Tuesday 4 February 2025 - 10:00am (public)
Policy expert Sam Freedman and NEU leader Daniel Kebede will be among witnesses at an Education Committee session on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
Across three panels (more info below), the Committee will scrutinise how the legislation could work in practice to provide free breakfasts in all state primaries, clamp down on uniform costs, place new regulations on academies, and give local authorities more power over admissions policy.
The session comes after the Government laid an amendment to the Bill clarifying that the legislation would not set a cap that forces academies to reduce teachers’ salaries.
There will also be questions about proposals for all schools to be taught the National Curriculum. Academies and free schools – which make up the majority of secondaries – are currently not legally required to teach the curriculum. .
MPs will be interested to hear how local authorities would carry out their new role of maintaining registers of children not in school – a measure the previous Education Committee called for in the last Parliament.
Safeguarding measures such as restrictions on home schooling if social services have concerns about a family, and giving Ofsted powers to inspect unregistered schools, will also be scrutinised.
Witnesses from 10:00 (breakfast clubs, uniforms)
- Kate Anstey, Head of Education Policy, Child Poverty Action Group
- Dr Rebecca Montacute, Acting Director of Research and Policy, Sutton Trust
- Lindsey MacDonald, Chief Executive, Magic Breakfast
From 10:30 (academy schools)
- John Barneby, CEO, Oasis Community Learning
- Daniel Kebede, General Secretary, National Education Union (NEU)
- Sam Freedman, Senior Fellow, Institute for Government
From 11:15 (admissions and children not in school)
- Cllr Bev Craig, Leader, Manchester City Council and Vice Chair, Local Government Association
- Mr Thomas Brooke, Joint interim Chief School Adjudicator, Office of the Schools Adjudicator
- Clare Canning, Head of Centre, Broadleaf home education centre.
