§ 16. Mr. Bendallasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she is prepared to agree to the request made in the letter she has received from the Redbridge Education Committee asking for further time to consider the reorganisation of secondary education.
§ Mrs. Shirley WilliamsI received proposals from the Redbridge authority on 1st June for the elimination of selection within its area. Officers of the authority will shortly be invited 10 discuss these proposals in detail with officials of my Department.
§ Mr. BendallWill the Minister please explain why she chose 1st June as the date 207 on which the proposals had to be put to her and why she found it necessary to send her letter by special messenger?
§ Mrs. WilliamsI did not choose 1st June. The authority had to explain its position by 22nd May. It asked for an extension of time, and before an extension could be refused or granted, it had sent us a fresh letter dated 1st June with new proposals. It is the authority which has overtaken its earlier request.
§ Mr. BendallWhat about the second part of the question concerning the special messenger?
§ Mr. Arnold ShawDoes not my right hon. Friend regard as unsatisfactory the reply that she received, which was cobbled up at the last moment by the chairman of the committee without any reference to the committee? Is it not unsatisfactory that that reply extends selection until 1986 and that the authority, which has had at least 10 years to make up its mind, now complains that it has not had enough time? Does my right hon. Friend agree that this is simply procrastination by the authority, which is awaiting the unlikely event of a Tory Government in the near future?
§ Mrs. WilliamsIf the authority's intentions are genuine, it will have every possible opportunity to make that clear to my officials. If they are not, my officials will advise me to take the appropriate action