HC Deb 21 December 1966 vol 738 cc1394-6
12. Mr. Ellis

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is his policy regarding fee-paying schools.

21. Mr. Dewar

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will withdraw Exchequer grants from independent and grant-aided schools in Scotland.

Mr. Millan

My right hon. Friend regards education authority fee-paying and other selective schools as inconsistent with a system of comprehensive education and he has asked Edinburgh and Glasgow—the authorities mainly involved—to review the future organisation of such schools in that context.

So far as grant-aided schools are concerned, local authorities were asked, in Circular No. 600, to consult the governing bodies of these schools as to the part they could play in a comprehensive system. Consideration of any wider question affecting the future of these schools would not be appropriate at this stage.

As regards independent schools, we are in the first instance awaiting the report of the Public Schools Commission. Independent schools in Scotland do not receive Exchequer grants.

Mr. Ellis

Will my hon. Friend confirm that what he expects in the pattern of education which is emerging is that these schools will cease and will disappear?

Mr. Millan

As I have said, we regard this as inconsistent with a comprehensive reorganisation. We are now awaiting the proposals of the two authorities which I have mentioned.

Mr. Dewar

As my hon. Friend has given what is obviously a rather long-term picture, will he consider in the short-term the introduction of responsibilities in return for the considerable State aid given to grant-aided schools, similar to those contained in the Direct Grant School Regulations, 1959, as subsequently amended, which apply in England?

Mr. Millan

I think that the background and circumstances of grant-aided schools in Scotland are rather different from the situation in England. As I have said, these wider issues—and what my hon. Friend has just outlined is a wider issue—are not appropriate to be dealt with at this stage.

Mr. MacArthur

Is the Minister aware that he has just made a very grave statement? Would he resist all attempts to remove parental freedom of choice in education?

Mr. Millan

I do not think that it is a question of parental freedom of choice. It is a question of fee-paying in corporation schools, which incidentally does not apply to schools south of the Border. So I would not take that to be a particularly valid argument for Scotland. For the vast majority of children in Scotland and in the vast majority of local authority areas, there is no question of fee-paying in corporation or local authority schools.

Mr. Edward M. Taylor

What is the point of having local authorities at all if the Government are to give them no freedom about the pattern of education within their own areas?

Mr. Millan

Nothing which is being done by this Government with regard to the pattern of organisation is any different in principle from what had been done by right hon. and hon. Members opposite. We are still working under exactly the same legislation.