Government’s schools bill set back another two months –amid claims it could take a year to pass through Parliament

The passage of the schools bill has been put back by two months –with some suggestions yesterday that it might not be finalised until well into next year.

In the latest setback to the bill, its final stage in the House of Lords before heading to the Commons was put back from this week to a sitting in September.

Two prominent peers suggested that, with the government needing to consult on proposals for a new relationship with academies which is the centrepiece of the bill, and which would take months, it might be spring next year or later before the legislative proposals even return to the Lords for consideration.

The news came as the beleaguered draft legislation, which is meant to underpin the government’s drive to have all schools in academy chains by 2030 as well as increasing the regulation of home education, pupil absence and illegal schools, came under renewed attack in its final day in the Lords before the summer break.

The bill has already been gutted of its key clauses on academisation by the government, following sustained attacked by peers led by the former Education Secretary, Lord Baker. Ministers are promising to return with new clauses when the draft legislation returns to the Commons in the autumn.