Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to
encourage greater diversity on school governing bodies.
(Con)
Volunteer school governors and trustees are critical in helping
schools and trusts to perform well. Diverse perspectives and
backgrounds on governing boards strengthen strategic
decision-making in the best interests of all pupils. We provide
practical support to help boards improve diversity through
published guidance and, last year, invested £1.2 million in
recruitment. There is more to do and we continue to encourage
governing boards to be more representative of the communities
they serve.
(Lab)
I thank the noble Baroness for that response. Does she agree with
me that all state-funded schools should have parent and community
governors who reflect their locality? Employers and unions might
work together to encourage people to put themselves forward.
Indeed, they might support governorship by negotiating paid leave
as necessary to carry out governing body duties and
responsibilities.
(Con)
The Government are keen to encourage local governing bodies to
recruit more diverse members. Voluntary campaigns by all
organisations in the educational sector will also encourage
people to engage and consider the questions the noble Baroness
raises.
(Con)
My Lords, the Youth Unemployment Select Committee of this House
reported last November with a mass of recommendations, all of
which have so far been rejected by the Government. One of the
recommendations was that every secondary school should have a
local employer on its board, at the very least to implement what
the Prime Minister said; he wants to put industry at the heart of
education. A governing person who is a local employer will be
able to ensure that, when pupils leave school at 18, they have
employability skills. At the moment, most do not have
employability skills and that must end.
(Con)
My Lords, I was not aware of that particular recommendation, but
I am aware of my noble friend’s work in this area on a number of
fronts. In the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill that we just
passed we took more important steps to ensure better links
between employers, skills and careers advice in schools to ensure
that young people leave school with the skills they need and
knowledge of the opportunities out there for them.
(LD)
My Lords, I wonder how we can have a local employer on a
governing body or hear the voices of parents from diverse
communities if a governing body does not exist. These days, many
multi-academy trusts choose not to have a governing body or for
it to represent a number of schools. When a multi-academy trust
has schools in, say, Stoke, Birmingham and Portsmouth, how does
that reflect the diverse communities that make up the UK?
(Con)
The noble Lord is right that local governance is a vital way to
connect trusts to their local schools and communities. The vast
majority of trusts already have local governance arrangements in
their trust structure, and it is our intention that all trusts
should reap the benefits of having effective local governance
arrangements. We will discuss with the sector the best way to
achieve that.
(CB)
My Lords, a survey in 2019 by the National Governance Association
found that the average age of governors was 55. Does the Minister
agree that when searching for more diversity, diversity of age
should be encouraged because at 55 many people will be out of
touch with the education system?
(Con)
My Lords, I agree with the noble Baroness. Age is something we
are looking at in terms of diversity as well as gender, ethnic
background and other characteristics.
(Lab)
My Lords, my noble friend made a specific suggestion around paid
leave to enable parents to fulfil the responsibilities of school
governors. For those on low wages, that is crucial. Will the
Minister please comment on that proposal?
(Con)
My Lords, I know that there are arrangements in place to allow
people to take leave to fulfil voluntary obligations. I know that
it is unpaid at the moment. I will take that suggestion back to
the department.
(Lab)
My Lords, the Government have weakened the role of local
authorities in schools. How are governing bodies that are faced
with failed schools going to get the level of support that they
need to bring about change in those schools?
(Con)
My Lords, there are effective arrangements in place to ensure
that governing bodies in maintained schools and boards in academy
trusts get the effective support they need to fulfil their role
in our education system.
(Lab)
My Lords, will the Minister elaborate a little on the answer she
gave about multi-academy trusts? She seems to have said that
local involvement in school management is important, but as far
as academy trusts are concerned she acknowledged that it is
important but just hoped that trusts would do that. Do we not
need a bit more than that from the Government?
(Con)
My Lords, I said it was not just a hope and that it is the
Government’s intention to achieve that. It is already in place in
the majority of trusts. We will work with the sector to find the
best way to deliver on that intention.
(Lab)
My Lords, I reassure the noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft, that
when you reach a certain age you are still in touch with young
people and the education service. Will the Minister go back to
her colleagues and take a look at whether guidance could be given
to the founders of multi-academy trusts about how many of their
relatives and close friends should appropriately be trustees?
(Con)
My Lords, I believe that the Government provide clear guidance
for trusts on their governance arrangements. The Government will
always make sure that that is the case.
(Con)
My Lords, listening to the questions we have had, does my noble
friend agree that the important thing is to look at the
effectiveness of the governance of these schools? Would she like
to pay tribute to our noble friend Lord Harris for the fantastic
work he has done in transforming failing schools into some of the
leading schools in the country?
(Con)
My Lords, my noble friend is absolutely correct. It is about
effectiveness and outcomes, and that is the focus of the schools
White Paper that the Government recently published. To go back to
the original Question, diversity is essential to ensure that
effectiveness, and the Government support it.
(LD)
My Lords, further to my noble friend’s question, if a school does
not have a governing board, how can we get any benefit from it?
Will we change this in the next Queen’s Speech?
(Con)
My Lords, there are governing bodies for maintained schools and
boards for academy trusts. As I have already said to noble Lords,
the majority of trusts have local governance in place and we want
to work towards a situation where all trusts have local
governance systems in place. That is something that we are
talking to the sector about. That does not necessarily mean
legislation. There are different ways that we can effectively
achieve change.
(Lab)
My Lords, the Minister rightly said that governors should be
representative of the community that the school serves. Setting a
good example by, say, enabling a culture of equality and
diversity so that it thrives within the school or the trust
should be a key role of a board of governors. However, the facts
show that that is not the case. Last year the National Governance
Association published figures showing that just 5% of school
governors were from ethnic minority backgrounds, and that figure
has not changed since 1999. I will save the Minister from gently
reminding me that my party was in government for about half that
period, but her party is in government now and it is incumbent on
her to say what action the Government will take beyond guidance,
which clearly is not working, so that those boards are made more
aware of the need to deal with the lack of diversity among their
own number.
(Con)
The noble Lord is correct that there is more work to do. In
response to the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, we
committed to continuing to encourage governing bodies to be more
reflective of the school communities that they serve, and we
recommended that they collect and publish board diversity data at
a local level voluntarily. As far as the Government’s actions are
concerned, we are investing in recruitment campaigns with
specific diversity targets to help increase the pool of people
who can serve on these boards and support local schools.
(LD)
My Lords, many years ago when I was a school governor—I declare
an interest—I was encouraged by a school in Hackney, a very
diverse school in a very diverse borough, which created two extra
co-opted places specifically to reflect the diversity of the
school and to encourage parents from those communities to join
the governing body. That was very effective and I benefited from
it, and I would like to think that all the kids there who I was
in touch with also had a point of contact. Why can this not be
rolled out to those academies that are serving the community but
probably do not hit any of the diversity targets, so that they
can better represent their communities?
(Con)
I think the Government would encourage local initiatives such as
the one that the noble Baroness refers to in increasing the
diversity on boards and trusts of local schools. The other issue
that we need to bear in mind is that for different communities
diversity looks different, and the solutions may be different in
different areas. We need to get the best practice out there,
learn from it and provide the tools and encouragement to local
areas so that they can do better in this area, supported by the
Government.
