Children’s wellbeing and schools bill: Committee calls for evidence

A Parliamentary committee that will scrutinise the government’s children’s wellbeing and schools bill is inviting evidence from the sector.

Having passed its first and second reading in the House of Commons, the bill will now be considered by a public bill committee – which will go through the bill line by line.

MPs will head oral evidence from sector leaders, but are also calling for written submissions to inform their scrutiny of the bill and any amendments tabled by Parliamentarians.

A number of proposals in the bill, particularly around moves to curtail freedoms for academies, have already proved controversial in the sector. A substantial lobbying effort is therefore expected as MPs consider the bill.

The committee is due to meet for the first time on January 31, and will report back by 5pm on February 11. But the committee could conclude its work earlier, so is asking for written submissions as soon as possible.

How to submit evidence

Documents must be less than 25 MB in size and be in Word document format, not PDF. They should also contain as few logos or pictures as possible. Annexes or appencies should be included in the same document, which should state clearly who it is from.

Parliament recommends submitting no more than 3,000 words, and says documents should begin with an executive summary in bullet point form.

Documents should include “any factual information you have to offer from which the committee might be able to draw conclusions, or which could be put to other witnesses for their reactions”.

They should also set out “any recommendations for action by the government or others which you would like the committee to consider”.

Material “already published elsewhere should not form the basis of a submission, but may be referred to within or attached to a submission, in which case it should be clearly referenced, preferably with a hyperlink”.

Submissions can be emailed to scrutiny@parliament.uk.