ETCHED in people’s memories of 1997 is the pledge by Tony Blair that the focus of the new Labour Government would be “education, education, education”.

This rapidly resulted in the fundamental changes brought about by the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, and successive legislation.

While Sir Keir Starmer’s 2024 Labour Government has not adopted the same mantra, it is clear that for it, too, education must be at the heart of the re-energising of the national economy which it desires to bring about.

There appear to be no immediate plans for a new Education Act along traditional lines in the King’s Speech, to the relief of many: significant reforms of school provision and structures are surely not necessary and would not be welcomed.

The Children’s Wellbeing Bill, however, announced in the speech in July, includes provision that relates to schools and which, in various ways, picks up the New Labour emphasis on schools at the heart of their local community.

This aim is currently given effect by Sections 27 and 28 of the Education Act 2002, which enact that schools may provide “facilities or services” for the charitable benefit of pupils, their families, or the local community more generally, and enable governing bodies to elect to spend some of their budget in supporting such activities. That power is, in effect, part of the definition of what it is to be a maintained school, and remains the position for maintained schools to this day.

This means that a church maintained school can play a full part with local community partners in accommodating a wide range of provisions and activities, agreeing such financial arrangements as work locally.

Crucially, provided that any occupation of buildings, or land, is made by Transfer of Control Agreement, and not by leases, this does not infringe the provision of the schools’ trust deeds — which are almost always worded as for occupation by a school (or a teacher at the school), and for no other purpose.

Therefore, under these arrangements, very diverse provisions can be made, including privately run facilities, as is often the case with nurseries, or with sporting, health, or community-development activities.

The 2002 provision, however, has never been made statutorily applicable to academies. This results in a real problem for academies that occupy Church of England sites.

For trustees to act contrary to the provisions of their trust deed is itself a very serious matter, and getting it wrong can lead — in some instances — to opening the way for the heirs of the original donors of the land to claim it back.

Even the need to have the detailed historical situation checked by expert lawyers is itself a significant expense, which can often mean that the school and its community are unable to carry forward their plans as they would have wished.

So, if the Church wishes to play the fullest possible part in its local community, and if the Government wants to get the fullest benefit from schools occupying trustees’ sites, then the proposed Bill is surely the moment to give academies the same powers as maintained schools. This could be done by transferring the powers contained in Sections 27 and 28 of the Education Act 2002 to Section 1A(3) of the Academies Act 2010.

This would remove any problems about nurseries, breakfast clubs, or other facilities, whether run by the governing body or by private providers under licence (not by lease), operating on academy premises.

It could also be a solution in places where the number of primary-school-age children is dropping, and contribute to the financial viability of small, rural academies.

This easy change could unlock many benefits. We hope that the new Secretary of State for Education will spot this opportunity and include it in the new Children’s Wellbeing Bill. It seems an opportunity too good to miss.

Howard Dellar is Senior Partner and Head of the Ecclesiastical and Education Department of Lee Bolton Monier-Williams.