The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill passed its second reading after being debated in Parliament on Wednesday, with the government strongly rebutting claims that it is committing educational “vandalism”.

The bill, which was laid before Parliament at the end of last year, would bring in a wide range of changes, some of which would significantly curb academy freedoms.

Measures include a register for children not in school, an end to forced academisation of schools, and a requirement on trusts to follow the national curriculum as well as statutory teacher pay and conditions.

The bill has been subject to controversy amid a debate about child grooming gangs in the UK, ignited by comments from tech billionaire Elon Musk.

The Conservative Party opposed the bill and put forward an amendment for a new UK-wide inquiry into child sexual abuse to be launched. This amendment was defeated.

Phillipson: Opposing the bill is ‘sickening’

Specifically referring to the Conservatives’ amendment to the bill, Phillipson called the party’s opposition “sickening” and “shameful”.

She said that the bill would improve child safety both in and out of schools, and create “a new legal obligation for safeguarding partners to work hand-in-hand with education”.

During the debate, she cautioned MPs against voting against the bill, warning that doing so would be a “vote against the safety of our children, a vote against their childhoods and against their futures”.

In response to accusations from one Tory MP that the bill will replace academy freedoms with a “gross socialist uniformity”, the education secretary said this was a “mischaracterisation” and encouraged MPs to read the bill.

Laura Trott: Measures amount to a ‘wrecking ball’

As part of the bill, academies will have to follow the statutory teacher pay and conditions framework, raising concerns that academies that pay above the national pay rate could see their freedoms cut.

Shadow education secretary Laura Trott branded the measures a “wrecking ball” and “educational vandalism” in the Commons today, following warnings from the party last night that the bill puts the benefits enjoyed by more than 20,000 teachers at risk.

“The bill is abolishing academies in all but name, and for what? Because education ministers think they know better than [Michaela Community School headteacher] Katharine Birbalsingh and [United Learning chief executive] Sir John Coles,” she told MPs.

While Ms Trott recognised value in the bill’s child protection measures, she added: “The other half of this bill is the policy equivalent of a wrecking ball. It is an all-out assault on teachers, the education system and standards,” she said.

“It’s nothing less than educational vandalism and we will oppose it with every fibre of our beings.”

• Explained: Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
• Conservatives: Schools bill is ‘educational vandalism’
• Investigation: How trusts use freedoms to exceed national teacher pay scales

Phillipson: Academies ‘instrumental’ in raising standards

But Ms Phillipson said that the changes the government will bring forward to the schoolteachers’ pay and condition documents “will not cut teachers’ pay”.

She also praised academies as being “instrumental” in raising standards, and assured trusts that they will “continue their record of excellence under this Labour government”.

Academies ‘don’t treat staff well’

However, Labour MP and former employment lawyer Sarah Russell said that in her experience, “academy schools produce really large amounts of employment rights litigation because they tend not to treat their staff very well”.

While Ms Phillipson did not respond directly to these comments, Liberal Democrats spokesperson Munira Wilson said: “I suspect that whichever type of school you look at, there will be cases across the board. I’m not sure that’s up for debate today.”

Hinds: Blair would be ‘horrified’

Former education secretary Damian Hinds said that former Labour prime minister Tony Blair, who brought in the academy system, would be “horrified” by the current government’s move against academies.

“If this bill passes anything close to its current form, it will be as if Lord Adonis was never the schools minister, as if Lord Blunkett had never sat in the secretary of state’s chair; it will be as if Tony Blair had never been prime minister,” Mr Hinds warned.

His concerns were echoed by former Conservative education secretary Gavin Williamson, who said that limiting academy schools freedoms over pay would be “dragging the excellent down”.

“We are restoring academies to their core intended purpose,” Phillipson responded, which is “driving up standards for the most disadvantaged children”.

Phillipson defends RISE teams

Ms Phillipson was also quizzed over the government’s changes to intervening in failing schools.

She said the government will intervene “even quicker” with coasting schools, citing the government’s new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams as evidence of this.

Phillipson said that intervention will now be guided by “what is best for children” in schools, which could be through academisation or RISE teams.

Danger of ‘prescriptive’ curriculum, warns Hinds

The bill will introduce a requirement for all academies to teach the national curriculum.

Mr Hinds warned of the danger of the government taking a “prescriptive approach” to the national curriculum.

He added that the “broad framework” has “helped to guard against the politicisation” of subjects such as history and religious education.

Mr Williamson shared his concerns, adding that the new restrictions on schools would stop them from offering subjects and experiences outside the curriculum.

The former education secretary referred to Latin classes and school cadet forces as programmes that helped children achieve more.

“What we have heard from the government since it’s come in is about getting rid of excellence,” Mr Williamson told Parliament.

Labour MPs call for free breakfast clubs in secondaries

Labour MP and former teacher Steve Witherden welcomed the bill’s introduction of breakfast clubs for all primary children, but urged for this to be extended to secondary schools.

The education secretary agreed to keep “further action under review”, adding that it could be considered in the Child Poverty Taskforce, which she co-chairs.

Commons Education Select Committee chair Helen Hayes also asked the education secretary to set out the funding and timescale to deliver breakfast clubs to all primary schools.

Auto-enrol free school meals, says committee chair

On school lunches, Ms Hayes called for “auto-enrolment” for children eligible for free school meals to be added to the bill, a scheme that unions have previously called for.

Ms Wilson also called for the government to extend free school lunches to secondary schools and automatically enrol eligible disadvantaged pupils.

“We must also remember that hunger doesn’t end at 11. Breakfast clubs can be useful but expanding lunch provision is a far more ambitious measure and one that would make a greater impact on child hunger,” she told MPs.

MP ‘disappointed’ over lack of mental health measures

Liberal Democrats spokesperson Ms Wilson said she was “disappointed” to not see any mention of mental health in the bill.

She called on the government to include a requirement for all schools to have a “statutory and fully funded duty to provide a dedicated mental health professional”.

Labour MP Simon Opher also said he would have liked to see the bill include provision for a mental health worker in every school.

“A child in my constituency waited six months for mental health help after a suicide attempt at school.”

The Labour manifesto pledged to provide “access to a specialist mental health professional in every school”.