§ Baroness Blatchasked Her Majesty's Government:
In what way they intend to involve the private sector in the running of public sector schools. [HL190]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Baroness Ashton of Upholland)The Green PaperSchools—Building on Success, published in February, set out our intention to develop a new model to enable private or voluntary sector sponsors to take responsibility for weak or failing schools against fixed-term contracts of, for 89WA example, five to seven years. This would create a new way for private and voluntary sponsors or existing successful schools to support the management of weak or failing schools.
We also proposed this option should be extended to successful schools to enable them to work in partnership with external organisations. This might be attractive to schools embarking on a radical improvement strategy or seeking to develop a more distinct identity.
A White Paper setting out our plans, following consultation on the Green Paper, will be published this month.