18. Mr. R. C. Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science on how many occasions Ministers from her Department have spoken at sixth form conferences during the last six months.
§ Mrs. ThatcherMinisters accepted the invitations to speak in their personal capacities on five occasions in all. My Department was in no way concerned in the arrangements.
Mr. MitchellIs the right hon. Lady aware that the objection that many of us have to the recent series of conferences organised by the Conservative Central Office, in which at least one of her Ministers participated, was not to what was said at the meetings but to the 1130 way that head teachers and local education authorities were deceived about the true nature of the conferences? Would it not be better if in future such conferences were organised by teachers, not by political parties?
§ Mrs. ThatcherI am not responsible for the organisation of conferences by any political party. I am glad that the hon. Gentleman has no complaint about the speeches made by Ministers.
§ Mr. John WellsIs it not about time that the natural Socialist bias of the teaching profession was overcome?
§ Mr. Lipton rose——
§ Mr. SpeakerThat is not a matter of order for me.
§ Mrs. ThatcherI am sorry. I heard the first four or five words of my hon. Friend's question and the rest disappeared into oblivion.
§ Mr. LiptonHas the Secretary of State——
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. It is not a matter of order whether the Minister hears a question or answers it.
§ Mr. LiptonHas the Secretary of State received any applications from convents about the services of the hon. Member for Chelmsford (Mr. St. John-Stevas)?
§ Mrs. ThatcherI am happy to report that my hon. Friend is in great demand everywhere.
§ 23. Mr. Edward Lyonsasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she will send a circular to local authorities about the question of holding conferences for sixth formers organised by political parties during school hours.
§ Mrs. ThatcherNo, Sir.
§ Mr. LyonsIs not the crux of the issue that conferences are being organised in school time, as is the one due to take place in Bradford? Is it not the responsibility of the right hon. Lady that headmasters are expected to release boys and girls from school to attend conferences, 1131 and should not conferences of this sort be organised outside school hours and preferably by the schools themselves?
§ Mrs. ThatcherThis House has given me no specific powers over secular instruction. Indeed, the history of British education has been to keep Ministers out of control of curricular matters and to put that control with either local education authorities or governors, who usually delegate it to the head teachers. I believe that they are the best judges in these circumstances.
§ Mr. Selwyn GummerIs my right hon. Friend aware that the reason for the coming sixth form conference in Bradford is that the headmasters of the schools involved, after having been asked whether they would like to withdraw, have insisted that the sixth form conference would be of benefit to their children and want the children to go?
§ Mrs. ThatcherI was not aware of that, but I stress that I am happy to leave the judgment of these matters to the head teachers.
§ Mr. HefferAre not my hon. Friends wrong in objecting to members of the Conservative Party attending these conferences? I have seen youngsters appearing on television following such conferences and they are totally disenchanted with the Tories and will obviously never vote Tory because the Tory speakers at the conferences were so totally boring and useless.
§ Mrs. ThatcherI am sure that the hon. Gentleman's implied request that there should be a conference in every area will have been noted by my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham, West (Mr. Selwyn Gummer).
§ Mr. John WellsIs it not about time that the natural Socialist inclination of the majority of the teaching profession was overcome?
§ Mrs. ThatcherWhatever teachers' personal political views are, they have a duty, which I believe they discharge, to teach impartially.