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A top aide in the Department for Education and Skills has ruled out sanctions against successful schools that ignore the Every Child Matters agenda.

Naomi Eisenstadt, the department’s chief adviser on children’s services, told the House of Commons education and skills committee that schools should not face sanctions if they were doing what parents wanted and had good results.

“I think that [sanctions go] against what we are trying to do with the rest of the system on users leading the system,” she added.

“You cannot have it both ways. You cannot say that parents have the role to play in leading the system so long as the school does exactly what we tell them to do.”

Eisenstadt said the way forward would be “convincing and cajoling” popular schools to take the Every Child Matters agenda on board.