Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (Establishment of Schools) (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2026
House of Lords · Grand Committee · 7 Jul 2026 · 11 speeches · Official Report
Considered in Grand Committee
Moved by
That the Grand Committee do consider the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 (Establishment of Schools) (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2026.
My Lords, I thank the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee and the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments for their scrutiny of this instrument. The draft regulations were laid in Parliament on 20 May 2026. As noble Lords will be aware, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 changes the legal framework for opening new state-funded schools. It ends the legal presumption that new schools should be academies and helps to ensure that new schools can be delivered quickly where they are needed by enabling proposals from local authorities and voluntary organisations as additional routes to delivery. This provides greater flexibility in the system, including in circumstances where suitable academy trust capacity is limited. This instrument makes consequential amendments arising out of these provisions. The amendments to primary and secondary legislation are necessary to ensure that references to the legislative framework for opening new schools are correct and consistent across the statute book and to update provisions to ensure that they are compatible with the new legislative framework. The amendments are minor and technical in nature and do not introduce any significant new policy. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act repeals Section 6A of the Education and Inspections Act 2006, relating to the presumption that new schools should be academies. Arrangements for inviting proposals for new schools are now contained in the amended Section 7. The Act also replaces...
My Lords, remembering the bit of the Bill we did when we started this, I think this is quite a sensible provision. There is no great disagreement in principle on this, certainly on my part. We have a mixed economy for schools, and indeed the previous Government discovered, when they wanted everything to become academised, that even people who were good long-serving Conservatives were not that keen on getting functional schools converted across. We have a mixed economy, and it seems to be largely accepted that, until we get around to a radical reform or until the wind changes, it will stay as that. I do not know what councils and local authorities having some capacity to expand or change the school system will mean with falling school rolls, but the emphasis on pupil referral units and special schools is quite sensible, as this will undoubtedly be part of a more coherent picture of dealing with those who will not succeed in mainstream schools. The autism lobby might be interested in the potential here, because the huge costs involved in transporting people to appropriate special schools might be addressed here, at least in the medium term. That is probably more hope than expectation, but it would certainly be something that allows that to happen. On pupil referral units, whatever is happening at the moment, more people seem to be failing and rejected by mainstream schools, and they need somewhere where they can be addressed. I do manage to make everything about special...
My Lords, I thank the Minister for introducing today’s statutory instrument, which makes amendments consequential to the provisions of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act. I record His Majesty’s loyal Opposition’s support for one measure within these regulations. These regulations will make it easier for teachers and local authorities to transition into new pupil referral units, making it easier to create those new PRUs. We support the expansion of alternative education provision, particularly for those who need additional help. Indeed, in government, we supported PRUs and general alternative provision. We oversaw an increase in independent alternative provision pupils of 156% in the seven years leading up to the 2024 election. Alternative provision academies doubled in our final 10 years in office, and these in particular are more likely to be judged outstanding by Ofsted and have better attendance than other state-funded alternative provision, as they can combine academic freedom with tailored pastoral support. We therefore support regulations enabling the expansion of alternative provision. However, although some of this instrument supports the expansion of alternative provision education, which so benefited from the freedoms the Conservatives gave it, other measures in this SI simultaneously enforce the Government’s crackdown on the freedoms of academies. The Academies Act 2010 ushered in the most substantive education reforms in a generation. It introduced the...
I thank noble Lords for their contribution to this discussion today. I know from previous experience that both noble Lords are passionate about education and understand its importance for our young people. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Addington, for his particular reference to the mixed economy and the ability to respond to particular circumstances as they arise. He quite rightly referenced, for example, falling rolls, which is an issue that is working its way through primary schools at the moment and which will be going into secondary schools for a substantial number of years; of course, that has an effect. I am interested in his comments about the autism lobby. I know he will keep us up to date with his thinking around that, but from my own experience-
I will let the noble Baroness know that I do not have to keep noble Lords up to date; it is going to let everybody know.
I have no doubt about that either, and of course we welcome the extraordinary work that it does in such an area of high need going forward. But I think the noble Lord must acknowledge that he has a particular role in terms of promoting, at every possible opportunity, as he quite rightly outlined, his commitment to making sure that Members of this House take account of the challenges, needs and opportunities-and of course the successes-in these areas. I think it is fair to say that pupil referral units have had a rather mixed experience over the years, and so everything that we can do to make sure that there is proper oversight and connection with other schools in a particular community is to be welcomed. I do not have much to say to the noble Earl, Lord Effingham; I think he will continue to express his concerns and his views. But I would have thought that the most important thing that we can do is to support local areas to come up with the best provision that they can. It is simply a fact that in some areas the academy chains do not necessarily have the reach or the capacity or the expertise in particular areas to take on the important challenges that are facing our young people today. It is absolutely with that in mind that we want to move forward to make sure that all schools and institutions have the very best opportunity to work with the best providers, making sure that we have proper oversight of the governance going forward. I am sure that the noble Earl will continue...
Motion agreed.
Committee adjourned at 6.40 pm.