Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill on academies.

This government’s mission is clear: to break down barriers to opportunity by driving high and rising standards delivered through excellent teaching and leadership, a high-quality curriculum, and a system which removes the barriers to learning that hold too many children back. All underpinned by strong and clear accountability.

This is why we introduced the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, to give every family the certainty that they will be able to access a good local school for their child, where they can achieve and thrive, regardless of where they live.

Through this Bill, we are creating a floor for all schools but placing no ceiling on what they can achieve, enabling healthy competition and innovation beyond a core framework to improve all schools.

The department published updated impact assessments on the Bill’s measures on 21 March on GOV.UK. These include assessments of the impact on all types of school, including academies. It is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-wellbeing-and-schools-bill-impact-assessments.

Where measures are in scope, assessments follow the Better Regulation Framework, and we have received a ‘Green’ rating from the Regulatory Policy Committee.

The department will continue to develop the Impact Assessments throughout the passage of the bill and undertake post-implementation reviews.