Baroness Barran (Con)

My Lords, as the Committee and the Minister know by now, we on these Benches are opposed to the whole of Clause 5, and I will start my remarks by making the case that it should not stand part of the Bill; rather, we urge the Government to think again and remove it. First, as we debated at Second Reading, there is the point of principle. On what basis should the Government identify a single group of charities, with no concerns about the delivery of their charitable objects, for separate treatment in relation to business rates from their charitable peers? Sadly, the only plausible reason is that it reflects some ideology that does not respect the right of parents to choose the education for their child. I am not suggesting that the Minister sees it in that way, and I accept that the Government’s plan to tax education for the first time ever in this country’s history were in their manifesto, but I cannot find another logical basis for this choice. Secondly, this picture is confirmed when we look at the amount of money that will be raised from this change. The Government project that only £70 million will be raised. Finally, it leaves the risk that in future legislation in this area, this or a future Government will carve out another group of charities that they believe no longer justify the business rates relief. This feels a wrong-headed choice, and I very much hope that the Minister will encourage his colleagues to review it and remove the clause. I turn to Amendments 55, 56, 59 and 62. Amendment 55 is consequential and necessary to enable the later amendments. I have tabled it to exempt specific independent schools from this measure. Amendments 56 and 59 are probing amendments to understand what is meant by the term “or other consideration” in the context of fees payable for the provision of full-time education. I would be grateful if the Minister could give the Committee an example of where another consideration has been used in practice wholly or partly to replace fees. Amendment 62 highlights the position of smaller independent schools, many of which charge significantly less than the independent school average of £27,642, which was the figure the Minister in the other place gave as the mean annual day fee as of January 2024. I appreciate that the Government are unlikely to agree with the fee level in my amendment, but it would be helpful for the Committee to hear whether there is a fee level below which this legislation would not apply. As the Minister knows, some faith schools in particular charge lower fees than the state school equivalent per pupil funding rate. Would the Government consider exempting schools that charge less than the per pupil funding rate from this tax. As we have heard, Amendments 54A, 55A, 59A, 69C, 69D, 77 and 78 in the names of my noble friends Lord Lexden and Lord Black of Brentwood would replace the use of “private school” with “independent school”. I agree with my noble friends’ analysis of the importance of this and some of the factors that sit behind it. The term “private school” is much more informal, and in legislation it is more commonplace to use “independent school”. We support those amendments fully; I hope the Minister will give careful consideration to them.