Member

I really hope that there was no misunderstanding around the remarks made by the noble Lord, Lord Storey. I was absolutely not suggesting that, if a trust breaches its duties, it should be left to the trust. I was trying to set out—obviously, not clearly enough—that the Secretary of State already holds, through the funding agreement and the Academy Trust Handbook, considerable powers that mean those breaches can be addressed. I have the original Commons version of the policy document; in honour of the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, I was trying to save the planet by not printing another one. The examples may have changed, but the ones given in that document were a trust’s school uniform policy not conforming with the new school uniform requirements and a trust failing to follow its own complaints process. The noble Lord will agree with me, I think, that neither of those things is earth-shattering in its seriousness as compared to some of the things that can happen in schools.