentary oversight. There is nothing “back door” about our approach; the detail and extent of the measure are clear, as shown by the fact that the noble Lord has identified it. It was part of the Government’s submission to the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee, which did not raise concerns about this provision.