A Labour government would give local authorities "oversight" powers over free schools and academies, shadow education secretary Lucy Powell has said.
Ms Powell said she did not envisage a return to council control of the schools, but said local authorities should be able to "intervene" to maintain standards and ensure sufficient spaces are provided for pupils in areas of shortage.
And she said Labour would "oppose absolutely" any attempt by the Government to permit the expansion of grammar schools in England.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Ms Powell said: "By 2020 nearly every secondary school and most primary schools will be a free school or an academy.
"I think the idea that the Secretary of State herself can manage and oversee and support all those schools directly is wrong-headed.
"We should have local oversight of those schools. It's not the same as how we used to have local government control. We will work through the exact detail of that. But, look, if you take things like supporting local schools, collaborating amongst communities of schools, place planning, which is a really critical issue that at the moment no one has an oversight of, which is why we have such chronic shortage of places.
"We need to have the ability for local authority and others to intervene in some failing academies as well."
Ms Powell said that in many areas, decision-making powers were being devolved to local communities, adding: "To have schools outside of that remit is absolutely wrong-headed, so local oversight is where we are going."
The shadow education secretary said she expected the Conservatives to take measures to enable the creation of new selective grammar schools across the country.
"What we are going to see on grammar schools over the next few weeks is the Conservative Party giving the go-ahead for a whole new raft of grammar schools being opened up and down the country," she told BBC1's Breakfast.
"I think selection at age 11 is absolutely wrong in principle because children develop at different rates and stages.
"But also, those who hark back to an era of grammar schools as a route to social mobility need to look at the evidence of today's grammar schools. In grammar schools around the country where they still exist, less than 3% of pupils at those schools are on free school meals, which is absolutely terrible.
"We will oppose absolutely the Conservatives' plans for wholesale reopening and expanding of grammar schools. I think David Cameron's idea of being the One Nation Conservative Prime Minister will be thrown out by such a move."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel