Proposals to help make school uniforms more affordable have moved closer to becoming law.
The Education (Guidance About Costs of School Uniform) Bill - which would make guidance given to schools about the cost of uniform policies legally binding - cleared its final stages in the House of Commons after a lengthy debate.
The proposed legislation aims to keep branded items, such as blazers, to a minimum in order to cut the cost of school uniforms for parents.
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Labour MP Mike Amesbury (Weaver Vale) brought forward the bill and it cleared report stage and third reading on Friday, paving the way for the House of Lords to consider it further at a later date.
A group of Conservative MPs tabled 16 amendments to the bill. Conservative former minister Sir Christopher Chope opened the debate on Friday by speaking for 89 minutes about the amendments he has tabled alongside party colleagues Philip Davies (Shipley) and Peter Bone (Wellingborough).
Schools minister Nick Gibb said the government “wholeheartedly” supports the legislation.
He said: “It is designed to ensure the costs of school uniforms are reasonable and that schools secure the best value for parents.”
Mr Amesbury also said his bill would put affordability at “centre stage”.
‘Unintended consequences’
During report stage, Sir Christopher said he supported the principle of the Bill but wanted the government to consider improvements to avoid the new regulations having unintended consequences on families.
These included publishing the draft guidance before the legislation was approved, something schools minister Nick Gibb said would delay the passage of the bill through parliament.
Mr Gibb told MPs: “I will be consulting and have been consulting so far with interested parties to this debate.
“What I don’t want to do is to delay the passage of the bill through the Lords while we wait for the statutory guidance to be finalised. I think it’s important we get this bill on to the statute book before the (parliamentary) session ends.”
Labour MP Emma Hardy (Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) criticised Sir Christopher for speaking at length.
She told the Commons: “Politics is not a game, but then I also cannot understand the level of self-importance any individual would have to believe they had something of value to speak on for over an hour and a half.”
The length of the debate did mean other pieces of legislation from backbench MPs listed on the order paper are likely to have a wait another week before they are considered, including moves to bolster sentences for animal abusers.
