Next Gen News

Leaked official document questions future of schools admissions code

Michael Gove is accused today of planning to let schools select pupils after a leaked government document questioned the future of the admissions code that stops schools favouring children they believe are more likely to produce better results.

Amid growing unease among Liberal Democrats at the government's plans to rush through legislation establishing a new generation of academy schools, Ed Balls warned tonight of a "full scale assault" on comprehensive education.

The shadow schools secretary spoke out after the Guardian obtained a leaked government document which appeared to suggest the admissions code could be dropped as part of a drive to allow academies to run more efficiently. The school admissions code is designed to prevent teachers from covertly selecting pupils, for example by interviewing parents.

The government document was used by Clare Simpson, an education department official, to brief teaching unions on 7 July. The first slide for the presentation was headed: "Reducing bureaucracy in schools". The ninth, headed "review of requirements on schools", suggested five proposals to ease the burden on schools. The second said: "The admissions code?"

Balls said: "It's shocking that the government is contemplating scrapping the admissions code under the guise of reducing bureaucracy. The plans Michael Gove is railroading through parliament already risk creating social division and a two-tier system. Without the safeguard of a tough admissions code that will be exacerbated."

However, the Department for Education insisted it was committed to comprehensive education. A spokesman said: "Ed Balls's leadership campaign is so desperate it is reduced to confecting lies that even a child can see through. The coalition is committed to comprehensive education and plans to introduce a pupil premium to demonstrate support for the poorest children."

The academies bill, expected to pass its final Commons stage on Monday, makes no change to admissions policy. The only reference is to allow selective schools to continue the practice.

But Balls believes the bill's weakness in this area means that the admissions code could be watered down. "What's happening at the moment is nothing less than a full scale assault on comprehensive state education," he said. "Local authorities are being cut out of the picture, the best schools given extra funding at the expense of those who need support and new free market schools being set up while school buildings are cancelled."

The document was leaked to the Guardian as Lib Dem backbenchers indicated they are prepared to rebel against the bill. They were boosted today when Simon Hughes, the Lib Dem deputy leader, admitted his party does not agree with the academies bill. "The academies bill â€" no, we wouldn't have supported," he told Radio 4. "We need to be clear that when things come from the Conservative stable [we say] this is not our proposal but we have accepted it as it is part of the package."

A series of Lib Dem MPs have told the Guardian they plan to vote against â€" or abstain â€" on the bill that would allow parents to set up their own schools and pave the way for hundreds more academies.

Thousands of primary, secondary and special schools could become academies â€" independent state schools that have opted out of local authority control. This would signal the biggest change to England's school structure since the 1960s.

The Tories have enacted parliamentary procedures usually reserved for emergency counter-terror laws to rush the legislation through by the summer recess next week. Gove wants the bill to become law quickly so that schools can become academies as early as September.

Mike Hancock, the Lib Dem MP for Portsmouth South, said: "There are few things more important than education, and if my actions make problems for me, so be it." He added that the bill was "full of gimmicks".

David Ward, MP for Bradford East, said that "big reservations" about the bill and will be ", probably abstain" from the vote on Monday, '.

John Pugh, MP for Southport, is considering voting against the bill and amended on Monday. "Good government is not a hastily seal projects ministers" by the fund, but also about due diligence and evidence-led policy, "he said. Two other deputies were introduced amendments to the bill.

Bob Russell, MP for Colchester, said: "In a time of austerity the last thing we need is to set up rival establishments. I would prefer these parents use their enthusiasm to improve their local schools."

Lib Dem unease about the coalition came as a key voice on the left of the party warned it could disappear.

Lord Greaves, who said he is in "despair" about David Cameron's "big society", highlighted the academies bill as an example of the sort of Tory measure that could damage his party. "If we lose our distinctiveness there is no reason at all for anybody to vote for us in the future and the party will therefore disappear," he told Radio 4.

Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, said Cameron only taking into account a lot of liberal Democrats in the coalition, because his party would provide cover for the Tories. "Of its trademark, including the majority of its members, is toxic and it's not my job to neutralize it."

The Lib Dem leadership insists that it is securing party policies, such as a referendum on reforming the voting system and ensuring greater democratic accountability in the NHS. They say their influence in government was highlightedtoday at the first full political cabinet, held at Chequers, when three Lib Dem ministers took part in three presentations.

Presentations Nick Clegg and David Cameron, Danny Alexander and George Osborne, and finally, Chris Huhne and Gove.