Category: Speeches

Michael Gove – 2011 Speech to the National Conference of Directors of Children’s and Adult Services
The speech made by Michael Gove, the then Secretary of State for Education, on 9 February 2011.

Thank you, Shireen, and thank you Marion, for your very kind introduction.

It’s a special pleasure to be here in Manchester, home of one of our greatest football clubs (Manchester City), home of one of our most amazing schools (Manchester Academy), and home to one of the most striking examples of urban regeneration in the country – Manchester’s revived city centre. All of them evidence that when local people, local institutions and local government are given a broader canvas on which to operate, their ambitions can exceed anything imagined.

I want to say a little bit today about the ambitious agenda the coalition government has for education – and children’s services. And in particular I want to outline how, working together, we can be more ambitious about what children and young people can achieve in Britain.

A power shift and a horizon shift

It’s been 6 months since the new coalition government was established as a partnership between two parties determined to work together in the national interest to resolve the big problems our country faces.

Since the government was formed we’ve set to work to restore our finances, reduce the massive deficit we inherited and put public services on a sustainable footing. We have started to reform our political system to make it fairer, more accountable and more transparent; embarked on reforms of education, health and welfare to promote social justice; and taken steps to accelerate economic growth by improving vocational training, investing in science and lifting the bureaucratic burden on business.

Our reform programme is driven by two principles shared across the coalition parties. We believe in shifting power down from central government to the lowest possible level – to local authorities, schools, mutuals and co-ops, GP consortia, community groups, families and individuals. And alongside this power shift, we believe in setting policy with a determined eye on the long-term. Whether it’s reforming higher education, taking radical action on energy efficiency or investing more in pre-school learning for our 2-year-olds, the government believes in a horizon shift where tough decisions are taken now so the country can enjoy a more sustainably prosperous future.

It’s a challenging agenda. But then again it needs to be, because our country can’t afford – literally cannot afford – not to change radically.

The economic mess we find ourselves in means we need to change.

The huge numbers of talented young people who still do not achieve as they should means we need to change.

And the new demands from the public that we deliver services much more efficiently means we need to change.

Changing does not mean rejecting the gains we have already made as a society. It’s quite the opposite – unless we change we will not be able to generate the wealth and opportunities, we will not be able to provide the security and comfort, that we have grown used to expecting.

I am an unreserved admirer of many of the advances we’ve made as a country over the last few decades. In the 80s we put the days of relative economic decline behind us. In the nineties we became a more tolerant, compassionate and open nation. And over the last decade there’s been a renewed emphasis on spreading opportunity more widely.

Specifically, there’s been a growing sense that we must ensure our taxpayer-funded public services are as responsive to individual demands and as efficient in their operations as those private sector organisations that have benefitted from innovation and competition.

Together, these forces and trends have driven progress. But even as we look back and see how far we’ve come, it is much more important that we look around us and see how fast others are going.

Across the globe other nations are modernising their economies, reforming their ways of working, challenging vested interests, demanding better performance, transforming public service, and making power more accountable, government more transparent and opportunity more equal. And the pace of change is everywhere accelerating. In East Asia, millions more are being educated to a higher level than ever before every year. In Scandinavia, taxes are being cut and technological change is driving new business growth. In North America, new ways of providing public services are being pioneered which put the empowered citizen in control.

We cannot ignore, or resist, these trends. It’s in the nature of our world that jobs, investment, innovation and growth will migrate to those jurisdictions with the best trained workers, the best educated citizens, the most efficient governments, the most responsive services, the most civilized public square. If we are to ensure our citizens enjoy a civilized future, with the economic growth which will sustain a prosperous and comfortable future for all, then we must accelerate reform here. We have to keep pace with the world’s innovation nations. And, sadly, at the moment we are falling behind.

The fierce urgency of the need for education reform

In the last ten years we have fallen behind other countries in the international league tables of school performance – falling from fourth in the world for science to fourteenth, seventh in the world for literacy to seventeenth, and eighth in the world for maths to twenty-fourth.

If we are to raise attainment for all children, turn round underperforming schools where students have been poorly served for years, close the gap between rich and poor and make opportunity more equal, we need to work at every level to accelerate the pace of change.

Local authorities have a central role to play. The services you provide are critical to our shared mission of giving every child, and young person, the best possible start in life. From the support given in the earliest years, through Sure Start and other settings, to the effective policing of admissions rules to guarantee fair access for all students; from the expertise required to support children with special educational needs to the challenge which underperforming schools require to improve, local authorities are our essential partners in the fight to extend every child’s opportunities.

I am grateful for all the support, advice and encouragement I have received from colleagues in local government, councillors from all parties and officials at every level, and the Schools White Paper we plan to publish later this year will reflect the conversations I have had with local government colleagues as well as outline new and exciting ways of working together.

Increased autonomy for local authorities

I have been influenced by the growing sense among the most innovative leaders in the public sector that we will only secure the progress we need to make as a country if we continually drive responsibility and decision-making down to the lowest possible level.

Progress depends on encouraging creativity, making services more responsive to individual citizens, allowing valid comparisons between different providers to be made and using transparency – not central direction – to drive value for money.

There are huge opportunities here for local government.

As we shift power downwards, there is massive potential for the creative use of greater autonomy on the part of those who lead both schools and local authorities.

We propose to give local authorities progressively greater freedoms as they become strategic delivery partners. At the moment there are countless targets, onerous inspection regimes and a stultifying culture of compliance, with a proliferation of ring-fences, an overkill of regulations and a burgeoning thicket of guidance. All of these centrally-driven interventions have made government less local.

That is why we are stripping them away. By removing comprehensive area assessment and ending local area agreements, we have begun to remove the bureaucratic burdens that have been applied by central government to local government.

The space has been cleared for local authorities to be more daring and imaginative in how they provide services and deploy resources.

Today I am going a step further to liberate local authorities by announcing the ending of statutory requirements on them to set and then police a whole range of externally imposed performance targets on schools and Early Years settings.

Instead, local authorities will be able to develop their own plans to improve the quality of Early Years provision. And you will be free to develop new and innovative ways of supporting the vulnerable across your local areas. With the additional resources we are making available for the education of the poorest two-year olds, the schooling of all poorer children and early intervention to help those most in need, you will have the funding, and the freedom, to make a real difference.

Sharper accountability for underperforming schools

As well as granting local authorities greater autonomy, the Coalition Government is also making good its commitment to grant schools greater autonomy. I am grateful for the constructive way in which local authorities have worked to ensure we can offer all schools the promise of greater control over their destiny.

We have extended the opportunity to all schools to move towards academy status, with outstanding schools leading the way. One new academy has been created every working day of this new school term.

Those schools have used their new freedoms to help others. And all schools, whether or not they are making the journey towards academy status, are being given greater freedoms from central government.

We have abolished the self-evaluation form, reduced the data collection burden and told Ofsted to slim down its inspection criteria. We will be slimming down the National Curriculum, making governance simpler and financial management less onerous. All of these steps will give school leaders more freedom to concentrate on their core responsibilities – teaching and learning.

Different schools will go down different paths, at different paces. Some will want to move rapidly to academy status; others will follow, perhaps as part of a broader trust or federation. Yet others will want to maintain their current status.

A partnership for good

And because there will be a diversity of paths, so there will be a different role for local authorities with respect to schools.

We want all local authorities to play a central role as guardians of social justice, ensuring admissions are fair.

We expect all local authorities to discharge an essential role as providers of support for children with special educational needs.

We will work with all local authorities to ensure there is sufficient high-quality alternative provision.

And we will encourage all local authorities to be champions of educational excellence – challenging individual schools to improve, encouraging great schools to share their expertise, putting underperforming schools on notice if they are not improving.

But we anticipate, and will welcome, a more diverse approach to the provision of school improvement services.

The success of the work of National Leaders of Education, the National College of School Leadership, and trusts led by great school leaders such as Mike Wilkins or Barry Day, demonstrates that school-to-school improvement generates great results.

I expect that local authorities will want to make more use of NLEs, and encourage the creation of more federations to drive improvement.

If local authorities believe they can provide a strong school-improvement service themselves, they should be free to do so by offering their service to schools on a level playing field to other providers. That could mean some local authorities offer school-improvement services to schools beyond their own geographical borders. Greater diversity, and contestability, can only help drive up standards and I know that is our shared goal.

Addressing disadvantage head on

Because I know that all of you, like me, have as one of your top priorities turning round the performance of our most challenging schools.

We all have a duty to ensure there are minimum standards of performance through the school system. It can’t be acceptable to have so many schools in which two-thirds of children fail to secure five good GCSEs.

Minimum standards at GCSE have risen in recent years, in line with the increased aspirations of parents and communities. Those school leaders and local authorities who have driven the fastest improvements deserve special credit.

But given the quickening pace of school improvement across the globe, I believe it’s now essential that we demonstrate that we are stepping up our reform programme.

I will therefore be finalising details of new floor standards shortly, for inclusion in my forthcoming Schools White Paper. These will apply from January 2011, when we have the verified and final summer 2010 examination data.

In setting new standards I want to be clear that we are determined to tackle underperformance, but I want to avoid the errors of the past which meant some felt unfairly stigmatised. That is why we will be offering support first. On top of the pupil premium, and in addition to other financial support for those in greatest need, I have announced the creation of a new education endowment fund worth £110 million. Local authorities should be among those bidding to use this additional money to raise attainment in our most challenging schools.

We will identify the schools in the most challenging circumstances in the fairest and most rigorous way possible. The measures we use will recognise the need for schools to improve both their levels of attainment and the progress they make with their pupils.

Academy sponsors and underperforming schools

Central to our approach to school standards, especially in tackling the most significant areas of underperformance, will be our Academies programme.

I am delighted that so many local authorities and school leaders have seen how academies can improve performance, with academies securing improvements at GCSE level twice as fast as other schools and the best academy chains doing much, much better than that.

I want to expand the programme in three important areas.

First, we should be looking to spread the experience of academies to tackle underperformance in the primary sector, which is why we will have clear floor standards for primaries.

Second, the central role of some academies in federations of schools and more extended networks is demonstrating the potential for academies developed through clusters of schools within a local area.

And most important of all, too many underperforming schools that were above the minimum threshold we inherited have not received sufficient attention and support.

I want the Department to work with sponsors and local authorities to consider solutions to a wider range of underperforming schools. I have been encouraged by my conversations with many local authorities, which have confirmed the potential for further progress. I would like local authorities to consider more schools for academy status, where both attainment and pupil progression are low and where schools lack the capacity to improve themselves.

In particular, I want to focus our shared attention on how to improve schools where:
- attainment is low and pupils progress poorly
- the most recent Ofsted judgement is that the school is eligible for intervention or is merely satisfactory (the latter is included to reflect wider issues in the school such as its capacity to improve, or in key areas such as leadership and governance)
- there is a record of low attainment over time – whether or not the most recent results have crossed a minimum threshold, we should be looking at whether the previous results indicate those increases are sustainable
- and pupils in secondary schools achieve poorly compared to schools with similar intakes.
The minimum standards on attainment and progression will be set out in the white paper. But these should be regarded as guidelines, not rigid criteria. Where schools fall outside these benchmarks but local authorities consider that schools would still benefit from the involvement of sponsors, I would encourage you to make proposals for the conversion of those schools.

However, where schools are facing challenges across the board, decisive action is clearly needed.

Some of the most successful academy sponsors have been deepening their relationships with local authorities and with groups of schools, to consider how they might bring new solutions to other underperforming schools without the initial involvement of the Department.

I have actively encouraged sponsors to work directly with local authorities in this way.

Equally, we are seeing an increasing number of local authorities proposing the development of new academies and making links directly with sponsors, which I also very much welcome. Officials from the Department will continue to support and facilitate the brokering of new academies between schools, local authorities and sponsors. I see this as a continuation of the collaborative approach that has been fostered over the years to secure the replacement of such schools with academies. I very much want that partnership approach to continue.

For some years, we have also had powers on the statute book for the Secretary of State to intervene directly in failing schools. The new Academies Act enables me to make an Academy Order in respect of any school that is eligible for intervention. This includes, specifically, schools that Ofsted has judged to require special measures or significant improvement or which have failed to respond to a valid warning notice.

I will be ready to use this power in the months ahead where I judge that academy status is in the best interests of an eligible school and its pupils, and where it has not been possible to reach agreement on a way ahead with the local authority, the school or both. Of course, I would hope that I do not need to use these powers extensively as I fully expect local authorities to use their own extensive intervention powers to bring about change in poorly performing schools that are failing to improve. But where there is a lack of decisive action or a reluctance to consider the necessary academy solution, then I will not hesitate to act.

Officials in the Department will be talking both to local authorities and to sponsors, to identify the best opportunities for progress.

Children at the heart of everything we do

Because publication of our Schools White Paper is imminent, I have concentrated so far today on the work we can do together to improve education.

But I am critically aware that your responsibilities extend far beyond the school gate.

From reforming child protection to protecting child and adolescent mental health services, from safeguarding the provision of play facilities to enhancing youth services, from supporting Sure Start to improving careers advice for school leavers, your responsibilities are also my priorities.

And the same principles, and vision, which drive our approach to schools guide us in all these areas.

We believe in trusting professionals more, just as much when they are social workers as when they are teachers, which is why we have commissioned Eileen Munro to review how we can better support social work professionals.

We believe in opening up the provision of services to new providers with new ideas and anticipate we can improve support for the vulnerably by harnessing the dynamism of civil society.

We believe transparency aids good government and makes decision-making better, which is why we have asked for serious case reviews to be published.

We believe that nothing is more important than overcoming barriers to social mobility, which is why we are investing more in getting Early Years education right.

And we are convinced that young people deserve to have their horizons broadened and aspirations raised beyond the expectations of previous generations, which is why we will reform careers advice and guidance.

I appreciate this is change at a pace and across a range of policies which is nothing if not demanding.

But I believe that the world in which we live means we have no option but to embrace change and take control of the future. If we do not shape global forces they will shape us.

And it is, above all, my desire to grant individuals the right to shape their own future, which drives me. Education is, for me, about freeing people from imposed constraints, liberating them from the accidents of birth, allowing them to acquire the knowledge, skills and qualifications which allow them to choose the satisfying job they have always aspired to and the rich inner life which brings true fulfilment.

Everything we are arguing for, and all the changes we hope to make, are about giving more children and young people the power to decide their own fates, to become authors of their own life stories.

I know you all share that ambition, and every time we meet I am continually impressed by the energy, ambition and idealism you bring to the mission of improving all our children’s lives – which is why it is such a pleasure to work with all of you and to be with you today.
13/09/2022
Valerie Amos (Baroness Amos) – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Valerie Amos, Baroness Amos, in the House of Lords on 9 September 2022.

My Lords, I shared in the shock and sadness of people in this country and across the world when we heard the news of the Queen’s passing last night. Of course, I share the sentiments already expressed in this House about the Queen’s extraordinary commitment to public service, her sense of duty and her leadership.

In my brief remarks I will focus on the Queen’s standing internationally, which went far beyond her lifelong commitment to the Commonwealth. I have been struck by the numerous messages I have received since yesterday—there have been many, as I am sure we have all received—from family, friends and colleagues around the world about their deep sense of loss and sadness. They felt a connection with our Queen and, through her, us. It is a connection that speaks to values and, crucially, to stability and calm in a turbulent, complex and changing world.

The Queen was not just a confidante to our Prime Minister. She played that role with many Prime Ministers and Presidents over the years. As a Foreign Office Minister I was very conscious of this. I also saw it in many discussions I had when I engaged with politicians internationally. She gave wise advice and brought a light touch to those interactions, which helped to give those Prime Ministers and Presidents the confidence to do things that they thought might be too difficult.

The noble Lords, Lord Jay and Lord Ahmad, have spoken about the Queen’s important diplomacy role. Some noble Lords will have seen the heartfelt tribute last night from Prime Minister Trudeau, who spoke absolutely to this. I would also like to pay tribute to the way in which she has led Britain through extraordinary change. The Britain that my family arrived in in the 1960s was very different from who we are today. We are a diverse, multi-ethnic nation, and throughout this change the Queen was a constant.

Perhaps I might end on a very personal note—there have been plenty of anecdotes today. In June, I had the privilege of a personal audience with the Queen ahead of Garter Day. Our conversation ranged over a number of subjects, some light-hearted, some very serious. A number of references have been made to the Queen’s sense of humour. She relished telling me the story of the filming of that skit with Paddington Bear and the challenges of acting with a bear who was not moving or speaking. She also told me that the jars of marmalade were already beginning to arrive at Windsor Castle. It was a warm and very special experience for me, and I will always treasure it. I offer my condolences to His Majesty King Charles III, the Queen Consort and the other members of the Royal Family.

13/09/2022
Alan Smith (Lord Bishop of St Albans) – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Alan Smith, the Lord Bishop of St Albans, in the House of Lords on 9 September 2022.

My Lords, I join in with the tributes to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth for the extraordinary reign we have observed, for which we pay tribute today.

Like many noble Lords, I too have my anecdotes. I remember going up to stay in Sandringham for the weekend. Coming from a farming background, I had expressed interest in her racehorses and she was very keen to show them to me, so I was summoned outside. There was a Range Rover there, and she came out very brusquely and shouted across to me, “Jump in, Bishop; I’m driving”. She set off at a rate of knots, and I was holding on for dear life. She taught me a great deal about prayer at that point, which is perhaps why she was called Defender of the Faith.

I want to briefly draw your Lordships’ attention to one other thing about Her Majesty which I think is really significant. Some people have asked, “Why has she had such an impact?” One of the features or tendencies of many of those in leadership for a long time is that the longer they are in leadership, the less they really listen. What struck me about Her Majesty the Queen was that she really listened. I am not saying that she did it superficially. The first significant time I met her was when I had paid homage and, afterwards, we had a conversation. She immediately wanted to ask my views on various aspects of the history, industry and background of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. In an informed way, she showed that she absolutely knew what was going on—but what did I think about it? What did I think was happening?

At a later stage, when I was staying at Sandringham, there was an odd moment when I was sitting around with other guests, and Her Majesty had come down and was playing patience. I remember thinking, “Do I just wander across and have a chat with her? Well, I’m not going to get invited again, I don’t suppose, so let’s go for it.” I went across and asked, “May I join you?” She said, “Please do”, as she was playing cards. It was just after Christmas, and she wanted to know what I had thought about her Christmas message. She wanted to know how people had heard it and whether it had been able to speak and communicate with people. It caught me totally by surprise that that was what she was interested in. She was so concerned that she was not only on transmit mode, as it were, but engaging with people of different groups. She wanted to ask whether I had spoken to people in various places to hear what they had thought about it. I was able to assure her that people had been very grateful for the words she had expressed. That quality of attentive listening is one of the reasons why so many people relate to her as a person. It is a wonderful gift to be able to do that at the end of a reign of 70 years.

To finish, I just want to comment on one picture, which the noble Lord, Lord Newby, mentioned. There have been a number of what I think people today call “iconic” photographs, but it is that picture—I think it is the last photograph we have—of her standing with such fragility and frailty. In a world where it is endlessly presented to us that the only style of leadership is that which is bold, aggressive and so on, she was showing us that there are other sorts of leadership, which can come from humanity and fragility. That picture of her leaning on her stick, stooped over with her hand outstretched, will stay with me as a picture of welcome and warmth. For that, I give thanks to God. I give thanks for her life and, along with many other Members of this House, I say: may she rest in peace and rise in glory.

13/09/2022
Jonathan Hill – 2011 Speech to the IAA National Conference

The speech made by Jonathan Hill to the IAA National Conference at the Royal Horseguards Hotel in London on 3 February 2011.

Thank you so much for inviting me. And thank you most of all for everything you have done and are doing to improve education and increase opportunity. Nothing this government or the last government has tried to do with academies could have happened without your hard work and dedication. You didn’t do it for the fame or money, but because of what you have done, the lives of tens of thousands have been changed for the better. So thank you and thank you to the IAA for the fantastic support it has given to the academies programme. And finally, and in particular, a big thank you to Mike [Butler – IAA Chair].

I know he is standing down as IAA chair shortly so I wanted to take this opportunity to put on the record my and the Department’s gratitude for his passion, enthusiasm and commitment, and for everything he has done in the course of education.

So as part of my thank you to Mike let me start by saying that I agree with him entirely that the work of academies in areas of deprivation and with disadvantaged young people must remain a key part of the programme.

You know the figures but I am going to say them again.

Children not on FSM are twice as likely to get five good GCSEs as those who are on FSM.

Last year 40 out of 80,000 children on FSM went onto Oxford or Cambridge.

Children who attend private schools are three times more likely to achieve three A-grade A Levels than those who attend state-funded schools.

Gaps in attainment start young and get worse as children grow older.

These figures are a reproach to us all.

Confronting these challenges is what gave the Academies programme its moral purpose. I know it is what drove Andrew Adonis as it is what drove Joel Klein, the former Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, and Mike Feinberg, the inspirational founders of the KIPP programme, whom I was lucky enough to meet last week. We went to the King Solomon Academy in Westminster where we saw brilliant, energetic teaching and fantastic switched on children. Joel said something very simple, but very powerful: ‘If we can do it here, why can’t we do it anywhere?’.

It is that simple thought that drives so many involved with academies. And it is what continues to drive heads, sponsors and teachers to work flat out, day in day out, providing opportunity, raising aspiration and raising standards.

And we know that academies do raise standards. Not at all the same rate, but across the board, average GCSE results are improving at about twice the rate of the rest of the secondary sector. More than a quarter of you are rated outstanding by Ofsted – compared to under a fifth of all maintained schools.

Many of you in this room were the pioneers and it is because of your success and hard work that we have been able to roll the academies programme forward as Lord Adonis and Tony Blair had always planned. I am very happy to pay tribute to them and before them to Ken Baker and CTCs – because without them, we would not now be able to open up the potential of academy freedoms to thousands more schools.

I was the lucky person who had the task of introducing the Academies Bill to the House of Lords on my second day in the job.

I know some people wondered what the rush was. Well, the rush was that children only get one shot at education. When all the evidence from around the world shows that there is a very strong correlation between top-performing education systems and autonomy at school level, Michael Gove was impatient – rightly so – to extend these freedoms to others.

As a result of that Bill we have opened up academy status to every single state primary, secondary and special school which wants it.

What has been particularly exciting in recent months has been the number of approaches that we have been having from schools wanting to become academies in chains or clusters. I recognise that at the time of the Academies Act last summer the key message coming across was about autonomy. What has become clear to me when talking to schools is that perhaps even more powerful than autonomy is the combination of autonomy and partnership. That seems to me to combine the advantages of professional freedom, with the real move that there has been in recent years towards schools working together and learning from each other.

We don’t want academies to be seen as islands – and nor do the academy principals that I talk to. That is one of the reasons why we said in the Academies Act that we expected outstanding schools which wanted to convert to partner another local school which would benefit from their support.

As you will know, in November we announced a further opening up of the programme by saying that any school could apply for academy status, regardless of its Ofsted rating, if it applied as part of a group with a school that was rated as outstanding or good with outstanding features. There has been a strong response to that, as schools have come up with their own ideas for working together – groups of secondaries, or primaries, or primaries clustered around a secondary, perhaps with a special school. This development seems to me to go with the grain of the culture of schools, and the fact that it is bubbling from the bottom up makes me think that it is all the more powerful.

We continue to roll the programme out and extend its freedoms to others. The new Education Bill, introduced in the House of Commons last week, extends the academies programme to FE and sixth-form colleges and also to alternative provision.

So when I look back over the last six months, what do I see?

More than one academy opening every working day, and the interest continuing to grow.

10 per cent of secondary schools are now academies.

The growing success of multi-academy chains like Harris or ARK – working with weak schools to raise standards with a distinctive ethos and strong leadership.

All-through academies up and running.

The first special schools going through the application process to open later this year.

The first generation of university technical colleges and studio schools on track – offering high-quality, work-based technical and vocational education. I am a huge fan of UTCs and studio schools. While I can probably never match the sheer energy and enthusiasm of Ken Baker, I support wholeheartedly what he is trying to. With the UTC movement picking up pace and the review of vocational qualifications being carried out by Alison Wolf, I think we have a fantastic opportunity to make a profound and positive change to the education.

The independent sector – HE and FE, charities, business and other groups with good track records keen to sponsor projects, now the brakes have been let off the programme.

And the first Free Schools now set to open in September in under a year – with eight projects having their business cases approved last week, and with another 35 applications moving forward.

So we have made a brisk start. But there is more to do. Where there is much to admire and build on in the current system, there are still too many weak schools in deprived areas. Teaching is only rated as satisfactory in half of our schools. And we’re slipping back against our international rivals – falling from fourth to sixteenth in science, seventh to 25th in literacy, and eighth to 28th in maths in the latest PISA rankings. Despite all the efforts of recent years, the rest of the world has not been standing still.

Autonomy and accountability

So that’s why the white paper and Education Bill set high aspirations for the whole education system.

International evidence shows that freedom for schools, coupled with sharper public accountability, is the key to driving up standards.

So we’re freeing outstanding schools and colleges from inspections – so Ofsted concentrates on those performing less well.

We are legislating so that Ofqual makes sure our exams keep pace with international standards.

We are overhauling vocational qualifications through Professor Alison Wolf’s review to make sure young people are equipped with the skills employers need.

It’s also why we’ve introduced the English Baccalaureate, about which I suspect some of you have views, to make sure that while students get the broadest possible curriculum, their parents know exactly how they perform in the core subjects at 16, just as they do in Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong.

And it’s why we’ve set tougher but fairer floor targets.

We want firm, decisive action when results are persistently below this, where management is weak with little capacity to improve, or when there is serious Ofsted concern.

That’s why we’re extending ministers’ intervention powers in underperforming schools.

And why we’ve appointed Dr Elizabeth Sidwell, the Chief Executive of Haberdashers’ Aske’s Federation, as our new Schools Commissioner.

Few in education have her pedigree, quality or experience. And she won’t be shy in challenging local authorities and heads to come up with robust improvement plans – brokering academy arrangements, recruiting sponsors, enthusing heads and governors to go for academy status, and promoting Free Schools to prospective proposers.

I know that there has been a lot of emphasis on the structural reforms we have introduced – the academies and Free Schools. But structures without people are nothing. We all know that the key to good schools are great heads and great teaching. So the purpose of the structural change is to give heads and teachers greater freedom and more control over their own destiny, so that they can get on with doing what they do best – teaching and running their schools.

And that brings me – finally and you might think belatedly – to the theme of your conference: Academies, the new orthodoxy. L&G, let me make a confession: I am suspicious of orthodoxies. Orthodoxies tend to be top down, inflexible and controlling. They value order and consistency over innovation and freedom. What is so exciting at the moment is that ideas are bubbling up from below – teachers who want to set up Free Schools, rural primary schools wanting to form a chain and cluster around a secondary school, parents wanting to set up schools in libraries and yes, in the Department for Education. One of the points we made early on about the Academies Bill was that our approach was permissive, not coercive. So whether the Academies programme is a success and becomes the norm is not up to me, but to you and the thousands of people like you.

So let me end where I started: in thanking you for what you have done and in looking forward to working with you to try answer the question posed to me last week by Joel Klein, ‘If we can do it here, why can’t we do it anywhere?’.

13/09/2022
Jonathan Hill – 2011 Speech to the SSAT Guildhall Reception

The speech made by Jonathan Hill, Lord Hill, to the SSAT Guildhall Reception at the Guildhall in London on 20 January 2011.

Thank you so much for that warm welcome. Having spent much of the last four days stuck camping away in the House of Lords in my sleeping bag. I can tell you that it is extremely nice to be here. It may seem a funny way to run the country, but at least – thanks to our sleeping arrangements – I can now say that I having finally slept with a member of the cabinet.

The second thing to say is how very sorry the Secretary of State is not to be here. I know he has been looking forward to tonight and he has asked me to pass on his best wishes and to thank the SSAT and you for all you do.

Apart from the change of scene, I consider myself very lucky to be here tonight with you, the real heroes and heroines of our education system, the people who are day to day helping out to lay the foundations for the better, fairer society which all of us want to create.

No one becomes a teacher for fame or money. And no one gives up their time by becoming a governor or a school sponsor out of anything other than a deep sense that education is the means by which we enable children to enrich their lives and fulfil the limits of their potential.

Over the eight months or so since I became a schools minister, I’ve developed a huge admiration for the work that all of you do.

Your vision, passion, expertise and leadership is what ultimately will make much more difference than anything I can do in central government. Because in any system I can think of it is people who matter the most.

So although an important part of my job is to do with structures, I am very clear that those changes are merely a means to an end. In a nutshell, what we are trying to do is to create the space for professionals to get on with what they do best and to allow people who are passionate about education and young people to make their contribution without feeling they are constantly having to wade through treacle.

So I’m delighted to have the chance this evening to celebrate your achievements and, also, to say thank you.

If this event is a celebration of the very best of our education system, I also want to recognise the role SSAT plays in it. I am grateful to them and to the work they have done in helping and supporting academies.

Expanding the academies programme

International evidence tells us very clearly that schools see fastest improvement where school leaders are given the greatest control over what happens in their schools.

The near-universal network of specialist school shows what can be achieved when schools are allowed to innovate and have the freedom to develop their own distinct character and ethos.

We want to remove the bureaucracy that surrounds specialist status so that all schools can decide how to develop their specialisms in the light of the total resources available to them.

And more generally we want to extend the autonomy that schools can enjoy.

That’s why the very first thing we did when we took office was to lift the brakes that had been placed on the academies programme and gradually open it up to all schools, including primaries and later this year special schools.

The response has been very encouraging.

There has been real enthusiasm in many schools to take advantage of the freedoms that academy status can bring.

Why? Because they’ve recognised that it can help them to offer an ever-better standard of education.

We now have well over 400 academies.

More than one academy has opened every working day since the beginning of the school term in September.

And the pace seems to be quickening. We had 129 new applications in the first week back in the New Year alone.

What I am particularly excited about is the combination of autonomy and partnership that the Academies programme is opening up. We don’t want academies to be islands entire unto themselves to mis-quote John Donne. So one of the developments I am keen to encourage is applications from clusters or chains of schools – from groups of primaries, or primaries grouped around secondary as part of a dealing with the issue of transition.

But there’s no way that we could have done what we’ve done – or what we want to do – without the support of many of the people in this room.

The role of the SSAT and sponsors

The SSAT has played a vital role helping schools that want to make the transition to academy status.

I know that well over a thousand headteachers have attended the seminars that you’ve organised where they’ve been able to hear about the benefits of converting and about the experiences of those who have been through the process.

The National Headteacher Steering Group has also provided us and prospective convertors with invaluable advice that has been crucial in allowing us to achieve this early momentum.

There is no doubt that networks like those operated by the SSAT are the best way of spreading the word, telling it like it really is and developing the culture of collaboration in which schools help other schools to innovate, develop their staff and offer a better educational experience to young people.

Expanding the academies programme also means there will be more opportunities for business people, charities, faith groups, successful schools, higher and further education institutions and other groups with a track-record of success in education to come forward as sponsors.

I am keen to encourage more primary schools to convert to academy status and for more sponsors – both existing and new – with expertise of working with primary schools to come forward as sponsors.

I hope more sponsors with an excellent track-record of working with schools to help them to innovate and improve will come forward. I know that the SSAT itself has exciting plans to become a sponsor, a move which I am keen to encourage. There are certainly plenty of outstanding role models here tonight for any one that wants to do so.

It is only because of the often superhuman efforts of sponsors and school leaders that the specialist schools and academies programmes have been such successes.

It is therefore only right that on a day like today we stop for a moment to celebrate the fantastic life-enhancing contributions that you make day in, day out across the country. And I would like to thank you for allowing me to be here to share in it with you.

13/09/2022
Jenny Jones (Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb) – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Jenny Jones, Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb, in the House of Lords on 9 September 2022.

I rise to express sincere condolences to the Royal Family at this time of loss and grieving. As many noble Lords have said, it is true that the whole UK is grieving in a similar way.

The Queen represented us in all sorts of ways for her whole life and for 70 years of public service, and she was absolutely tireless. I first met her when she opened City Hall in 2002. We were a new Assembly, we had a mayor and it was all very exciting to be in a new building. It was obvious that she took it very seriously. She went along the line-up at the end, probably 80 or 90 people, as if she was really enjoying it. Prince Philip took the opportunity of telling me what was wrong with the Greens. He told me quite forcefully, and I took it to heart; perhaps he was right.

I met her on other occasions, and the same attitude was there: absolute dedication to and concentration on what she was doing at the time. It was not like someone doing a job or performing their duty but someone who seemed interested and curious in what was happening.

I had a tiny taste—a glimmer—of what it was like to do such public service when I was deputy mayor under Ken Livingstone. He gave me lots of jobs he did not want to do—to meet people, go to meetings and make speeches he did not want to make. It was the first time ever that I was not representing myself or my political party. Sometimes I had to do things that were at odds with my nature: being very polite, listening to boring speeches and generally appearing to be interested and polite the whole time. I found that putting on a fascinated face, which is what Her Majesty did for 70 years, was incredibly difficult. I did that for 13 months; she did it for 70 years. It left me feeling what an extraordinary woman and an amazing monarch she was.

13/09/2022
Tariq Mahmood Ahmad (Baron Ahmad of Wimbledon) – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Tariq Mahmood Ahmad, Baron Ahmad of Wimbledon, in the House of Lords on 9 September 2022.

My Lords, it is an immense honour for me to follow the noble Lord, Lord Jay. I reflect on the contributions that have been made, and I pay tribute to my noble friend Lord True and the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, for setting the tone and once again demonstrating your Lordships’ House at its very best.

All of us will reflect on the incredible contribution of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, but as one foreign dignitary who rang me last night said, “She was not just your Queen, Tariq, she was all of ours.” That reflects the love and affection all of us are experiencing and seeing demonstrated across the globe. Her Majesty truly transcended barriers—barriers of religion and different nationalities. The noble Baroness, Lady Smith, alluded to Paddington Bear. I have an eight year-old who connects in a different way, but very poignantly, with our great sovereign who has passed. I saw directly, through various experiences, how, in a room full of hundreds, at times touching a thousand people, she made everyone she met feel that they were an individual. They cherish those memories.

We all have anecdotes. I remember 1977. I did not then know that I would carry the name of my town in your Lordships’ House, as I was but a young boy. We were terribly excited about the Silver Jubilee. Virginia Wade had reached the final of Wimbledon. The great citizens of the town of Wimbledon were told to line up and, dutifully, we did, neighbour to neighbour, friend to friend. We were all dressed in our red, white and blue and waving flags. As it happened, Her Majesty the Queen’s car passed directly in front of our house. It was a slow passing and, just for a moment, it stopped. Her Majesty the Queen looked towards my brother, sister and me. She smiled, her eyes twinkled, and she waved. Of course, the rest of the evening in the Ahmad household was spent arguing about who that wave was directed at. I still take possession of that wave. Again, it showed the ability of Her Majesty the Queen to connect. She knew that millions loved her, but she treated everyone as an individual because she loved her nation, and she performed her duty like no other.

To continue that personal journey, I am delighted that the Senior Deputy Speaker is in his place. It was along with my noble friend Lord Gardiner and the noble Lord, Lord Newby, that I had the great privilege of becoming a Lord in Waiting to Her Majesty the Queen and a government Whip. The three of us dutifully lined up together for that first meeting on official duty. As someone engaged at the Foreign Office, I wish my current Whips on the Front Bench well as we look towards welcoming the world for Her Majesty’s state funeral. As we lined up, there was a degree of trepidation, and then the doors opened and we went in. Each of us was treated as an individual. Her Majesty sat me down, and as I took my seat she said, “Lord Ahmad, I understand your mother is from Jodhpur.” She then shared her experiences of India and the south-Asian continent. Then she said, with a smile, “I understand your father was from Gurdaspur but he started life in the early 1950s in Glasgow. Now that’s a change if ever there was one.” These things matter.

I remember from various subsequent meetings her warmth and affection, and the real sense of trust she showed. At a one-to-one meeting when I was ending my tenure as a Lord in Waiting, she did not address me as Lord Ahmad but said, “Tariq, come and sit next to me.” It was the day after the Scottish referendum, and what was said will rightly remain private, but two things stayed with me. One was the trust she showed in sharing her views with me; the other was that maybe I was doing something right, as we had done away with my formal title and she had called me by my first name.

During my tenure as a Minister of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, I saw Her Majesty at her best when it came to diplomacy. During the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, she made a personal connection with each president and head of government she met, each dutifully lining up and waiting their turn to meet Her Majesty. If a training module for diplomacy is ever designed for diplomats and Ministers, Her Majesty really did set the standard. She demonstrated what connecting means, and the value of people-to-people connection. As Minister of State for the Commonwealth—I am delighted that my noble friend Lord Howe is in his place—I saw her love for the Commonwealth. It was shown not just by her words or actions, but by her connection with the people of the Commonwealth, and she is rightly mourned across the 56 nations today.

As we have heard from various noble Lords, Her Majesty had a real sense of humour. I shall share a final anecdote, which I shared with a couple of colleagues in your Lordships’ House just a few moments ago. Saddiqa, my wife, Lady Ahmad, and I were at one of the many diplomatic receptions we have attended, and there was a new official at the palace. Those who have attended these receptions will know that you have your place to stand in respect of who meets which member of the Royal Family, and where. Of course, I took my place, as I had done it a few times. The official came in and said, “Sir, you’re standing in the wrong place”, and wanted to move me into the diplomatic line. In a year in which we celebrated the diversity of this United Kingdom and what it represents, I assured the official that I was standing dutifully in the right place. She returned a few moments later and said, “I really must insist that you and your wife stand in the right place.” I smiled and said to her, “Madam, I assure you I am standing in the right place.” I continued standing where I was, together with Saddiqa. A few moments later, the official returned again and said, “I really must insist”, and as we were about to embark on our third bout of that conversation, who should come round the corner but Her Majesty, and she said, “Leave him alone. He’s one of mine”. There was a real demonstration of the best of Her Majesty’s wit, wisdom and knowledge.

My noble friend Lord Forsyth talked of Her Majesty’s deep faith. We had conversations about faith, as I have had the great honour to have with His Majesty King Charles III. Faith mattered to her. As Her Majesty now embarks on her final journey, to meet her maker, I end my humble contribution with the words I uttered when I was informed yesterday by my private secretary of Her Majesty’s passing: to almighty God we belong, and to almighty God we shall return.

13/09/2022
Michael Jay (Baron Jay of Ewelme) – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by Michael Jay, Baron Jay of Ewelme, in the House of Lords on 9 September 2022.

My Lords, one of the privileges of ambassadorial life was the relationship we had with the monarchy and with the Queen. We were proud to be members of Her Majesty’s Diplomatic Service. The Queen came to Paris when I was ambassador to unveil a statue to Sir Winston Churchill. Nothing could better have symbolised Britain or the relationship between Britain and France since the Second World War. The dignity with which the Queen performed her duties was a lesson to us all, British and French.

While the Queen was in Paris, I hosted a dinner for her in our embassy and, according to custom, proposed a rather pompous toast to the President of the French Republic and to Her Majesty the Queen. “What a nice couple,” she replied. It was that mixture of dignity and informality, at times almost irreverence, that was so captivating to millions in Britain and around the world.

In my last job at the Foreign Office, I had the extraordinary privilege to be at Her Majesty’s side when she received new ambassadors. The Queen had been doing this for about 50 years and loved it when things went slightly awry. I remember that a very distinguished ambassador arrived by carriage at Buckingham Palace and had forgotten his credentials. An ever-helpful equerry gave him a plain brown envelope and said, “Present this to Her Majesty and all will be well.” The rather nervous ambassador entered the room and presented the Queen with an empty plain brown envelope. The Queen was generously pleased to accept the empty plain brown envelope and said, with a dignified twinkle in her eye, “How very kind, ambassador”.

Those are two anecdotes, but for us diplomats the privilege of representing the Queen was real. We all knew the immensely positive influence she had and could have on our relations with other countries and that is why, as ambassadors, we all wanted the Queen to come to visit us because we knew that would have a hugely positive impact on our relations with the country concerned. Nothing can replace the 70 years of service of Her Majesty the Queen to the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and other countries in the world, and nothing can replace the affection and respect with which she was held by millions in this country and around the world.

13/09/2022
William Wallace (Baron Wallace of Saltaire) – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by William Wallace, Baron Wallace of Saltaire, in the House of Lords on 9 September 2022.

My Lords, I am conscious that admitting that I can remember the monarchy before Queen Elizabeth is to admit that I am well over the average age, even in this House. My first image of the monarchy was, indeed, of the Queen’s grandmother, Queen Mary, who used to come to listen to sermons in Westminster Abbey whenever a particularly radical canon, Canon Marriott, was preaching the social gospel—something which would now be considered far too left-wing for any current bishop to talk about. I learned a little more when, as a junior chorister, I sang when the coffin of George VI arrived at Westminster Hall for the lying-in-state, and rather more about the symbolic importance of the monarchy when, as a more senior chorister, I sang at the Coronation.

People have talked a lot about how much the country has changed since then. When I think back to that period, it is astonishing what sort of change we have been through. As I walked past the abbey this morning, I remembered that it was black in 1952, covered in soot. Outside, a gallery had been built for people to watch from over a bomb site, which is now the Queen Elizabeth II Centre. Inside, nearly a thousand Peers were in the north transept, in their full robes and with their coronets, and nearly a thousand Peeresses were in the south transept. In a few months’ time, when the ballot for perhaps 100 of us who wish to attend the next Coronation arrives, we should remember that social deference has ended and the social order in this country is different from what it was then.

The monarchy is about symbolism, holding the country together and reminding us of how much we are linked with the past and with the lives of others in this country. Symbolism, ritual and conventions are an essential part of holding this kingdom together. The Queen has done her best throughout her very long reign to act in a symbolic way that reminds us of that. Because I am associated with Westminster Abbey, I have seen quite a lot of the symbolic services in operation. It is astonishing how she has not only adapted but actively assisted adaptation over the years.

At the Coronation, the only minister of religion participating who was not a member of the Church of England was, of course, the Moderator of the Church of Scotland. I have heard that the Cardinal Archbishop was invited but decided that he would prefer to sit in a gallery outside the abbey. On the 50th anniversary service of the Coronation, the Cardinal Archbishop read the first lesson. Representatives of our nonconformist churches sat at the side of the sanctuary. Under the lantern, in the first row, were representatives of Britain’s other faiths. That is real adaptation and a wonderful change.

For the 60th anniversary of the Coronation, the abbey and the Palace decided to symbolise the idea of the public service of all the nation and organised a procession that would walk from the west end to the sanctuary with an anointing flask, accompanied by a representation of the diversity of the nation. At the back were a Peer and a High Court judge in full robes. The head doorkeeper insisted that I put on my robes over here because he said that I could not possibly manage it when I got to the other side of the road. In front of us were Scout leaders, Guides, petty officers, NCOs and a lollipop lady in full school crossing uniform. That is good symbolism of the public service that everyone does. The Queen symbolised public duty, public service and public good. That is part of what we all need to remember and, I hope, to practise ourselves in our own contributions to this kingdom.

13/09/2022
David Blunkett (Lord Blunkett) – 2022 Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

The tribute made by David Blunkett, Lord Blunkett, in the House of Lords on 9 September 2022.

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Evans, and to thank her for her time as Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House.

Much has been said, and there will be much more to say over the weeks and months ahead—condolences, of course, to the Royal Family and heartfelt thanks for a life of historic proportions. All of us in public life in one way or another hope to leave a tiny footprint, some small legacy, behind us, but Her Majesty strode as a colossus through decades and generations, dealing with the most incredible personal and public events and taking on those challenges, to quote the noble Lord, Lord Judge, “with fortitude”.

Much has been said about service and duty, but I make no apology for repeating them. This is what Her Majesty’s life was about, right from those early days, described so graphically in this House today. That is why so many felt, like my noble friend Lady Smith of Basildon, shock when we learned that Her Majesty’s life was fading. Is it only yesterday? The shock was obviously greater, as has been alluded to, because of the juxtaposition with her role as our monarch on Tuesday, inducting the new Prime Minister and doing—yes—her duty. I found myself yesterday evening in a situation that I had never expected to, one of complete irrationality. I started to think, “Not now, not at this moment, please, not yet”. It was totally irrational, but it was because our Queen, over my lifetime, not only demonstrated how a constitutional monarch can do that duty but did it in a way that has held our nation, our United Kingdom, together. I hope that the memory will last with us for decades to come.

Holding our fragile constitution together, as the noble Lord, Lord Butler, put it so well, is not an easy matter. We live in very delicate, difficult times for liberal democracy. Our Queen will be deeply missed, but her guidance and example will carry into the life and work of His Majesty King Charles III. Through turbulent and sometimes difficult times, he will display his great strength and compassion, which I have experienced, and his understanding of that duty to us as a nation and to our kingdom.

In my very brief speech this afternoon, I want to say a simple word about conducting ourselves for the future. Of course our respect requires our mourning, but in my view we need to celebrate and rejoice in the life of Elizabeth II. We need to lift people, as well as mourn. I hope it will be possible for public events to resume as quickly as possible so that people, in gathering together, can pay their respects and show their grief, but in a positive and uplifting way.

I have lots of anecdotes, particularly about dogs, as noble Lords will understand, from over those many years, but perhaps appropriately I will finish by giving just two. One was when I was inducted as a privy counsellor 25 years ago. I am sad that decisions have been taken that preclude so many of us on the Privy Council from the Accession Council. Back in those days, I knew it would be difficult and, unusually for me, I was quite nervous. I knew I could not drag the dog across the floor because dogs are not very good at showing you where to kneel on cushions. They are brilliant at all other kinds of other things, but that is not one of them, so I left the dog with Jack Straw. I moved across the room and I managed to hit the cushion, but facing the wrong way. Her Majesty, in what was always her gracious, careful and never patronising way, managed to gently shift me round by touching my arm so that I could just brush her hand.

I also remember seven years ago, much later, when she came to undertake the Maundy Thursday distribution at the cathedral in my city of Sheffield. Because I was retiring from the House of Commons as the longest serving Sheffield Member of Parliament, I had the privilege once again of sitting at a table with her at lunch. I had a member of the charitable community in Sheffield between me and Her Majesty. There was a silence, and I thought I would fill it—inappropriately, as it turned out—by saying to her, “Your Majesty, I have been reading in the papers that the breed of corgi is dying out.” There was a tremendous pause, and Her Majesty then did what she did so cleverly and so appropriately in putting me down. “Mr Blunkett,” she said, “of all people, you should know not to believe what you read in the newspapers.” I know that His Majesty King Charles III will not need, want or ask for my advice, but if he did I would give him one simple piece of advice: in the years to come, do not believe everything you read in the newspapers, and above all, sometimes do not bother reading them.

13/09/2022