The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill received a second reading without the need for a further formal vote after an acrimonious debate
The vote result being read out in the House of Commons(Image: PA)
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill has successfully navigated its first hurdle after MPs gave it a second reading in Parliament on Wednesday (January 8). A Tory amendment aimed at blocking the Bill, which included a call for a national inquiry into grooming gangs, was dismissed by a majority of 253 votes, with 364 votes against and 111 in favour.
The Bill later received a second reading without the need for an additional formal vote. The Government’s draft child protection legislation cleared its initial Commons hurdle following a heated Prime Minister’s Questions, during which Tory leader Kemi Badenoch suggested that failure to support an investigation would fuel concerns about a ‘cover-up’.
The Tories had proposed the motion to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill demanding a new national inquiry into gangs, which, if approved, would have halted the progress of the legislation. However, MPs voted to reject the motion by 364 votes to 111, majority 253.
The division list revealed that supporters of the amendment included 101 Tories, five Reform UK, two DUP, the TUV’s Jim Allister, UUP MP Robin Swann and Independent Alex Easton, with no Labour MPs supporting. Shouts of ‘no’ could be heard when MPs were asked if the Bill should receive a second reading and a division was initially called but it was later cancelled.
The Bill will undergo further scrutiny at a later date. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill aims to ensure all state schools – academies and those run by councils – adhere to the same pay and conditions framework. Academies, which operate independently from local authorities, currently have the liberty to establish their own pay and conditions for staff, with some academies surpassing the national pay scales for teachers.
However, the new Bill would ensure all teachers are part of the same core pay and conditions framework, regardless of whether they work in a local authority-run school or an academy. The Bill also includes other measures such as requiring all state schools, including academies, to teach the national curriculum.
It will also permit councils to open new schools that are not academies, and it will put an end to the forced academisation of schools run by local authorities which Ofsted identifies as a concern. The Government also has plans to strengthen child protection, with a new register of all home-schooled children in England.