Lord Black of Brentwood (Con)

My Lords, I support all the amendments in this group but I shall speak in particular to Amendment 72A in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Lexden. I refer to my earlier declaration of interests. The Minister has been very emollient and courteous in batting off all our amendments today; I thank him for the way he has dealt with them. Although he and his colleagues throughout government like to bury their heads in the sand and pretend otherwise—as we have seen, I am afraid—the impact of their onslaught on independent education, of which the removal of business rates is just one strand, will have profound ramifications for not just the sector and the children educated in it but a wide range of public policy areas. This is a bit like that game of Jenga, which we have probably all played, where blocks of wood are taken out until a point comes where the removal of one of them causes the whole edifice to crumble. That is what is in danger of happening here, with the sustained attack on independent education in danger of causing policy failure in a wide range of other areas. Consider quite how far-reaching are the consequences of this policy underpinned by Clause 5. It impacts on public health and the care of vulnerable children; on the future of music, drama and the arts in the UK, which we have talked about today; on military families and defence personnel; on state schools, whose class sizes will increase; on multiculturalism and respect for different faiths; on jobs, export and investment; on local communities, volunteer groups, charities and so on, which depend on partnership with independent schools; on sport, as we have heard so eloquently described; and on soft power and Britain’s standing abroad. As a result of this web of different aspects that will be affected and will impinge on so many different aspects of government policy, it is vital there is an impact assessment of the consequences of Clause 5 taken in conjunction with the Government’s other policy changes. That is what my Amendment 72A provides for. Apart from everything else, Parliament has a continuing responsibility to scrutinise the Government’s actions in this area. That is what this House, in particular, is here for. To do that, we need not just the data provided by the industry’s own excellent associations but data from across government and a detailed assessment of its implications. Given the profound changes to policy that Clause 5 exemplifies, ripping up five decades of orthodoxy about parental choice, such an impact assessment is the very least we should expect to allow us to fulfil our responsibilities and make clear to the public what its consequences are.