HC Deb 17 March 1964 vol 691 cc1181-2
Q4. Mr. Woodburn

asked the Prime Minister what co-ordinating machinery is proposed to enable primary and secondary education in Scotland to be linked with university policy to ensure continuity of education in Scotland; and how this will be linked to the Government's plan for unified control of higher education and science.

The Prime Minister

Consultations between my right hon. Friend the Secre- tary of State for Scotland and the Minister responsible for university affairs have always been close and continous. The arrangements, for such consultations will be adapted or expanded as may be necessary in the light of experience.

Mr. Woodburn

Would the Prime Minister or the Secretary of State, or the Minister of Education, take steps to give at the earliest possible moment the arrangement likely to be made which we hope will prevent any disruption in the continuity of education from the primary school to the university? There is the feeling in Scotland that there will be a break in these relationships, that this may not be a harmonious development, and that there may be some difference between the finish of secondary education and the beginning of university education which will handicap students in passing from one to the other.

The Prime Minister

I think that I can give the right hon. Gentleman the assurance immediately that there will he no break and that my right hon. Friend, when he becomes Secretary of State for Education, will deal most sympathetically, as his predecessors have always done, with the Scottish universities and Scottish schools. We will try to coordinate the policies as closely as we possibly can.

Mr. Ross

Is the Prime Minister aware that he has the unique distinction of having put an English departmental Minister for Education in charge of a part, and that it a growing part, of Scottish education? How can the right hon. Gentleman possibly explain this with satisfaction?

The Prime Minister

I do not think the hon. Gentleman can have observed what has happened in the past, because up to now the Treasury has always been in charge of these matters. The only change is between the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the new Secretary of State for Education.