§ 33. Dame Irene Wardasked the Minister of Education whether he is aware that special bonus payments, outside the negotiated scales to teachers, are being offered by the Durham County Council and Gateshead Corporation in order to attract teachers; and, in view of the difficulties regarding recruitment of teachers generally, if he will consider issuing a circular to all local authorities giving guidance on this matter.
§ Sir D. Ecclesrose—
§ Mr. MoodyOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. May I ask your guidance on an issue created by the Question which you have just called? Is it in order for an hon. Member to place a Question on the Order Paper without first ascertaining the facts of the situation? I have a letter from the director of education—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I understand that the hon. Member is seeking to 576 dispute the facts, but I think I should be allowing him to put himself out of order if I permitted him to do so. All I can say in answer to the point of order is that the particular hon. Member who tables a Question takes responsibility for the statements of fact in it.
§ Dame Irene WardFurther to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. May I say that there was a television showing in which this whole controversy was discussed?
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I am not in my official capacity interested in the source of the hon. Lady's information, nor its reliability.
§ Mr. ShortOn a slightly different but related point of order, Mr. Speaker. May I say that there is a courtesy in this House by which hon. Members do not put Questions about other constituencies without consulting the hon. Members concerned? In recent weeks the hon. Lady the Member for Tyne-mouth (Dame Irene Ward) on a number of occasions has interfered in other Tyneside constituencies.
§ Mr. Speakerrose—
§ Mr. SpeakerNo, because what the hon. Member is saying is not for me. We had this kind of trouble the other day.
§ Mr. ShortThe point was whether it could be made clear to the hon. Lady that, while she may be the Member for Tynemouth—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. That does not raise a point of order for me.
§ Mr. MoodyIs it in order, Mr. Speaker, for an hon. Member to put a Question on the Order Paper based on something which is an absolute fallacy?
§ Mr. SpeakerThat is not a matter of order for me. As I explained, the particular hon. Member putting a Question down himself or herself takes responsibility for the statements of fact in it. Sir David Eccles.
§ Sir D. EcclesThe provisions of the Burnham Report do not allow for any system of special allowances to act as an 577 inducement to recruitment in areas of teacher shortage.
I understand that the Durham authority has proposed to make the payments in question under the discretion given to authorities in the current Burnham Report to pay special allowances to unattached teachers who, in the authority's opinion, are undertaking duties and responsibilities equivalent to those of a head of department or of a teacher in a graded post.
Whether these particular payments are within the intention of the Burnham Report is a matter for the Burnham Reference Committee.
§ Dame Irene WardIn view of the fact that my teachers in Whitley Bay have raised this issue, may I ask my right hon. Friend, in view of the importance of this matter and the general interest to teachers and local authorities, and as it is a general question, to be so kind as to assure me that the whole matter will be kept under careful review?
§ Sir D. EcclesIt is the business of the Burnham Reference Committee to look at allegations of this kind.
§ Mr. RandallThe right hon. Gentleman did not refer to Gateshead Corporation. I have in my possession a letter from Gateshead Education Committee in which it is made perfectly clear that no special bonus payments are made. Will he advise his hon. Lady—[HON. MEMBERS: "Oh."]—the hon. Lady the Member for Tynemouth (Dame Irene Ward) not to continue fishing in foreign waters because, if she does, she might catch a large sized cod?
§ Sir D. EcclesAll I can say is that I am not my hon. Friend's teacher.