Tom Cross & John Ford review the new Education & Adoption Bill
What the Bill seeks to do
The first relates to the circumstances in which the secretary of state can intervene in a maintained school. The Bill would provide for intervention in maintained “coasting schools”. However, the Bill does not define what a “coasting school” is, save that it is one which has been notified that the secretary of state considers it to be such. There would be a power for the secretary of state to include a definition in regulations.
The Bill also would enable the secretary of state (and not just a local authority) to give a warning notice to a maintained school about performance standards, or a breakdown in governance or safety (under the current s 60 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006). Where the secretary of state issued such a notice, it would effectively “trump” a notice already issued by a local authority, and prevent the authority from issuing its
