The Schools Bill will not be progressing in this parliamentary session

7th December 2022

The Secretary of State confirmed that the Schools Bill will not be progressing in this parliamentary session. The Secretary of State also made clear that she remains committed to the important objectives that underpinned the Bill and the policy positions in the White Paper. She said a lot of the Schools White Paper is being implemented and does not require legislation.

CST understands that the DfE remains fully focused on ensuring all schools can benefit from the support of a trust.

Leora Cruddas CBE, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, said:

"We welcome clarity on this position. We anticipated this would be the case in relation to Part one of the Bill which dealt with Academy Standards and powers of intervention. The prize in our view is to work towards a single regulatory approach underpinned by a regulatory strategy.

"The DfE’s regulatory and commissioning review is turning its attention now to how we define a strong trust. It is very important that this work does not pin down the definition so that trusts have no room to give creative and innovative expression to what it means to be a strong trust so they can provide the very best education to children and young people. We believe that that there is not a single way of being a strong trust but that we can work towards a common definition of what good looks like.

"We continue to work closely with Ministers, regulators, the inspectorate and senior civil servants on behalf of the wider trust sector.”