时间：2006年3月1日下午
地点：英国议会下院
时段：Prime Minister’s Questions
事件：Tony Blair and David Cameron，气氛很融洽，因为卡梅伦生了个儿子
Mr. David Cameron (Witney) (Con): May I join the Prime Minister in expressing our sympathy for the families of the two British soldiers who died in Iraq yesterday? They died serving our country, and we should honour their memory. I also agree with what the Prime Minister said about Mr. Speaker, and wish him a speedy return.
On a happier note, may I thank the Prime Minister for the flowers that he sent to my family? He may not know that I received flowers from both No. 10 and No. 11. I am delighted to be the first man in history to get bunched by both our Prime Ministers.
Yesterday, the Government published their Education and Inspections Bill. The phrase “trust schools”, which appeared throughout the White Paper, has now disappeared. Can the Prime Minister confirm that he is renaming those schools “foundation schools,” and that they will have all the same freedoms?
The Prime Minister: Let me first congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on the birth of his child, wish him and his family well, and say thank you to him for his thanks to me for the flowers?
I am glad that the Chancellor was immensely generous in sending him flowers as well. Whether he will be as generous in the Budget I do not know. I certainly hope that that is the limit of his generosity to the right hon. Gentleman.
We do not for legal reasons need to mention the words “trust school”. It is exactly the same for specialist schools, which are not mentioned in legislation either. However, the trust schools will have exactly the freedoms that we have set out in the legislation and those freedoms will allow schools by a simple vote of their governing body to become self-governing trust schools.
Mr. Cameron: Good, so trust schools remain. That is important. That is clear. Let me try to clarify something else. The Government’s White Paper said that local authorities would not be able to provide new schools. The Prime Minister made a concession and said that they could, but that the Secretary of State for Education and Skills would have a veto. Will he confirm that, as the Bill goes through the House, that veto will remain in the Bill?
The Prime Minister: It has to remain for this reason. We have made this clear all the way through. The change was made because we listened to the Local Government Association, which includes Conservative as well as Labour members, which said that, if the driving force behind this is parental choice and parents want a new community school, it seems a bit much to prevent local authorities from being in the competition to provide a new school. However, let me emphasise that, if a local authority proposes a new community school, it is not then the deciding authority. That decision is made by the adjudicator. Of course, the Secretary of State has to have the power to ensure that it is in accordance with parental choice.
Mr. Cameron: Good, so the veto remains in the Bill. Given that the Prime Minister has our support, he does not have to make any further concessions to the rebels, so will he make it clear that the Bill will not be weakened any further?
The Prime Minister: Yes, I do make that clear, but let me say to the right hon. Gentleman that I do not know whether he agrees with what we have done, with local authorities being able to propose community schools. If he does—both Conservative and Labour members of the Local Government Association have said that that should happen—that is a point of agreement between us. Also, as far as I am aware, he now supports us on selection and agrees that we should put in safeguards against selection. So we now have a very happy consensus between us and I look forward to seeing him in the Lobbies.
Mr. Cameron: The right hon. Gentleman will see me in the Lobbies. We back school freedom. That is 200 of us. If he can just find 150 of his own MPs, we can get on and pass the Bill.
Two former Cabinet Ministers, the right hon. Members for North Tyneside (Mr. Byers) and for Darlington (Mr. Milburn), have said that the Prime Minister’s position would be untenable if he relied on Conservative support. Does he agree that that is nonsense and that he should just get on and do the right thing for school standards and for our children?
The Prime Minister: We are doing the right thing for our children. What we have done so far as a result of the changes and the investment and reform in our schools is that we have raised standards substantially. We have 100,000 extra staff in our schools—teachers and teaching assistants—the biggest ever building programme for schools is under way, and this country’s schools have had the best results they have ever had for children at the ages of 11, 16 and 18. We will continue to do the right thing for children in our country because we want to ensure that every child, no matter what their background, gets the best start in life.
