Member

Amendment 203 concerns the application of independent school standards to academies. Academies are independent schools in law and are regulated by the independent school standards, unless expressly exempted. If we took the standards away, we could not hold academies properly to account in critical areas such as safeguarding. Opposition Members should be familiar with this dual regime, as they operated it for 14 years. Successive Governments have operated the regulatory regime on that basis, and this Government will do the same.