HC Deb 07 December 1976 vol 922 cc213-5
8. Mr. Greville Janner

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she will issue a circular dealing with vandalism in schools.

Miss Margaret Jackson

I share the concern and sense of outrage felt by people whose schools are damaged or destroyed by vandals. What evidence the Department has suggests that such vandalism is a local problem best tackled locally. My Department's advice is available in particular instances and more generally through publications. My right hon. Friend is not planning to publish a circular but will keep the possibility in mind.

Mr. Janner

Is my hon. Friend aware that this so-called local problem stretches throughout the country? Is she also aware that there has been a vast and disgraceful growth in this sort of vandalism throughout the United Kingdom? In the circumstances, does she agree that, first, the details of this vandalism should be published and its extent accepted and, second, that there is need for a change in the law to make parents responsible for the vandalism of their children?

Miss Jackson

I am not aware that that is the case. It is my understanding that vandalism can arise in particular circumstances at particular times and tends to be locally concentrated. It is true that national statistics are not widely available. My hon. and learned Friend's comment about the responsibility of parents in a particular case of vandalism is not a matter for my Department. It is the responsibility of the Home Department. I understand that there is no evidence to show that there is a wave of vandalism in schools or anywhere else.

Mr. Rathbone

Does the Minister accept that the problem is widespread enough to go all the way from Leicester, West to Lewes in Sussex?

Mr. Janner

It started in Lewes.

Mr. Rathbone

There is no answer I can give to the hon. and learned Gentleman. Is the Minister aware that there is an urgent need to consult the Law Officers to see where the law can be amended in order to establish parental responsibility for the vandalism?

Miss Jackson

It is not for my Department to consider where the responsibility lies. However, if the hon. Member for Lewes (Mr. Rathbone) and my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Leicester, West (Mr. Janner) assume that because they see the problem in their constituencies it automatically stretches in a wide band between the two constituencies, I must tell them that their contention is not borne out by the facts. What is borne out by the facts is that there are local problems which are concentrated not only in particular localities but which arise at particular times and that the problem dies away in one locality but reappears in some entirely separate and unconnected locality. There is no evidence to suggest that there is a nation-wide, easily-definable, easily-dealt-with range of vandalism. If there were, proposals to deal with it would have been before the House a long time ago.