Lord Leong (Lab)

My Lords, I will confirm the policy in the letter sent by my noble friends Lady Smith and Lady Jones, to which the noble Baroness, Lady Barran, referred. The purpose of the SSSNB is to ensure that school support staff are entitled to at least a statutory minimum level of pay and conditions that has been negotiated by the school employer and employee representatives, and is appropriate for the roles that staff are undertaking in schools. The SSSNB’s remit will also allow for greater consistency in the relationship between roles, training and pay, and it will be for the SSSNB to agree how this is done and what the core offer looks like. Beyond this minimum offer, school support staff will be able to benefit from more favourable pay and conditions where these are offered by the employer. Furthermore, the SSSNB will receive a remit from the Secretary of State setting out what the body will focus on in a given year. In the first few years, the SSSNB will focus on terms and conditions that will most benefit school support staff, while giving the sector time to adjust to the new process. Where regulations make no provision in relation to particular terms and conditions of employment, the existing terms and conditions in the employee’s contract will remain unchanged, and schools continue to have flexibility to agree terms in local negotiations; for example, if a ratified agreement relates to minimum pay levels only, existing contractual provisions in relation to annual leave or another school that staff work in will remain unchanged. I have already spoken to Motion N. I beg to move. Motion N1 (as an amendment to Motion N)